Coffee shops on a Sunday morning and children

[Needmorecaffine]

This will kick off no doubt but hey. Slightly tongue in cheek.

Coffee shops on a Sunday morning should be a haven for adults who seek to get away in piece and quiet from every day life for an hour. That means getting away from your own children , DH etc

So been here 5 mins , had to queue behind a mother with her toddler using the display of pastries like choosing sweets in a sweet shop ! Just pick up a croissant get your latte soya single shot and move along !

Then we have the child , mother and grandmother. The GM doing the exaggerated parenting in this case with the GC much to the horror of her own DD. Thankfully they've gone.

Piece and quiet now reins ....

In her opening post she slags off 2 carers of small children. So I disagree.

I’m a pretty grumpy person, but honestly, I don’t care who else is in a coffee shop with me. People are everywhere. There aren’t many people in the world I genuinely choose to spend time with, but a coffee shop is like any other shop, or a train, or a pavement- other people will be there, many of whom won’t be my “type” of person. But they’re just there, somewhere near to where I am. I’m not being asked to marry them, just to exist in an adjacent space. It’s fine.

I also enjoy looking at the numbers of complaints of “performance parenting” vs “parents just ignoring their children”. Parents can’t really win in some people’s eyes. Children are just humans, they are necessary for the continuation of the human race, they aren’t something that needs to be allowed or disallowed, they just exist as part of life.

Maybe buy a coffee machine?

@UnnecessarilyUpset People always say that. But no in cafes it is always kids that have disturbed me, or parents of kids talking loudly to them. I have never been in a cafe where adults are running about, or adults are climbing over the seats, or adults are shrieking away.

In her opening post she slags off 2 carers of small children. So I disagree.

In my opening post I also said it was tongue in cheek

... at least they don't lick their balls or sniff their arseholes tho

In her opening post she slags off 2 carers of small children. So I disagree.

So complaining about two individuals is the same as slagging off an entire group of people now?

@OldHarrysGameboy Neither do adults

@karencantobe bloody dogs do though

Yes maybe, but you don't have to look.

PMSL at "slagging off" 😂 Talk about an over reaction!

Have both baby and small dog. Love a childless, dog free cafe for those rare moments when I'm parent / caretaker to neither. 90% of the time though you'll find me in Costa having a shit coffee with my 10m old in a highchair and my dog stowed away in the bottom of the pram because no one goes to Costa for a nice time do they?

I do however clean up the mess ds invariably makes because I'm in hospitality and arsehole parents who leave their kids carnage for others to deal with is my greatest bugbear and I refuse to be that person.

I agree OP

I have 2 DC and would love adult-only spaces sometimes. YANBU at all.

Why is Mumsnet so full of people who hate kids and families? 😂

You do realise that most posters on this thread are actually parents, don’t you?

Why is Mumsnet so full of people who hate kid free areas? 😂

I love my kids, I dislike other people's children

I am much less understanding now that I have my own, because I know how possible it is to keep them under control...

I was quietly drinking a coffee while waiting for my 12yo to finish her incredibly expensive hobby, at a venue where you have to pay to spectate.

A family with one primary aged child came to sit at the next table, putting the child on my side. Both parents ignored him and he sat watching a phone on full volume shouting "come on Mario" every 30 seconds.

Luckily someone left and I was able to move.

How can parents be so totally oblivious?

YA sooo NBU OP.

@CurlyhairedAssassin

I had to endure looks and comments when my Dh, dcs and I are dinner at a hotel one Valentine's night. My dcs were not toddlers, but still children and, despite being very well behaved, we still clearly upset some fellow diners, just because we were there. What they did not know, was that we were only there on that night as we had had to travel to that area in order to attend my Father's funeral early the next morning and this was the only hotel in the area that had rooms available for that night at comparitively short notice. Sorry that my dad died and spoilt some people's romantic evenings.

As far as coffee ships are concerned, I have no problem if some choose to be childfree. But unless they are childfree, it is not reasonable to use one and then complain about the fact that children are present.

When I grew up, in the 60's and 70's, coffee ships didn't really exist in the way they do today. If you wanted a coffee, you probably would go to a local cafe or the in-store cafes which were located in local department stores. During the 80's, Iif I wanted a coffee, I would have to go to a local bakers who had a small eating area, or the local wimpy. During the 90's, more local cafes began to serve just a coffee, though at lunchtimes they frequently reserved the right to charge the equivalent cost of a sandwich and a drink. In this area, coffee ships ad we now know them, have only been around for the last twenty years. I am in the greater London area.

gosh i completely disagree- i often frequent coffee shops alone, i love looking at babies and toddlers there, my girls are tweenagers now and i miss those days

coffee ships

@051moreRep you sound a bit pervy

Parents in cafes can't win. I used to take my twins too a cafe after soft play each week. It was the one time in the entire week when they would sleep soundly for a couple of hours so I could have some lunch in peace. I usually existed on energy bars because the two of them were so full on. One week a woman came up and said she'd been watching me for several weeks and knew I had drugged my children as they were always asleep when I came in. If she only knew I was alive on between 1-3 hours sleep a night and this was the ONLY time I knew I could get some fresh veg and vitamins because soft play had exhausted them.

@Imok, I’m really sorry your trip was to attend your dad’s funeral and that you didn’t have any choice of where to stay. Most people with kids, though, when dining at a “posh” restaurant on a hotel, especially on occasions like Valentine’s Day, would perhaps eat a bit earlier than, say, 7.30 or 8pm which is when most couples would be booking, I guess. So if this was what you did and the other diners still complained then I’d say they should have booked at a later “couply” time!

the posh hotels I’ve been to that mainly cater for couples on such occasions have had a policy of “well-behaved children are welcome in the main restaurant before 7pm or to eat in the bar from the bar menu after this” etc etc

Well I don't want your smelly disease ridden pissy dog near me either

I don't mind children in cafes at all, as long as they are well behaved and sitting in a chair. What I can't stand is the over indulgent parents, that dote on every word their little angels scream at the top of their lungs. Or the ones that allow the child to wander about the cafe while the poor staff try to dodge toddlers, while carrying roasting hot food and drinks, while mummy or daddy either completely ignore the child, or follow them around hovering at the back of them but not actually parenting them.
Most cafes have highchairs, use them! Who are you going to blame when your child gets scalded?