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 ....

I'm team OP all the way here!

You are definitely NOT being unreasonable.

Cafes probably prefer families because they won't stay all morning taking up a table for four with their small flat white while using the cafe's WiFi.

They're probably al jealous of you there with your peace and quiet. Give them a kind smile and roll your eyes in secret! I know what you mean and my youngest is still 6!

Once I was eating a macdonalds all by myself post running event and a woman with 2 toddlers said to me "you're so lucky" but I did point out I'd had to run 13.1 miles to get that peace and quiet!! But yeah we all need our peace and quiet, I feel sorry god people unable you leave their kids at home!

kingassassin one of our local cafes offers free wifi all week for customers and turns it off at the weekend for this reason.

Every time I'm there at the weekend, someone's kicking up a stink about the sudden lack of wifi...

I'm with you op. I keep thinking about opening up my own adult only cafe.

With you too OP. My kids are grown up now, so like a true hypocrite I don’t want to have to deal with other people’s in any way

Your house is a safe haven OP, stay there if you want to drink your coffee without anyone else around 😁.

This moaning about children in public does no one any good. It makes parents feel like they must stay inside and not socialise their kids. Don't be one of those people that makes a mother that maybe hasn't seen the outside world for days on end at times feel bad about escaping the 4 walls to go and sit in public with her child just to be around others. Sure she could take the child to soft play or a 'kids place' but those places are expensive. She should be able to go and sit in a cafe and pay a few pounds so that she can tell herself her and her child 'go out' for some fresh air that day

With you too op. Child free and want to spend weekend having nice brunch etc withou screaming kids.
So I avoid bills Sunday morning as full of performance parenting.
And hit more the studenty next suburb where you don't see many kids at weekend. Well not in brunch places.

Don’t mind children who are being parented but dogs!!!!!

I would be absolutely fine with the concept of kid-free cafes - and might even use them myself when I don't have DS with me - but I do think 'well, my kids are grown up now so I'm over small children and everyone else should be too' is a pretty horrible attitude.

I'd love a child free, dog free coffee shop.

My mid-week coffee has been spoilt by a parent and baby group that I'd probably have loved when I had a baby but not so much now. They take up most of the space, hog the toilets and sing.

My favourite weekend place has suddenly started promoting itself as dog friendly. The dogs generally aren't really a problem (although many of them reek) The owners though with their constant fussing, cooing and admiring, "oh look he's wagging his tail" "aww he's yawning" etc are unbearable. Plus they serve food for the dogs and dogs eating is almost as bad as toddlers eating.

I've taken to coffee at home.

Incidentally I was in a cafe in a very touristy bit of the Norfolk coast over Christmas and someone genuinely expected me to put DS on my lap - which I would happily have done for another adult - so that their dog could sit on the sofa

@YappityYapYap completely agree with you, I used to worry so much that I would be judged if my DD made noise if I took her to a cafe, I now stick to places I know are family friendly just in case.

I do think dogs in cafes are a quieter more peaceful event.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Go through drive thru and sit in blissful peace with a scenic view.

Perhaps you’re doing something that also irritates the pesky parents and kids OP. Maybe you smell? Maybe you’re wearing something weird? Maybe they think you’ve got a big nose?

As long as nobody expects me to look after their children, I don’t care how many families turn up in a public space while I’m also there.

Why Sunday morning, not a time on any other day of the week?

Because I work the rest of the week so don't get chance.

I don't mind children and dogs as long as they're not running riot or allowed to scream at the top of their voices (the children, not the dogs).

I really miss having children about and enjoy seeing them choosing their pastries etc.

We are precisely the mother and toddler who religiously go out for breakfast and/or brunch on the weekends and why shouldn’t we? From newborn we took our dd out at least twice a week for food so by 16 months she’s used to it and behaves very well for the most part.

Suggest you seek out adults only places as its pretty unfair to want to exclude children from coffee shops and the like.

You are obviously unreasonable OP as they have as much right to be there as you.

But I would pay good money to have a couple of hours alone in a coffee shop surrounded only by other peaceful adults and no one whinging at me that their banana is too yellow.

I had a similar experience recently, as a birthday treat DP paid for a couple of treatments and access to the pool/sauna at a local hotel and it was my first time away from my toddlers other than going to work in 3 years.

Despite it not being marketed as a 'family' hotel there were a couple of families there with children ranging from about age 2 - 11 and they completely monopolised the pool all afternoon (on a weekday so not sure why they weren't in school) They had as much right to be there as me but it wasn't the relaxing childfree afternoon I had hoped for and was a bit disappointing.

When did adult only get so bad anyway. Everything seems to want to advertise as family friendly now. Ps dogs in public places are utterly disgusting and the thought should not even be entertained in eating establishments.

as mentioned in a previous post my children are older teenagers so either working at weekend , playing sport or studying.

So why is it not peaceful enough for you indoors?

If you want a childfree place to drink coffee go to a bar.

Needmorecaffeine Am with you (ay day of the week)! I avoid any coffee shops locally that are popular with mums and kids. When my kids were small we had coffee in each other's homes as there were no coffee shops.

I love dogs, I have a dog. But I don’t want them where I eat.