To think that young children shouldn't be in the pub on NYE?

[chocolatebuttontheif]

I single mum I know has put on Facebook that she's looking forward to going to the pub tonight to celebrate NYE with her DS(2.6)

I understand that everyone wants to go out on NYE but surely when you have DC's your priorities have to change. DH works in a pub and will be working tonight, and I have no intention of taking DS(also 2.6) out, he will be in bed at 8pm like he is any other night of the year!

Before I get flamed I'm not saying being a single mum makes her a bad mother or has any relevance, just that she doesn't have a DP to go out celebrating with, ANC obviously doesn't want to stay in by herself being boring!

Personally, i'm looking forward to some peace while DH is out, a glass of wine and turning up some curtains!

Emmylou that is not my experience in my local of family nights

Tingle it was mine and this is in "well to do" country pub/club type affairs, so not your workies down the town on a Friday.

In fact I think it would have been worse than that.

Well that just goes to show that you cannot generalise

YABU. Bloody hard to get a babysitter on NYE - and if she wants to go out, the little one is probably young enough to fall asleep in pushchair.

I never do, infact like I say it was probably worse in what you'd call more sophisticated surroundings. Hated it.

blimey OP - I wonder what you'd have thought of me on Wednesday night.

staggered walked back home with my DS's (3, 7 and 10) at midnight after having probably one or two drinks more than is generally acceptable.

my BF and I got merrily tipsy while our DC played on the Wii until 11.40pm

tbh - if we had any family friendly pubs round these parts I'd take all 3 of them out tonight. However the pubs round here will be full of lager louts - so instead DS2 and 3 are in bed - and DS1 is staying up with me tonight

Hey chocolatebutton

"mumto2 what would you suggest I should be doing instead then while DH is at work?"

Have some lovely Prosecco and get the Rabbit out.

LOL @ nr!

'at home with my DS rather than dragging him out on a cold night while I get pissed off my tits.'

Such emotive language. Why do you assume the child in the OP is being 'dragged', or that his mum is getting pissed off her tits?
You are elaborating to suit your argument.

And @ NR
Now that sounds like a plan

i always find the pushchair excellent for keeping me upright when staggering back of a night

lol

theywillgrowup - well I didn't like to mention that in my post last night

a pub near us had childrens entertainers for people who wanted to take their kids out last night so maybe this is the case where she is going..?

baroqinaroundthechristmastree oh you could be my twin lol

We had a fab night at friends 40th birhday with kids last night. They walked back with us at 1 am this morning. They had fab time too !!

OP, YANBU. I am not one for sacrificing yourself on the alter of motherhood, but I do think your life changes when you have DCs and therefore your lifestyle needs to as well.

As others have said I would have though a 2.5 year old would have just been tired and miserable rather than enjoying himself being up at that time.

If you can't get a babysitter you just don't go IMHO, simple as that.

I used to love going out for lunch/dinner etc but DD (13.5 months) won't sit for any great length of time so we don't tend to go. These are the changes you just have to make I think.

I however have been outed on here many a time for having cast - iron chastity belt style judgey pants.

I fell asleep in front of the tv not long after putting DD to bed at about 8pm, until just before the bells last night, toasted them with a drink then went to bed at about 12.30am! Rock and roll eh!!

I have an alco dad. Spent many hours as a child in pubs. Not the place for kids.. at all. You get a babysitter or you don't go.

Working9while5, i'm sorry hat was your experience but spending night in, night out in a pub with an alco dad id not quite the same as a single (we can assume 'decent' and non alco) mum taking her kid to a pub for new year... no?

If you go to a famiy pub for a meal, I've no issue with it. Similarly, if you go on a long country pub and stop off for a pint while the kids get pop and crisps. However, night time in a regular pub is just no place for kids especially at festive times, when people drink even more than normal and premises are typically busier than usual.

As my father would say, you don't go to a brothel for a cup of tea. Pubs are for drinking and adult entertainment. My memory of pubs is of excruciating boredom and feeling generally a nuisance if not obliging adult "needs" by being entirely invisible. Being "decent" or non-addicted doesn't change that. There is nothing for kids to do in pubs. There's no amusement. Just adults talking and acting weird (even the nice ones).

I repeat: not the place for kids, at all. You get a babysitter or you don't go.

working - but what of those pubs that put ON family entertainment for things such as NYE?? Do you not think perhaps that they're expecting children to attend, and that families will attend knowing that other children will be there?

I bet the kid fell asleep in the buggy anyhow

I do have to LOL at the silly people who make out they are so bad because they got drunk in front of the kids giggle giggle!

I wouldnt take a 2.6 yr old to a pub any evening-they tend to be noisy,cramped and with people becoming increasingly uninhibited as time goes on.Presumably the lady is going with the aim of drinking...drunk in charge of a toddler sounds a bit off to me-or even mildly inebriated.

In the med they often take kids to bars etc and now there's no smoking, as long as the mum isn't planning to get off her face, why not?

I personally wouldn't to our local but my parents live in a village and I would possibly take her there. On holiday in Majorca, we regularly took dd 2.5 to the hotel bar where there was a kids disco from 8.30pm-9.30. She loved it and I really don't think I'm a bad parent because of it.

Someone always trots out the med, Italy etc. That is not the drinking culture here. I have personally never come across a pub that put on family entertainment for NYE - Bonfire night maybe but not NYE. What are they like? What happens? What is the nature of the "family entertainment"? Does it mean that the adults drink less than usual and that there are designated adults taking care of the kids and no one really gets drunk? That's one thing. If it means kids get a free coke and some poxy crayons while everyone around gets ossified, that's another.

Gemsy83, far from being "silly", it is usually quite, quite wrong to get drunk in front of kids. For the most part, it is quite frightening for young kids to see their parents behaving in an inconsistent, strange and unpredictable way. Drink in front of your kids by all means, but get drunk? No. Not on. "Drunk" implies altered mood and behaviour which is just selfish.

working - you had an alcoholic father. I am very sorry about that. But that doesn't mean that is the standard situation. We have a local whose landlord has children, the eldest of whom is the same age as my youngest. They play together really happily - at the pub and in our house. My eldest son likes to go to the pub too - to play darts. And drink coke. None of my DC have ever been present when either of us have been drunk. Pubs are not places intended exclusively for alhoholics and drunkards. They are places for feeding and watering the public - and a decent landlord knows when any customer has had enough. They are also places for social interaction - you know the normal friendly human kind that doesn't exclude children.