Salud, Kids!
Thursday blogging with, Crookshanks at the keyboard!
Did you see the ABC story about some restaurants and some beaches creating kid-free zones? Yeah, I didn't either, but I read about it later and it gave me pause.
Initially, I was quite pro. QUITE!
Oh, don't get yourselves into a lather and turn against me as some sort of kid-hater. I adore kids. Adore 'em.
However, my first impulse was to embrace this trend and hope it would catch on in a big way and soon.
I fully admit the thought of dining in luxurious peace and quiet at a restaurant, any restaurant whether high-end or low-end, at any time of the day or night, made me giddy and smile inside. It seems to almost never happen these days.
Honestly, last week while sharing lunch in West Palm Beach with my mates, I had to shout to be heard over the chaos of children four tables away. It was absurd, but not uncommon.
Hm. A kid-free zone?
Turning that thought over and over in my head, suddenly it began to spin into an entirely different model. Why single out the kids when they are only doing what comes naturally to them? Being rowdy kids without any obvious parental guidelines or control. Oh, I'm not judging too harshly, maybe the kids have issues and can not be encouraged to behave in a socially acceptable manner at eleven o'clock at night in the bar area of a trendy restaurant. And, why should they? Who does? What are their examples of acceptable behavior? I'm just asking because I'm not sure it exists. I understand that children in 2011 do not need the structure of a specific bedtime. Oh, yes.
However, the idea of dining in an adult atmosphere is just dreamy. That's all, a dream, because it is borderline impossible. Oh, I get that parents have a need to share time with kiddies. I've been there, so don't tell me about that, but a comprise needs to be reached.
I respectfully suggest we start a campaign for a Yin-and-Yang-Zone.
Because, what we truly need is an Obnoxious-Free zone. Let's all just agree to have a lovely balance and co-exist in harmony. Let's have a bit of respect for each other. Think hard and the Golden Rule could be conjured up.
The picture is SO much larger than freeing us from zany kids. Well, in my opinion we need freedom from many annoyances. Petty, yet large.
So, free us from the dining horrors of unruly children, but more importantly free us from their obnoxious and disengaged parental-units (meaning they are so much otherwise engaged they seemingly ignore their kids).
Free us from loud-cell-phone-talkers.
Free us from those who invade our space and ears on any type of transit...planes, trains, buses, bikes.
Free us from those who walk four-abreast on a crowded sidewalk and refuse to yield, even an inch.
Free us from the horrors of a world gone mad with a lack of socially-acceptable anything.
Free us from those who get into our space while standing in line at a check-out counter.
Free me from a cat who tries to write a blog with me (just go with it).
Well, you get where I am going here.
Kids, it isn't about real kids. It's about so much more.
Gotta go get a Yin-and-Yang sign made to wear around my neck when I go out or when I am creating a blog (the cat needs a little balance). Listen, the movement has got to start somewhere, right?
See ya 'round the beaches-real or virtual.
Read me fictionally, The Bainbridges of the Palm Beaches, available at Barnes & Noble, eBooks.
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