Let me put in my 2 cents
Currently in Ireland there remains a vague acceptance of children in a bar though having said this I would say as a child growing up in ireland I never stepped inside a bar. In more recent years bars in ireland,like here, have more of that Gastro pub feel(is it a bar or is a restaurant?) and this changes things.
Drinking in Ireland is a social experience and until recently rarely occured in the household but it does not imply that everyone bring off spring to the bar. I believe that in ireland a child at the bar at midnight would get funny looks because lets be frank who is in a bar at midnight 100% sober and what child needs to be in that environment at midnight.
That said I would imagine that said yello'bar owner ( who I may be related to) might be referring to the brunch and early after noon experience- yello'bar does have the feel of restaurant and bar. It was important for us to make it open to families(high chairs, some toys, unfortunatley no changing tabke though we tried) and it made me happy that our first customers were a young family. However I do believe common sense ( and positive parenting) pervails.

So you wouldn't appreciate me putting my son in a booster seat at the bar stool next to you?

J/K... I would never do that.

I admittedly have a low tolerance for unruly/loud children anywhere out in public. That's why, no matter where I am, I try to bolt if our son even so much as lets out a little whine.

I actually never considered that someone might find it strange to bring a small child to brunch at Sidecar...at least let us have brunch!

I ate at Monks with our son, a friend and her son once. It was lunch on a weekday...they were't crowded. They weren't really set up for two children (we had to share one high chair) but seemed totally ok with their presence.

I guess my point is that with a little discretion and good judgment, there's no reason kids cannot dine at a bar/food place. And if I cared about people cursing or saying "off color" things in front of my son once in a while we never would have moved to the city. I guess that could change as he gets older, but I kind of doubt it.

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Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, "I will try again tomorrow."

---Mary Anne Radmacher

and we also have those unclaimed children since the weekend

You know Giovanni, parents have needs too.....!!!

I think that as long as the place can pass for a restaurant as well, it is fine for kids to be there with parents until dinner time. After 8pm I think the kids should probably be home in bed anyway.

As for Ireland, when I was there 2 summers ago I found it quite odd seeing kids in the bar at 10pm at night. Seemed normal to other people there. To be honest though, I recall the owner of the bar telling the parents that they had to have the kids out by 11pm or something like that.

I'll say this though.....years ago we had a bachelor party for a friend and one of our stops was a late afternoon trip to Dave and Busters to deal with some "competitiveness" by playing some of their sports-games like shooting hoops, throwing footballs, etc. Wandering around D&B's drunk with little kids running back and forth was quite an uncomfortable feeling...

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As long as they're not sitting at the bar they're fine! I'm sorry, I'm having fun envisioning unclaimed beautiful children sitting at the bar chatting with the bartender, throwing their sippy cups on the floor...so many things are wrong with that picture!

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Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, "I will try again tomorrow."

---Mary Anne Radmacher

QUOTE::As for Ireland, when I was there 2 summers ago I found it quite odd seeing kids in the bar at 10pm at night. Seemed normal to other people there. To be honest though, I recall the owner of the bar telling the parents that they had to have the kids out by 11pm or something like that.

You know people say this and lived there for 21 years and rarely if ever saw it! I will say that if you are on vacation you may be at place where other people are also vacationing(yes Irish people vacation in ireland too) and I know that I am sometimes more lax with my 8pm bed time when I vacation so what you may be seeing is vacationing Irish people having children in bars. I guess I fear that people assume all irishget trashed nightly in their local with their kids running around at their ankles!- Untrue!

I don't know. Mornings and early afternoons at many of these places are very quiet/slow. I imagine that if I'm a paying customer with a well-behaved child who wants to eat at that time they would rather serve me than turn me away. Maybe I'm just being naive? Keep in mind, I wouldn't be in one of these gastro/bar places much later than 4 p.m. with a child.

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Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, "I will try again tomorrow."

---Mary Anne Radmacher

When I was a kid in the 1970's, my father would take me to the local watering hole "Ye Olde Ale House." He would have a beer and I would order a birch beer. It wasn't a big deal. This was a quieter, workingman's bar, though, not a frat bar. And I was 8 or 9 years old, not 2 or 3.

I think you're much 'safer' taking your child to a place like Yellobar than to a philly sporting event like the Eagles or even the Phillies.

and in my experience, some places dont provide too much in the way of boosters either, to dissuade ppl from bringing in their children.

as a bartender in a restaurant, i personally don't like children sitting at my bar. besides the seat/bar height ratio being off for their small stature, they also take up valuable space for people who are actually drinking.

to be honest, i don't like anyone who doesn't drink sitting at the bar. one unfortunate side effect of the the smoking ban is that nonsmoking/nondrinking types have spread over the whole restaurant, including th bar. (fyi smokers and drinkers are generally considered better tippers in the restaurant biz, though i'm not sure why.)

anyway, just my 2 cents.

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