Bubs & Beans - going out for coffee with littlies

I read a blog on news.com.au the other day discussing taking babies out to cafes - naughty corner blog . Whilst the gist of the blog was discussing cafes with good facilities for children, the comments turned into a debate as to whether babies and small children should be welcomed at cafes at all. I understand that people don't want a side order of screaming child with their latte but some of the comments were surprisingly bitter. From the innocently naive "when I have children I won't be going to cafes with them at all", to the tongue in cheek peppered with a grain of salt "people with children should be locked up at home and not be allowed to come out into general society". However, the comments I found most obnoxious was the suggestion that McCafe was the appropriate place to take children if you want a coffee. Sorry, but drinking sub-standard coffee in an artificially lit, sterile environment, more often than not situated on a main road whilst my child is indoctrinated into the religion of the golden arches is not something I am interested in.

I would never take Isaac to a fancy restaurant but I have taken him to cafes and he has been well behaved. There is obviously a difference between a 7 month old happily playing or dozing in his pram and a two year throwing a tantrum and when we get that far we may need to revise our cafe policy. A number of things need to be given consideration - the comfort and happiness of the child, the need for social interaction (and caffeine!) on the part of the mother, the comfort of other patrons and also the business interests of the owners of the cafe (something not discussed in the article or the comments). Like most things in life tolerance and understanding is needed on all sides. Those that sneer at the approach of a pram and bluster and swear about it's presence meaning they have to take a detour to their table need to show a little more of that tolerance. Parents who let their children run riot and expect the wait staff to act as child minders need to show some respect. One aspect of this discussion that I only realised after taking to a colleague who owns a restaurant is the impact of mothers groups coffees on cafes. The inevitable re-arranging of furniture, the purchase of only a few coffees and then the hours spent sitting in the cafe discussing motherly issues doesn't make for a particularly profitable transaction and other patrons do feel put out. I didn't really see it from this side before but he makes a good point. A good mothers group option is finding a park with a cafe nearby that does take-aways.