Karaoke Forums

How do you feel about kids in bars. Now I am not talking about an
upscale restaraunt/bar or an owners family. I'm talking about a bar that doesn't serve food and it's main entertainment is drinking.

Although I have worked in bars for years and am a single parent. I have never for
any reason even brought my children into the parking lot of a bar. I do not think it is a place they need to be in. I see people do it all the time and it bothers me. They sit their kid at a table with a pop while they drink with their friends or they leave them standing alone next to the stage to hear them sing. I cringe when I see a drunk person approach them or someone using fowl language next them. If I was a bar owner I would not tolerate this. Children have no place in a bar.

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It's jail time in Louisiana if you allow/bring a child into a bar....

21 to enter in this parish...Period.

I've told this story before on this site, but I'll do it again.

There was this one mother who had her kids in my bar on a karaoke night. I'll usually tolerate it until about 11:00, then I start with the uncencored dance music and 9 times out of 10 the parents get the hint and take off. This particular lady had two boys, about 6 and 8, and was unfazed by the muther-f'n this and biatchin that that started after 11. Oh, and this was on a Wednesday school night!! To make things worse, she looked like she was ona date or something and was drunk and all over this guy while her little hellions ran around the bar. At about 11:30 I asked my manager to do something about it, and he went and said something to her, but didn't ask her to leave. Midnight came and went and the kids were still running around the bar unsupervised while mommy was getting it on with her date at the dart boards. About 12:30 I had had quite enough and told the manager to either ask her to leave or I'd take care of it. He didn't want to say anything further to her. By about 1:00 a.m. I had played the most explicit songs I could think of and mommy didn't seem to care. Everyone was coming up to me and asking me what was up with the two kids who were running around and that it made them feel really uncomfortable. I started making pretty blatant references to the "mother of the year" over my PA but she still stuck around. Finally, at about 1:15 I went right up to her and told her that her kids should not be in the bar at this hour. The guy she was with got pissed and went after me. No punches were thrown and it was broken up pretty quickly, but it was a mess. FINALLY at about 1:20, the chick and her man tell the manager that they don't appreciate the way they were treated and were never coming back and stormed off with the kids. Everyone in the entire bar applauded as they left and the manager basically said good riddance. I was upset that he didn't do more to fix the situation earlier, but at least he wasn't upset with me for taking care of it.

It was after that night that I put the rule in my book that there is no explicit or suggestive lyrics before 11, but after 11 family time is over and anything goes. It is really a subtle message telling peeps to get their kids out of there by 11:00 p.m.!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

When I was growing up in Indiana, there were several places we couldn't go as a family because the bar was open to the restaurant, and it was illegal for us to be even in the restaurant until we were 21.

Here in Texas, they have some alcohol laws that made me  :headscratch:   If you're under 21, but are with a family memeber who's over 21, you're perfectly legal to drink...and that includes spouses...a couple I know got married...he was 20, she was 22, and as long as she was with him, he could drink all he wanted!!

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No one under 21 allowed in any bar here.  If it's a restaurant/bar, kids need to be gone by 10 PM.  If it's just a restaurant that serves drinks as well, kids can stay as long as they are open, but most of these places close at 9 or 10.

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The bar I frequent claims it is a family bar and he lets kids come in with their parents until 9 on weeknights and 10 on the weekends...It really bothers me...

For a while they were doing Karaoke on Sunday afternoons...It got ugly..It got to where parents were just dropping off their kids and they were running amuck asking the customers for money...He lost a lot of regular customers as well as the fottball crowd....

He is still trying to recover on Sundays...

I like the way the bars are in WA...NO KIDS....and if there is a bar in a restaurant then there is a rope and the kids do not EVER go beyond that rope....

IMO A bar is no place for a child....Sets a bad example...If they chose to go into bars when they are over 21 that is different...at least they are old enough to make the chioce and not have bad habit impailed on them when they are young...

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

I used to sing at a place a few years ago called "The White Horse", where kids were allowed to be, until about 9 or 10. That was the time it magically changed from "family restaurant" to "bar". Though it was all the same.....

My first time there, there was a couple families with little kids, since karaoke started at 8 PM. I thought it odd...... there was one family literally sitting RIGHT next to our table by the dance floor/stage area.

And maybe it's just that I'm a bit old fashioned, but I tell ya, I didn't even feel right sipping a drink & letting loose at ALL until those kids were OUT of the bar.

I think it's a stupid, idiotic law that allows them to even step foot into a place with that kind of atmosphere. I mean, a pizza joint that serves beer is one thing...... but when they literally have a BAR, and darts, and pool tables...... and the main function of the place is to sell alcohol..... kids should not be allowed. Bars are for adults, and I have never taken MY kids in a place like that to eat dinner.  :no:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

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I agree, kiddies shouldn't be in a Bar.  Here in AZ its pretty much like this....

- Restaurant/Bar - Under 21 allowed until they stop serving food (usually around 10).  But there's at least one place I've been to that they serve food all night-- so guess what, you can have kids there.  At least once, people complained about a song a friend of mine did around 11 or so.  I figured-tough.  And the KJ also made an announcement that it WAS a bar and at that time, anything pretty much goes.

-  Bar - usually you don't get to hang out unless you show ID that you can be there -- usually 21+.   There are a few places that play music (bands etc.) that are all ages but usually wrist bands or people are physically separated (21+ from 21 and under).

Its just a bad scene-- kiddies shouldn't be around a drunken-buffonery adult crowd.  There's plenty of time for that when they're of age.

But as we all know-- there are no limits to stupidity or bad parenting.

Melly gurl, I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone with my statement.

Where I live, most all bars have hail-raising, redneck type of crowds. (go figure, those dayum westerners, haha)

I've never been in a bar that would be ANYWHERE near suitable for children, at all.

The way I grew up..... my dad & all my uncles were alcoholics (and I'm not proud of that, but my dad has been a RECOVERED alcoholic for the last 9 years)

But, each & EVERY weekend there was music & drinking at our house. We had a huge home on a cattle ranch, and all the many relatives & friends convened at our place to have their "get togethers"..... so, being around drunks was perfectly natural to me. And, drinking went with music, and music went with drinking..... And THAT in itself has been a hard thing to not "connect" over the years. You start to play music, or go out to sing..... and you think you need alcohol. You start drinking alcohol, and first thing you do is yank out the guitars & fiddles, or crank up the karaoke. I don't regret the way I was raised.... I guess it's a big part of who I am.... but looking back, I guess it's sad to me that as a little kid, drinking was just a normal every day part of life, and there was nothing wrong with it. And it passed into adulthood, until I started having my OWN kids... and didn't want them to grow up seeing me fall down, and worry that I'm not gonna come home cause I wrecked the car. I admit to making my mistakes over the years, but I do deal with a huge guilt trip afterwards. (NOT that that makes it "okay")

And so I find it hard to accept kids being raised around that kind of atmosphere. And I've always had a hard time drinking around my own kids.... I usually save that for when I go out. It's embarrasing for me to let my kids see me tipsy. I just recall too many nights as a kid...... mom would load us in the car to go to my aunts cause the drinking got too bad, and fights broke out..... or putting all us kids in ONE upstairs bedroom, cause there was a fight and someone called the law...... or having to be babysit by my older sis cause mom had to go get dad out of jail. Like most other kids, I feared alcohol, then I turned to it myself when I got old enough. Thing is....... I got a grip on it. Sure, I lose it sometimes, but remembering how it got at home is enough to keep my head clear usually.

So, I guess what I'm saying is my firm opinion about "kids being in bars" is a bit biased. To your "normal" family, I guess it's not that big of an issue.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

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Okay, all is cool then sweets. Thank ya. It's just.......sometimes....... my loudmouth opinions seem to get the best of me. And I didn't want ya to take that the wrong way.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Here in Nova Scotia children are allowed in a bar which serves food until 9:00pm regardless of when the kitchen closes.  They must be with an adult and must have food in front of them.  Once they finish eating they must leave.  No one here as far as my experience goes abuses it and it is the venue's option whether they allow this practice.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

ROFL...me too! I KNOW the feeling...hey...were we seperated at birth?....

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Hey, now....... THERE'S a thought....

You know, since "stacked together" we're about average height, maybe we are one being they just sawed in half. Hmmmmm.......  LOL

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

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The Federal minimum age "Purchase", and "Public possession" of alcohol law reads as follows.

It is federal in public places, yet there are exclusions for minor children drinking as stated:


The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984
by David J. Hanson, Ph.D.

The Maryland Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition (MUDPC) summarizes the provisions of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 as follows:

“The legal age for alcohol in the USA is 21 years old. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise their minimum purchase and public possession of alcohol age to 21. States that did not comply faced a reduction in highway funds under the Federal Highway Aid Act. The U.S. Department of Transportation has determined that all states are in compliance with this act. The national law specifically prohibits purchase and public possession of alcoholic beverages. It does not prohibit persons under 21 (also called youth or minors) from drinking. The term "public possession" is strictly defined and does not apply to possession for the following:

An established religious purpose, when accompanied by a parent, spouse or legal guardian age 21 or older
Medical purposes when prescribed or administered by a licensed physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, hospital or medical institution
In private clubs or establishments
In the course of lawful employment by a duly licensed manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer.” 1 (Emphasis in original. Conspicuously not emphasized is the significant fact that “the law does not prohibit persons under 21 (also called youth or minors) from drinking.”)
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) subsequently identified 19 states which did not specifically prohibit the consumption of alcohol by persons under the age of 21. However, those states are in compliance with the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. It would appear that such states could legally only charge underage persons with public possession of alcohol, not underage drinking.

The title of the legislation itself is clearly misleading in that the National Minimum Age Drinking Act doesn’t prohibit drinking by persons under the age of 21 (so-called “underage” persons) nor does it require the states to prohibit such drinking. In addition, descriptions of the law contribute to the false belief that it does. For example, the assertion that “the legal age for alcohol in the USA is 21 years old” clearly leaves the false impression that the minimum legal drinking age for alcohol is 21.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Thanks Kappy!! Gosh, makes you stop and really think

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

I learned something from looking that up.  I wasn't aware of this.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

You know what? I dunno how it is in other states, but here in Oregon...... It is 100% legal for me to serve MY minor children alcohol in MY home. Now isn't that ridiculous? There was a write up on school paper my son had to do recently, that had the online info, and I went and read it.

What in the heck would be the purpose in that? Why would I serve my kids alcohol?  :no:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥