Comments on: Baby Invasion

By: Al

Al — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:44:53 +0000

When i was a kid (lo, all of those decades ago!), we did things as a family. If we went to a restaurant, which was very seldom, we all went. Church about three times a week, etc. I don’t remember ever being babysat.
Then, it seemed things shifted so parents did all of their social things, while local teenagers babysat the kids. Good income for the teens, and the adults had their ‘grown-up’ time. But the kids didn’t necessarily learn a lot about behaving in a public place, the joys of special family outings, or whatever. You can still see the results of that lack of training.
Now, if more kids are out with the parents, I think it is probably a good thing. But I do notice lots of huge strollers on the bus.
I expect the proliferation of single-parent families affects all of this as well. Single moms with limited incomes have no choice but to take the kids along.
If you want ‘grown-up space’, don’t go to McD’s or Walmart. Go to a strip club or some other adults-only establishment. Or some churches who haven’t figured out that kids and young families aren’t into the way they do things. (I think I’m kidding about the last choices…)

By: Lon

Lon — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:16:38 +0000

hey jake, i wonder if there’s any correlation between the baby-aversion and stroller city you mentioned in your comment?

i think we’ve all become really good at taking pride in whatever stage of life we’re in.. on some levels

By: Jake Belder

Jake Belder — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:26:46 +0000

I find this quite interesting, considering our culture’s aversion to having children. I don’t know exactly how bad it is in Toronto, but you know also where it is terrible? At DIsney World down here. The amount of strollers is mind-boggling. What I wonder is why the heck you would bring an infant to Disney World where they can’t even go on any of the rides?

I do love that kid’s shirt on the cover, though. Awesome.