Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Child-free zones

A couple of weeks ago, I went out to have dinner with some people my husband knows. I was the last to arrive at this chic SoBo (South Bombay) joint and was surprised to find them sitting outside the restaurant. My eyebrows went up in the air when I was told that we had a child in the group, who would not be allowed inside. Is this India? - was my first reaction. But when I went home and thought about it, it didn't seem like too weird an idea. How many times have you been to a public place where kids are running berserk, even as their parents smile indulgently at their misbehaviour? More often than not, people (self included) don't mind because of the social conditioning. This Times of India article on child free zones in the country offers some interesting perspectives.

I don't know if I agree to the idea of child free zones, but people could ensure that their children do not create trouble in public places. My Indian friend who lives in Tokyo once told me that the only children in Japan who run amok are Indian; the local children are supposedly very well mannered. Maybe its just the way we bring up our children.

4 comments:

Anush said...

Being a well behaved kid myself, i have often advocated the need for control over kids.

Karlette said...

Hahaha. I wish all theatres in Mumbai get converted into child free zones :-D

- K.Jo

Materialmom said...

My first thought was that somethings can be so utterly practical, so coldly logical, so selfishly reasonable BUT so very wrong.On second thoughts the idea isn't so bad as long as there are places that do admit children. The article is quite convincing, but I'd have hated to have a good time without my kids. Thankfully they were always well behaved.

AI said...

One of my neighbors who lives in the same community as I do, a lady from China has been sending emails to parents of the children in our neighborhood who are running around.....

I was surprised to hear that at first, but after some observation I noticed that, those parents don't really seem to care about these things, the kids are running around unsupervised even though the law in the US says otherwise. More that having kid free zones, which are sometimes necessary, Indian parents, most of them need to be advised.....