It’s the people that changed. It used to be common sense. There were places parents knew that you just didn’t bring kids. But now, parents are taught to be entitled. They demand to bring kids everywhere.

I wish there were more adults only places/days. I am autistic and children are very overstimulating. Plus I like doing childish things so.... Gimme a no child night at an arcade or mini golf or something and I would be there so fast

Stone restaurant and brewery added an array of chicken tendies and there's kids climbing all over the rocks.

The struggle is real.

Sorry to hear, and this isn’t going to help much, but sometimes going childfree can be an economic decision. My favorite place to stay in Las Vegas is Circa, and one of its features are no kids allowed. I don’t mean no small children, or just no children in the casino, I mean no one under 21 is even allowed past the door, ID is checked. Not in the hotel, not in the restaurants, not in the pool. And it’s a great pool.

I get you. I also hate kids running around. I understand they're kids and they don't know better, but their moms don't even care. That's the problem because the kids never learn to respect other people's space.

The other night, my SO and I went out for dinner at a nearby place and there was literally a group of kids running laps through the tables while the parents just looked on.

No way am I saying don't get your kids out for dinner but atleast enforce basic courtesy applicable in public spaces!!

Because mom groups are filled with awful, awful people who don't care how their behavior affects others.

Late stage capitalism, savage capitalism, an overcapitalized society, whatever you want to call it... It's a bunch of different factors that all eat away at the social fabric that make raising kids easier

Housing is expensive, and people frequently move for a job. It's pretty unusual to live next door to family, who would often give free childcare. You also don't get neighborhoods full of young parents anymore - everyone is just living wherever they can afford to

For-profit media - thanks to decades of horror stories (of crimes that peaked in the 80s, but are great for viewership), leaving a child not in the hands of a specific, designated adult is grounds for a CPS visit in a lot of places. You can't drop them off at the park (even if there are many adults present) or leave them at home anymore, regardless of if they actually need the supervision. It's one thing if they're 3, but a 7 year old can generally keep themselves alive pretty well, especially if you prepare them for it

Monetization and over scheduling - activities for them are paid and have specific time slots. Tae Kwon do is an hour at 6, soccer is 5-7... If you're late you need to find someone to watch them. And most of that requires money and a big time investment because of car culture

Babysitters are the exception, but they're either rare or expensive. Minimum wage isn't near enough for teens to want to do such a crap job (parents often treat them like crap and expect a lot more from them now), and teens are less trusted. They even have certifications for teens that are a few hundred bucks to teach them what to do in an emergency - basically the heimlich maneuver, how to change a diaper, and when to call 911. Adult professionals have regulations to meet, and are a significant cost

Finally, we're pushed hard to be individuals that can be interchangeable and portable labor. Outside of family, we don't have the same tight bonds of friendship our parents or grandparents did... And even family doesn't mean what it used to

I have two kids- 7 and 8. Sometimes I want to get away from them (and everyone else’s kids too). If I had a spot like you described and it got co-opted I’d be pissed.

Ultimately it’s up to whoever owns the business though. I’m guessing the two hour waits mean more money for the business owner and barbers that work there.

Let's expand childcare so it's not so prohibitively expensive!

Meh. It's one thing to not like children, but here this seems to have been your real problem:

my normal 20 min wait it was almost a 2 hours wait. I just walked out.

We, uh... live in a society. You don't get to feel entitled to be served at an advantage over other people. We all have to share all these natural resources and the labor of all these workers. But more people is not a bad thing. What's next, you gonna complain that all these immigrants are clogging up the line to the drive through, or that all these old people are making you wait long time at the doctor's office? Everyone is entitled to life. And in truth more people means more workers means more benefit to you and everyone on average.

Yes, you feel that this barber shop in particular was targeted towards adult audience with its shave service and whiskey bar, but apparently all those moms saw something useful in that service too, and more importantly they were all willing to pay for it. If this shop was so exclusive and upscale, then how could those kids even afford it? Yet they are customers too apparently.

I feel that way too sometimes, like when going to the movies - if I pay $20 for a ticket, how can all those kids in front of me cough up the money, when I remember paying $5 per movie as a kid myself? And yet they paid too, so we are all in there together. If I really didn't want to share space with other people, I could go look for a $50 movie theater with individual "bedroom" cubicles. As could you. You could outspend all those kids and find an even more exclusive and expensive barber service, by appointment-only. I'm gonna tolerate the kids and keep my money. 😂

As someone who has kids, it's a fucking Act of Congress to get child care. I wouldn't trust my parents to watch a potted plant, and her parents really aren't interested in the whole grandparent thing. Hiring a babysitter is both sketchy and expensive, and asking a friend is awkward since

1. most of our friends are nokids and/or not super comfortable around kids and our kids were deeply blessed by the ADHD fairy and have never met a stranger in their whole lives. And
2. We don't see our friends often, so "hey, wanna come over and watch our crazy heathens try to beat the shit out of each other every 3.5 seconds?" Is kind of a hard sell.

So, it's just easier to take them everywhere, and if we can't take them, we don't go.

I don't mind a well behaved young child at a brewery during the day. But running and playing tag inside is not okay. Especially if it's busy.

That’s just bad business sense if they allow that to continue.

There are some people whose idea of compromise is when the other party does what they say. Note: that was something explicitly said in USA politics at some point, but I honestly see it on both "sides", and surely happens in many other places in the world as well. I've seen parents literally lift up urine-soaked & still dripping children from non-plastic seats, only to either not leave a tip at all or like a bare minimum 10%, while leaving ~50-fold more mess spread out everywhere than any other table in the place (and not even tell the servers about the urine, which would need special cleansers to not become embedded into the furniture). My point is that it is not the children - the innocents - it is the parents, who are inflicting their choices onto you. And I suppose the owner too, but they are customers and what, are they supposed to just turn them away? Like gentrification, they come in and you can gtfo b/c they own the place now (childification?:-P)

Oh wow, it just struck me how much your story parallels what happened on Reddit too... aside from spez's antics, I likely would have left it anyway b/c all the children were taking over there too (they definitely are in charge of so many Discord servers). You can fight back (talk to the owner), or you can leave (maybe there is a place to get a haircut inside of a place of employment, where children are less likely to visit? or perhaps if you travel further away?), but definitely pick your battles b/c the kids, and more importantly their parents, aren't going to disappear anytime soon - if anything, the sort that you are talking about seem to be getting bolder all the time.:-( Maybe this is why people go to country clubs, to filter them out?

I understand your frustration. I would be very annoyed if I was in the same situation. We need adult only places that are not nfsw.