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KLMNO
SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010
Parents joust for rights in public spaces
parents from A1
clined.) Ken Archer, who lives in
Georgetown, felt the full force of anti-parent resentment when he told readers on the urban plan- ning blog Greater Greater Wash- ington about an incident on a D.C. Circulator bus. The driver had told Archer that he and his family would have to get off un- less he folded up his son’s stroll- er. When Archer wrote that such policies help drive young fami- lies out of the District, the re- sponse from readers was so fierce that the blog’s moderator had to shut down the comment board, a rare event for a site devoted to wonky topics such as bike lanes and inclusionary zoning. “Why do people with children
always think that they should be catered to?” commented one poster. “Fold your damn giant stroller (which seem to be getting larger and larger these days) and shut up.” Tensions only escalated after Archer and other parents ex- plained that folding a stroller can be difficult when lugging grocer- ies. “People should think about how they’re going to get their food once they have a child before they have a child,” replied a com- menter identified as Teo. “Maybe have your neighbor watch your kid for an hour or two. . . . Maybe move closer to a store so you can walk. . . . Maybe don’t have kids.”
Baby happy hours
Parents can be annoyingly oblivious, said Kriston Capps, a Shaw resident who in April post- ed a lengthy rant on the city blog DCist about a run-in with a “Heinz-covered goober” during Wonderland Ballroom’s weekly baby happy hour.
“Some of you will say that mothers deserve a bit of fun, too,” Capps, who is 30 and has no chil- dren, wrote of his experience at the hipster watering hole at 11th and Kenyon streets NW. “But some of you are wrong. . . . Just like every parent out there who once swore they would never bring down the bar by bringing in their kids, I one day will have kids and view parent socials as no great harm. And on that day, I will be wrong, too.” “I don’t hate kids,” Capps said in an interview. “But you know,
MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST
With the boom in the District’s under-5 set since 2000, bulky strollers are just as likely on the social scene as childless adults.
just like in totally reasonable moderation. Lots of adults can make a great scene at a bar. . . . Lots of kids cannot make a great scene at a bar.” He hastened to add that “I
don’t want people to think I am not husbandable because of some hatred of cute babies.” After the dust-up, Rebbie Hig- gins of Brookland, who often brings her two kids to the baby happy hour, told co-owner Rose Donna that she would under- stand if Donna decided to kick out the children. But Donna vowed to carry on. “This is a neighborhood bar,” she said. “These are our neighbors.” Kid happy hours are also lucra- tive. At least three other bars in the city now host one, including the Reef in Adams Morgan, which provides kiddie music and such dishes as “ants on a log” (peanut butter and raisins on cel- ery). The Argonaut, a bar on H
Street NE, has hosted a weekly family night for a year and a half. Co-owner Scott Magnuson tells customers who grumble to come after 8 p.m.
Some parents hypothesize that the hostility they encounter stems from a culture gap be- tween them and peers who have chosen to remain childless well into their 30s. They would know, these parents say, because they are describing their former selves.
“I remember really hating peo- ple with kids before I had kids,” Hill resident Tim Krepp said. “I grossly underestimated at the time how difficult it is to get two kids around the city without cars.”
Stroller bans
Many complaints about par-
ents revolve around strollers, es- pecially high-end models with large rubber tires that can cost more than $1,000 and have be- come a symbol of entitled par- enthood. In Georgetown, the owner of Exquisite Fabrics, Mo Rezvan, cited stroller size in defense of his long-standing ban on them. The policy attracted complaints after the shop moved from down- town K Street to the Shops at Georgetown Park less than a year ago. In one case, a mother was told that she would have to leave her sleeping 3-month-old near
the entrance. Rezvan allows wheelchairs, as he must by feder- al law. “Today, strollers are big, they
have coffee and snacks, and they can spill” on his store’s wares, he told the blog The Georgetown Dish. “It does feel like discrimina-
tion,” said Julia Young of Ball- ston, who ran afoul of the ban. Kids “are people, too, and they have specific needs.” Even in places considered ha- vens for parents, business own- ers have started to draw a line. Two Amys, a Cleveland Park piz- zeria popular with families, has a small “quiet room” upstairs where strollers and high chairs aren’t allowed. In the Del Ray section of Alexandria, the frozen- custard shop Dairy Godmother and St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub have banned strollers for part or all of the day.
While most parents comply without complaint, the rules have provoked testy exchanges. St. Elmo’s owner Nora Partlow said some parents balk at having to leave their strollers outside. “People said, ‘These things cost $500. I don’t want it stolen,’ ” Partlow said. “I said, ‘If you buy something that costs that much, why don’t you get a bike lock?’ ” A Dairy Godmother regular who declined to give her name said she was outraged when she, her two kids and a couple with a baby in a stroller were asked to leave before they were done eat- ing so a videographer could get shots of the store. It was the cou- ple’s last outing before the infant, who has cancer, started chemo- therapy. Partlow and Davis said they are not trying to run parents off. They said as strollers have gotten bigger, it has gotten harder to keep entrances and exits clear. Where there is conflict, there
are often peacemakers. On Capi- tol Hill, Bonny King-Taylor, a pet coach known as the Doggy Lama, has been holding workshops on dog citizen skills, including how to deal with children and panicky parents. The next one is slated for June in Lincoln Park. Will it foster a new detente between dog owners and parents? She doubts it. “The people who need to come probably won’t,” she said.
shina@washpost.com
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