More and more kids at Starbucks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

zumbamama wrote:it is possible. and I don't care enough to let it stop me from going, but it does feel slightly uncomfortable going in there with kids. All my kidless friends frown upon kids at Starbucks.

Well, as a mom and long-time Starbucks customer/caffeine addict who has given Starbucks probably thousands and thousands of my hard-earned dollars, I frown upon all the people who order coffee in there and sit hogging the tables for hours and hours.

I think those are the people you're probably talking about! It's like Starbucks is their living room and they don't want children to disturb their peace.

I think it also depends on where the Starbucks is located. In my neighborhood (Waverly Hills in Arlington) where there are far more families than hip singles, I see kids in the local Starbucks all the time. I sometimes bring my 3 year old son in to get a doughnut and milk while I have a coffee. No one ever gives me a 2nd look because there are kids coming in and out all the time. However, I would probably not feel so comfortable if I brought him in one of the Starbucks closer to Clarendon/Courthouse where there are many more singles who might not appreciate my very cute, but active and sometimes loud 3 year old!

[Anonymous]

zumbamama wrote:I took my kids to Starbucks last week and felt a thousand stares. It was connected to the bookstore where we were shopping, and I really really wanted a Iced Mocha. At first I was scared to go in, with all the anti-kid in Starbucks stares. But then I thought, moms are entitled to their coffee too...so I went in, prepped my kids to be extra good, bought one mango juice and the other chocolate milk. I would never buy them coffee. I prep my kids before I go in there, to behave extra good, so as to avoid any rolling eyes from the other customers. They act like a mom can't go in and get herself a cup of coffee

Unreal!!
What Starbucks is this?

[Anonymous]

Wow - I never feel that way in Starbucks. I live in Palisades and go to both the one on MacArthur near Arizona and the one in Sangamore Center in Bethesda. Both seem super friendly to children to me. Besides, I KNOW my kids are really well behaved kids so I am not worried that they will cause a scene and, if by some odd chance they did, well, they are kids so a little leeway should be allowed. We were ALL kids once!

[zumbamama]

This was at 7 corners, not a frou frou place at all. Maybe it was all in my head because of what my kidless friends say. But I felt some kind of strange vibe there, and was the only person there with kids.

[Anonymous]

I think the be-laptopped seat-hoggers can't expect a library-quiet atmosphere.

[Anonymous]

i've been to the B and N Starbucks at Seven Corners before and not had a problem (if that's the one you're talking about). They have story times in their kids dept and I've found the experience with my kids there as a non issue.

[Anonymous]

The only time it bothers me to see a child at Starbucks is at our local Barnes and Noble if the child is misbehaving. People use that cafe to work/study, and I recently saw a child there running around, literally screaming, running from table to table and banging the plastic table topper ads together. His mother was at a table nearby with another woman and was completely unconcerned. She occasionally said, "No, no," in a completely ineffective way, but it didn't stop him. I'll admit, I gave her a glare. I know a bookstore isn't a library, but it was very distracting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only time it bothers me to see a child at Starbucks is at our local Barnes and Noble if the child is misbehaving. People use that cafe to work/study, and I recently saw a child there running around, literally screaming, running from table to table and banging the plastic table topper ads together. His mother was at a table nearby with another woman and was completely unconcerned. She occasionally said, "No, no," in a completely ineffective way, but it didn't stop him. I'll admit, I gave her a glare. I know a bookstore isn't a library, but it was very distracting.

Starbucks and B&N are not for working/studying. They are public places for purchasing things.

[Anonymous]

I so agree with you PP. While I think it's great that people choose to do work/study/etc at a coffee shop, they shouldn't expect these places to be like a library or a place for studying. It's not a place of solitude. It is public domain (for those who are paying customers). I don't think kids should be running rampant around a store but I also think they have every right to be there as much as those who take up a table for their laptop or papers.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP who was bothered by the child at the B&N Starbucks. I said in my post that it's not a library, and I don't expect it to be. But the fact is, people DO use it to work and study, and while I have no expectation that it's going to be silent, or even really all that quiet, a child who is literally running and screaming is distracting and inappropriate. That would be true in almost any store or cafe.

[Anonymous]

I'm the pp who said it wasn't for working/studying. I agree re: out of control kids though.

So, we all agree!

[Anonymous]

I have to say, out of control kids in any environment are annoying.

[Anonymous]

My children breaskfast drink is coffe&milk

[Anonymous]

Okay, if you're going to resurrect a months-old thread - at least have it free of typos and making some sense.

[zumbamama]

i wish there were a CafeMom, where moms can go have coffee while kids play or read in the kid area, fully viewable but separate from the coffee tables. Like Chuck-E-Chs, but less annoying and prettier.