Do San Franciscan's Really Hate Kids? (San Francisco, Sacramento: transplants, big home, neighborhoods)

[Stacy From Cali]

So what it sounds like to me is that there are some crabby, entitled people who don't want to share...Hmmm. Maybe San Francisco is a city OF children.

Although to be honest I have never encountered that kind of hostility...but then I lived in the Outer Richmond where there are kids everywhere.

[clongirl]

San Francisco is not child friendly. Two of my kids were born/partially raised there and it's gotten much more anti-child in the past 10+yrs or so. It's not so much the homeless, lack of space, lack of parking etc. It's a hostile "vibe" whenever you walk down the street and your kid accidentally gets in someone's way, or if you go to the supermarket and your kid makes a noise or grabs something off a shelf..lots of eye-rolling or tsk tsks. I'm not even talking about some ill disciplined child running amock..it's the very thought of children being anywhere nearby.

I think the City (and perhaps other parts of the Bay Area as well) has become so young, yuppified , and ultra politically correct,and overly hip, that many of the views by many of the newer residents think that it's a sin to pollute the planet by even having them. There's a real "ewww attitude" if you decide to start a family, look in any way suburban (with the minivan) or purchase Kraft Mac and cheese!

I used to hear my pregnant friends talk about having to stand on a packed Muni while 9 months pregnant. One man once told my friend that it's not a disability to breed so he's not getting up. I was purposely booted off a pub chair (with someone's arse) while I was very noticeably pregnant (My Irish husband just HAD to get himself a whiskey on his holiday).

Once, not too long ago my family walked into a restaurant for lunch and some young man made a tsk tsk sound and we hadn't even sat down. He seemed pissed that we had the nerve to bring kids into an Indian restaurant (during the day,mind you) and sit anywhere near him. I used to to my shopping during the day with my kid at Safeway and you'd get the occasional "kids... hummph!" as you walk past them with a shopping cart. Totally unprovoked!

I think the City has gotten worse over the years with this whole attitude that their life decisions are far superior to any else's life decisions. It's a very "me vs. you" attitude. Perhaps it's a sign of the times, but I certainly never experienced anything like it while living up in Sacramento, or Ireland.

[ImRandy]

I think it only seems more child unfriendly because there are so many bad parents. I can't tell you how many times I've had strollers slammed into my ankles, run over my feet, or used as a tool to push me off the sidewalk not to mention having post-stroller aged children running into me because their parents are too ill mannered to teach them any.

Last weekend we went shopping at IKEA in Emmeryville. I managed to avoid being pummeled by all but three of the kids there. One little boy managed to do a full on face plant right into my crotch. Did I get a "I'm sorry", "pardon me", or "excuse me" out of him, his father, or his oblivious mother, no. The father laughed like a moron and I had to stand there waiting for the kid to get the hell out of the way. At Christmas we were walking in a crowded store and I spot these kids ducking and weaving through the crowd toward us. Not wanting to trip over yet another child I stopped before they got to me. The most retarded of the bunch headed straight for me and instead of going around tried to push his way through BETWEEN my legs.

I was going to go on about kids in restaurants, theaters, parks, entitled parents at work, etc but it suffices to say it only gets worse. I don't blame the children even though I would have liked to spank more than a few of them. I blame the parents. One comment at the linked blog brought up an interesting point. Children in the 60's and 70's were more likely to be disciplined by their parents and more often than not they were left at home when the parents went out. I know we rarely went places with our parents and when our parents went out at night we had a babysitter at least until we were preteens and then we stayed alone. These days the feeling of entitlement isn't with those without children but with all those with children who feel like they don't have to discipline, educate, or monitor their children's behavior and have an overriding right to take them anywhere anytime they want.

[Mach50]

It is definitely not just SF, we lived in West Village in Manhattan where we had a nice kids park at Hudson and Bleecker across from Magnolia Bakery. My wife and I would sit out there and watch the families (Comptenplating about kids ourselves) ...and we would be taken back by the pure rudeness of comments from singles hanging in the park, and that was where kids play...

Basically for the parents they have to get real defensive and be like a watchdog around their kids, trying to silence them at the store for even the littlest of peeps.

Guess what people! Kids make noise, they do silly sometimes uncontrollable things, they cry without warning..

How easily we all forget that we were kids too.

[ImRandy]

Originally Posted by Mach50

Guess what people! Kids make noise, they do silly sometimes uncontrollable things, they cry with out warning..

Hence the time honored expression, "Children should be seen not heard."

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by ImRandy

Hence the time honored expression, "Children should be seen not heard."

Children should be heard and seen. End of story.

[ImRandy]

Originally Posted by Mach50

Children should be heard and seen. End of story.

Yes, I seem to recall that fairytale.

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by ImRandy

Yes, I seem to recall that fairytale.

It's a good one, you may have some of these fairy-tales too, just ask the parents if they have any old Beta© cassettes of "little Randy" when he was a kid maybe that could provide some reflection for you.

BTW complaining about kids at IKEA is like complaining about kids at Disneyland, the entire store is a labyrinth filled with color and surprises to in thrill the kids...it's a kid crack house.

[majoun]

The relative lack of catering to kids is one of the things I like about SF.

[sailordave]

Judging by some people's responses here it appears that there is a pretty good segment of the bay area population that holds "breeding" in contempt and children in scorn. How long before the homosexual community's term of contempt and insult towards others, "breeders", be a word that is considered offensive and have to be partially blacked out?