‘There’s a level of expectation that the world fits around the kids, the kids don’t fit around the world,” says Stephen “Boydie” Boyd, 49. He is the owner-manager of the Alma, a pub in Crystal Palace, south London, that does not admit children under 10. It’s a summer afternoon and most of the punters appear to be young adults and parents in their 50s, plus some teenagers with gen X parents.
Boyd’s observation strikes me as true at a cultural level even deeper than the pub: the problem with kids isn’t the kids; it’s the parents. Or rather, it’s what some parents become when their kids are under 10, gripped by a sense that the burden of keeping them contented is astronomically heavy and should be shared by all.
