News

August 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) –  While most parents with young children have self-imposed limits on spending and leisure, a new movement to keep kids out of public areas may start imposing a brand new set of limits.

The movement experienced a nationwide surge in June after Malaysia Airlines made headlines for keeping babies out of their first-class cabins.

Then, McDain’s, a Pittsburgh area eatery, became the trend’s mascot last month after it instituted a ban on children under 6 at the casual dining establishment. 

Also, a Texas cinema chain has banned children under age 6, except on specific children’s days, and Whole Foods in Missouri has reportedly established no-child shopping hours.

There is even a travel industry devoted to coordinating no-kids-allowed trips. A referral service based in London, Leavethembehind.com has reportedly experienced an uptick in business thanks to the “no kids allowed” trend. 

Family advocates say that the trend is more bad news for a society that already pushes children to the sidelines.

Jenn Giroux, founder of Speaking of Motherhood, told LifeSiteNews that the mentality behind the “No Kids Allowed” movement is “a reflection of where we are as a society today in America: we no longer love children.”

“They are seen as a burden which is reflected in the widespread use of birth control and abortion,” Giroux said. “Those who have missed their opportunity or who have put off the decision to have children for too long now disdain the sight or sound of them.”

Giroux attributed the beginning of the movement to the introduction of the birth control pill 50 years ago.

“Women were told that children are too great of a personal sacrifice for them and that fulfillment was found in a career outside the home,” she explained.  “It is a mentality that went from parents accepting God’s gift of children as a blessing to ‘me first’ and the disregarding and devaluing of life through abortion and contraception.” 

In an interview with LifeSiteNews, Mercedes Arzu Wilson of the Family of the Americas Foundation agreed, saying that America’s older generations are less welcoming of children.

“We are living in a society where the population, particularly of the Western World, is becoming old and less interested in practicing their faith, they become impatient with the few children, if any, their own children are having,” said Wilson.

“Hence, some of them will sympathize with the anti-child movement,” something that “has been growing with the help of governments funding programs to destroy the innocence of children from kindergarten on,” she added.