Children Shouldn't be Allowed to see Liquor Bottles?
Categories: Weird but true, Alcohol & drugs
Other than layovers at the Salt Lake International Airport and one quick business trip, I have never spent any time in the state of Utah. But while living in nearby Idaho, I became aware of Utah's unusual laws regarding alcohol. Most notably, bar patrons must fill out an application and pay a fee before being allowed in. This law does not apply to restaurants and anyone of legal age can have a drink with dinner. However, the bar areas in most restaurants are required to have a barrier between the bartenders and the customers. This means the server must walk around the barrier to deliver drinks. I am not sure of the purpose of this so-called "Zion Curtain", but because it is made of glass, it clearly isn't intended to hide anything from view.
But at least one Utah state senator thinks this barrier should be hiding the view of the bar from impressionable children. He wants a law passed that would require restaurants to not only hide the liquor bottles from kids, but to prepare the alcoholic drinks out of their sight. "Restaurants are turning into bars," said Senate President Michael Waddoups. "It's making it look attractive. Kids see it and wonder what they're missing. I think we need to be a little more strict."
I can appreciate Waddoups' desire to protect children from the early influence of alcohol but I think his idea is backwards. If kids seeing what goes on behind the bar makes them wonder what they are missing, doesn't it stand to reason that being secretive and hiding it would make them even more curious?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ann 1-12-2009 @ 6:01PM
Call me old-fashioned, but I don't think that any restaurant that admits minors should even have a bar in it. If the restaurant still wants to have a bar for its patrons it can do what hotels have been doing for ages, namely have a separate lounge with a bar in it. Children ARE impressionable, but it is ultimately up to their parents to be good role models when it comes to drinking. Since most restaurants do serve alcohol, it is the parent's job not to get completely sloshed during dinner. The same rule goes for home. If you can't do that, you may have a drinking problem.
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ninainindia 1-13-2009 @ 3:20AM
How would seeing a bottle of alcohol or seeing their parents drink alcohol be a bad influence on children? I think there is nothing wrong with serving alcohol in restaurants and children seeing it.
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Don 1-13-2009 @ 7:25AM
I have to agree with you my parents always had a glass of wine with dinner, to me that was the norm. They never binged just a glass a night was enough, I can remember asking if i could have some to which I was allowed a small sip. Of course after my sip I never wanted any again.
In Europe it is common to have a glass of wine with dinner, children included yet they don't seem to have an a lot of issues with alcoholism over there compared to the states.
I have to agree with the author if you attempt to suppress something from children it will only cause their curiosity to grow.
Clarissa 1-13-2009 @ 9:52AM
Personally I think it's stupid to hide alcohol bottles in a restaurant, no one is forcing you to take your child to a restaurant that serves alcohol.
I'm also a firm believer in if you make things seem like a big deal kids will be more interested.
Just as with little ones who learn that new dirty word, laugh or make a big deal out of it and they will continue to use it, simply say to them oh that's a grown up word and drop it, and they will likely not do it again.
Make something glamorous and kids will want it every time, take the glamor away and there is less appeal.
Go ahead try to hide the fact that alcohol, tobacco and drugs exists from your kids and all you will wind up with is an uniformed kid who will educate themselves about it, the hard way.
Get your heads out of the sand and have an open conversation with your children, otherwise if you don't do it someone else will, and that someone else could very well be another uneducated child.
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Clarissa 1-13-2009 @ 9:54AM
Personally I think it's stupid to hide alcohol bottles in a restaurant, no one is forcing you to take your child to a restaurant that serves alcohol.
I'm also a firm believer in if you make things seem like a big deal kids will be more interested.
Just as with little ones who learn that new dirty word, laugh or make a big deal out of it and they will continue to use it, simply say to them oh that's a grown up word and drop it, and they will likely not do it again.
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Catherine 1-13-2009 @ 2:14PM
I agree with Ann, but unfortunately, so many of the restaurant chains that are so prevalent all over Utah serve alcohol. Banning alcohol from restaurants altogether would effectively run pretty much every casual dining chain out of the state.
However, I think that people are making way too big a fuss over the supposed inconvenience that this barrier thing poses. I lived in Utah for years & never even noticed it at all. Granted, I wasn't ordering or serving alcohol, so it might have mattered more to me then, but the fact that I never noticed them once tells me that they're not imposing or obvious.
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