Why not?
I Googled the term "Family friendly nightclub and got nothing but a suggestion that there might be some in Dubai, but the listing provided no such thing. No listing anywhere provided any such thing.
There were adult nightclubs, including of the non-alcoholic variety. There was one of the latter in Ireland where public drunkenness has reputedly become a problem of such monstrous proportions that people have been actively trying to find ways to at least not aid and abet it.
There were a number of teen clubs even in my area but they tended not to last long before teens started sneaking drugs and alcohol in leading to raids that ended up with the clubs being closed. Dumb kids messing things up for their fellow teens, not to mention the poor well-meaning club owner scuttled and disillusioned in the process.
There are a lot of clubs for kids no matter where you go it seems: matinee clubs, Chucky Cheese, Funtasia, Bullwinkles, McDonald Land, Burger King Play Land. Yes, these clubs include food, drink, and trinket sales as well and none are particularly good. The real sales are in the fun they provide. The rest is simply obligatory. It doesn’t have to be good. Kids may be fussy eaters, but most are willing to scarf up junk food and go back for more with the sort of pure relish that is never shown to any sort of remotely healthy foods like fruit and vegetables. Their parents just accept this and go along for the ride if it means something fun for their kids to wear themselves out on for a change of pace. Some of us parent types used to even play with our kidkins in the giant habitrails of these places. Have you done it too? Even so, there really is no question: these places are far more about kids having fun, not adults. Adults don’t go to these places unless they are taking their kids there.
The thing about having kids is that most of us learn pretty quickly where not to take them even when it’s allowed. The strict discipline my generation and those before it was brought up with is nearly absent these days. Most of us faced spankings or restrictions when we misbehaved. Now it’s considered child abuse and you can lose your children to the state over that. Parents have become permissive in general and their children very spoiled because that’s just the way it’s worked out. But kids can still torture their parents into cringing submission via all-out tantrums and heaven forbid they do so in a public place! The very idea is shuddersome. Everyone gives you the stink eye BAD and you’d better hurry out with kidlings by the scruff of the neck before you get thrown out – something, btw, I would never blame the owner of any establishment for doing. Noisey unruly kids on the premises will guaranteed drive their customers away after all.
So when my kids were small, the only public venues I brought them to were parks, MacDonald’s, Chucky Cheese, Burger King, Bullwinkle’s, & innumerable PWP events. Nice restaurants and all but a few specialized movie events were OUT as were most visits to the homes of others. No more parties to go to unless they were strictly kid parties. But see, the places I could safely bring them to were safe for a reason: my kids weren’t bored there. Bored kids, with no strict discipline to prevent it, WILL misbehave. It’s a fact of nature. Most will put their halos back on IF they are sufficiently entertained.
All of that said, modern parents don’t get to have evenings out or to socialize much at all unless they have a babysitter to mind the kids while they do so and kids only learn to socialize with other kids and have full expectations that the adults in their world will simply tolerate their tantrums, special demands, and bad manners as a matter of course.
That’s not good. It’s also not an insurmountable social problem. It should be easy. You should be able to take your kids along to places where you can both fully enjoy the activities, show your best face, and socialize with others as well as each other. There should be nightclubs open to everyone old enough to socialize. There should, specifically, be family friendly, alcohol free nightclubs. Why aren’t there? Fear of adults trying to pick up on kids while their parents are present? Fear of our children seeing us being ourselves as we would be out from under their supervision (i.e. recording and playing back at random everything we say and do). Fear of… what exactly?
What are your thoughts on this? Would you be open to the thought of a family friendly nightclub: live music, dancing, large play area for kids, exotic alcohol free drinks, parties, fun and games…?
Side note on that is that the square dance clubs my parents belonged to when I was little were like that but, hey, these are modern times. Square dancing’s fun but it’s also a bit old hat and won’t appeal to everyone but heck, why not have folk dancing at a club at least once a week? These are something that even little kids can be involved in that won’t likely get them trampled as would less choreographed styles of dancing. Kids were also invited to the Eagle Club dances that my parents belonged to.
Ha. Saw a forum discussing this. Someone was asking how feasible a non-alcoholic nightclub would be, pointing out that there is in fact a wide open niche for it wherever you go. Most people answering said it wouldn’t be; that people went out to drink alcohol. Then someone pointed out that they could drink alcohol at home at a 3rd of the cost and never endanger anyone’s life later that evening when it was time to go home. So why go out for it? Not so much for the booze, but for the entertainment of course! And then someone, getting no further than the outrageous idea of a non-alcoholic nightclub chimed in to say that coffee houses should count for that.
LOL. Well, you can certainly socialize in them but quietly as a rule. Some around here will have a singer or small jazz/folk band come in to entertain (Jeb is gagging over my shoulder at that) but there will be no dancing as there is never a dance floor, meaning those who enter as strangers will maintain their distance from one another, and there will certainly be no play area for the kids to play area, so the kids will be bored and you know what that means… It’s not a nightclub and it’s certainly not a kids’ club. Not that espresso or coffee couldn’t or shouldn’t be served in a nightclub; just that a coffee shop is definitely not an interchangeable venue. Come on, it’s a Coffee Shop. Let it be what it is and let’s go do something more fun.
Hmmm... just saw a forum comment from someone else saying they'd like to start a non-alcoholic nightclub in my town. Yay! It's about time! Maybe I can help. 