It seems that the times where in many places the presence of children was not well accepted are now gone. And while many bars and restaurants already adapted to this by dedicating small playing areas to the youngest, the trend today is opening bars where preferred customers are indeed children and families. 
This new format was invented (needless to say) by women, who decided to turn from housewives and mothers to businesspersons. After Brescia and Torre del Greco, other two mum’s were infected by the brilliant idea and just inaugurated the Mom’s family bar in the centre of Milan; a bar measuring 140 sq m for families with the aim to keep the concept of “staying together” alive, without giving up anybody’s needs. The idea comes from Rosa Massimo and Paola Tagliaferri (in the picture), who met at childbirth classes and realized there is no place where one could feel at home, without giving up afternoon pastime with one’s own children. The bar is divided into two areas: in the area intended for children, there is a changing station with equipped changing table and toiletries; for discreet mums, even a small sitting area has been arranged, including cushions for breastfeeding. Moreover, children can enjoy an “ad hoc” menu with special consideration for those suffering from celiac disease.
Adults can obviously make use of the café and aperitif corner. Rosa and Paola would like to stress that it’s not a day care, but shops provided with playing areas, nursery and children menus, where parents can enjoy a coffee or a cocktail in total relax in the meantime. While the Mum’s family has been leading proponent in Italy, children bars are a widespread trend abroad. Examples are the Kindercafè in Berlin where, besides an equipped playing area, painting, drawing, dance and theatre courses dedicated to creative children are offered. And to discredit that the bar world is only for adults, Moak has been promoting Latte Art Junior courses in the past few years, that is teaching the art of cappuccino decoration to the youngest. These events turned out to be stimulating recreational activities and a real “overbooking” for those places who offered them (info on store.caffemoak.com). Therefore, if you run low on ideas, the family bar definitely is a nice opportunity and claim for those parents seeing that the presence of their children is not welcome in many places.
Recommended song for the reading of the present article: La Belgique – Hoquets
