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Our Brewery and Taproom has been a community hub and gathering place for all of us for 5 and a half years! You might say we’re an energetic kindergartener, excited for all the things that come next. But speaking of the energetic youth – we need to have a conversation about kids at Wilmington Brew Works.
We built Wilmington Brew Works with sincere hope that we could mimic taprooms of Germany, where families gather together. We have children too! We want to enjoy our taproom with our own families. As parents, we know a night out for a beer, even with our kids, cannot be taken for granted.
However, what has been taken for granted, is the social contract we have with each other. Over the past year, we have seen less active parenting of children at Wilmington Brew Works. From sending kids to the chalkboard wall unsupervised, to throwing rocks and jumping off stone walls in the beer garden. This. Has. To. Change.
First and foremost – Wilmington Brew Works is a BAR. Our main source of revenue is the sale of Alcoholic Beverages. We know that we are one of the few bars that will allow you to bring your children in tow. But this is not a playground. We can think of no other bars, and few restaurants, in our area that would allow the free roam of children.
We also know we are speaking to the minority. So many of you bring your families without incident. So many of you are adults with no kids, or have grown kids (or easy access to babysitters!) that still come here to enjoy adult beverages even though kids are present. THANK YOU.
We do not want to change our policy towards children at Wilmington Brew Works, but in order to stay a welcoming environment to ALL patrons, we will need to be more strict with what used to be guidelines, and are now becoming rules.
No one under 21 is allowed at Wilmington Brew Works without a parent/guardian. This is the law, and this hasn’t changed. Those that bring children must actively supervise them. Let’s be honest here – the ones that need supervision the most are those under 10 – they need to stay within an arms reach of you, or better yet, you need to stay within an arms reach of them.
This is not an easy conversation to have. But things we’ve encountered in the past two months include children climbing on barrels, throwing handfuls of stones, trying to run into the brew space, throwing chalk at the wall with intent to explode, and making chalk paste to smear on the floor.
- If your child makes a mess, clean it up (social contract!)
- If you see a staff member talking to your child, it means you’re not holding up your end of the bargain.
- If we have to ask you to supervise your child, it means they aren’t behaving and consider that a warning. If we have to ask again, it’s time to start heading out. Please don’t force our team members to have to ask you to leave. (And listen, we all have bad days – we’re not going to hold this against you next time….unless it happens again.)
Here are some tips and guidelines for enjoying WBW with kids in tow.
- Bring activities. We all keep bags of coloring books, card games, board games, tablets (with headphones) in the car. Bring in something (without 1000 pieces) to keep your children occupied. (Do not bring a Ball – no balls allowed, and we know how funny that sounds.)
- Bring a water bottle. Bring (or buy) snacks. Please don’t send your kids to get water from the jug alone.
- Take a break and bring your kids to the chalkboard wall. If you are two or three families meeting up, take turns watching the kids there.
- There is a beautiful new playground across the street – head over there to expel energy.
- Remind your children before coming in that this is an Adult Space. Especially at night. Realistically, small kids shouldn’t be here much past 8:30 – and we only use that time because that’s when music ends.
- If you feel your children starting to melt down – pack’em up and go. If we see you doing that, we’ll understand that your tab might not be closed, and you may have left more mess at your table than you like – but we’ll be appreciative and take care of it.
Now for the conversation part of this. What are we missing? We’re looking for sincere and constructive comments here – please drop us a note on our contact page or engage us on social media.
Thank you all for reading.
