Here’s my rant de, umm…du jour. Why do people take their children to Vegas? I always took my children to places like Six Flags, or the beach, on vacation. There is nothing for children to do in Vegas, the atmosphere is decadent and unhealthy for children, and children are not allowed in the casinos.
I can only guess that parents who take their children to Vegas are narcissistic. They have a good time, and therefore, their children must have had a good time. Is there another explanation?
They fetch a decent price if you run out of Black Jack money.
A while back, Vegas was advertising itself as a family destination, and there are SOME family-friendly venues there, or were, back when I lived there.
And for all you know, the people you see with kids there are mostly locals. What are they supposed to do with their kids? Send them off to live with Grandma and Grandpa? Believe it or not, people have families in Vegas. The locals are not just childless singles. They are real people, living real lives.
When my family lived there, we frequently took our daughter to the buffets if we went out to eat. The service was non-existent, but the food was usually quite good, and they always had a nice selection of dishes. Sometimes we had to go through the gaming area, but we always avoided that when we could. Back then, too, both Circus-Circus and the Paddlewheel had kids’ areas, where kids could play various games. At Circus-Circus, they also had circus acts (free), and I spent some time up on the second floor myself, watching the acts and playing the midway and arcade games, which I’ve always enjoyed far more than just dropping coins into a slot machine.
Yes, they tried that, and it was a dismal failure, because people who have children do not have money to throw away at the casinos. I actually watched a couple walk away from the Sahara buffet once because they were told that they would have to pay for their infant, and they couldn’t afford it…WTF were these people doing at a casino?
If they are locals, why are they staying in a hotel?
OK, now you’re just being silly.
Tune in… tomorrow, apparently… for another episode of “Church Chat”!
We took our daughter to Vegas because my wife had a conference there. Should we have stayed at home? Now she was only 1.5, but we still found some things to do.
Heh, that’s why they had no money for the buffet. Blackjack is a mean mistress (yet she’s still the nicest mistress at the casino).
Not that I gamble, or have ever been to Vegas, but there is a world of difference between “can’t afford” and “choose not to pay”. I mean, if I went to the movies and the tickets suddenly cost $15 instead of the expected $10, I’d turn around and leave even though I could afford the $15–a movie just wouldn’t be worth $15 to me. These people expected the buffet for two to cost $2X, and suddenly it’s costing $3X. The buffet may not be good enough to be worth that extra expense.
The Sahara Buffet (former buffet, the new owners closed it) is not fit to slop to the hogs…but anyone who comes to Vegas and counts nickels and dimes is just being silly.
That plus the fact that the buffet probably does not have a selection of lactating women you could take back to your table for Junior’s dinner. I know if I were tha father of an unweaned baby and were asked to pay for the baby’s meal by a buffet cashier, I’d expect them to have a wetnurse available so the kid can have a meal out too!
Because the parents of small children are the most selfish, self-absorbed, clueless people on the face of the Earth. Their world shrinks until it ONLY encompasses their children and it becomes inconceivable for them that the rest of the world isn’t dominated by their child’s needs and wants.
I really disagree with that. Good fiscal sense means always counting nickles and dimes. That doesn’t mean you are cheap, or don’t spend money, but you always ask yourself “Is this worth what it costs?”. Even on vacation, I’d reconsider a meal if the price suddenly jumped 50%. There are many, many things that I buy now that I would not buy if they cost 50% more, and that’s true if I am at home or on vacation or anywhere. And it has nothing to do with what I can “afford”. It’s what I am willing to pay.
My parents took us to Vegas when we were kids, and while this was in the 90s it was before the casinos tried to really reinvent themselves as a family destination. So we stayed at the Circus Circus, had a good time in the arcade, saw some of the displays on the Strip, and went sightseeing to places like Hoover Dam. I thought I had a great time at the age of 9.
This, basically.
Starting when I was 12 yrs old, my parents would drop off me and my siblings at Circus Circus while they went off someplace else to gamble. It was a great feeling, walking around this vast casino by myself, playing arcade games and watching trapeze acts. I remember vividly, the first time I saw(*) the game Dragon’s Lair was there.
Good times, good times.
(*) “Saw”, not played, because there was a huge crowd surrounding the game, with people in line who had been waiting for hours to play. It was hard enough just getting close enough to see what the game was about!
I believe the point of the OP was that these horrible parents did not care if their kids were having fun or not.
Now, if a parent leaves a child under 16 alone for 5 minutes, every other busybody will call the police and child protective services for bad parenting. As a result, many children are not learning how to navigate the world outside of the protective glare of parents. I know my wife and I got stink eyes from many parents because we allowed our daughter to walk the 6 blocks to school alone starting at 7 or 8. Some parents who lived even closer never stopped, nor did they allow the children to use public transportation once high school started and it was no longer walking distance. Guess which kids got into more trouble once they were out on their own?
Back then, you all probably had enough manners to not be a problem for the adults that were paying good money to enjoy themselves. These days when parents leave kids at Circus Circus, they run screaming thru the halls and, er, beg for change. I avoid that casino - haven’t been in it for probably 7-8 years. Whenever it was that Vegas tried that family friendly flop.
Could you send some of those busybodies out here? We have plenty of free ranging children, and they are getting into trouble right off the bat, since apparently they haven’t been taught to respect other folks’ property or peace and quiet.
Also, to all - Morella may be a twit, but he/she is right on about children (particularly babies) in Vegas. Any time we go for a weekend vacation, there will be literal herds of parents hauling their suitcases and kids thru the casino to the rooms, and then back the other way to go out and do - what? They can tour the Hoover Dam, or abandon the kids at Circus Circus. Maybe ride the rides at Stratos. what else is there for children to do in Vegas?
It just seems to be another example of the trend of parents not modifying their lives after the baby is born. They just take it anywhere and everywhere and expect everyone else to deal with it, including the child.
Would if I could…
Ummm curlcoat, you can’t have it both ways. You either want kids who can fend for themselves or nanny babies. Pick one. You don’t get to diss ALL “kids these days” because they don’t fit some standard of “ALL kids back in the day.” For OG’s sake pick a meme and stick to it. Otherwise you just come off as an idiot.
And for the record’s sake, I took my kids everywhere with me. Surprisingly enough they now both have PhD’s and are quite successful. Letting them roam free didn’t seem to hurt them or society. Who’d a thunk it?
jackpot!