Kids Cuisine

Shortly after my daughter’s first birthday in 2005, my local newspaper ran an editorial in which a columnist complained about parents taking their kids to Starbucks and disrupting her coffee break. She said something to the extent of, “I had to suffer through McDonald’s when my kids were young and you should, too.”

No. Just because the previous generation of mothers had to suffer through the plastic nightmare of fast food playplaces and terrible meals doesn’t mean that we are doomed to the same fate.

In the four years since my daughter’s birth, two wonderful alternatives have opened to families in St. Louis, Missouri - Cooperella and Hartford Coffee Company. Gone are the ball pits and sugary sodas. In their place, these coffeehouse cafes installed play areas with train tables, Exersaucers, make-believe kitchens, books, and blocks. Instead of burgers, fries, and soda, kids nosh on fresh sandwiches, yogurt, fresh fruit, hummus, and organic milk, while the caregivers indulge in espresso and gourmet cafe goodies.

Parents in St. Louis aren’t the only ones reaping the rewards of forward-thinking entrepreneurs who see the value in catering to the tyke crowd with their kid-friendly cafes. You’d expect to see places like My Coffeehouse in Seattle, Java Mama in La Mesa, California, and Java Train Coffee in St. Paul, Minnesota, but other small cities have been similarly blessed. Louisville, Kentucky has Ray’s Monkey House and Spring Branch, Texas, has Loft Coffee.

Some shops offer enough toys to keep the kids entertained while the adults enjoy a coffee break, and others include programs to enrich those little minds and bodies. Cooperella offers toddler yoga classes. The class schedule at Zocalo Coffeehouse in San Leandro, California, runs the gamut from music to Spanish to exercise. Live music for the whole family’s on the menu at Coffee Muggers in Grand Junction, Colorado.

So let the cranky journalist have her chain coffee in peace. Support a local coffeehouse that supports the community and its families.