[at-l] Could we lay off the hut-bashing please?

[mfuller@somtel.com (Malcolm Fuller)]

Felix wrote:
> Jonathan Hartford wrote:

> > I've never seen a screaming child at the huts.   I've 
> > heard lots of thru-hikers whining like big babies about
> > them though.

Then you haven't seen Zealand or Mizpah on a weekend. We've
met people on the Webster-Jackson Trail hiking down from
Mizpah who were carrying children too young to walk. 

> Don't think that because you haven't seen it it doesn't 
> happen. Though, I'd say that this is more a complaint about
> society, and the way many let their children act than it is
> a complaint about the AMC.

That's correct. It is part of the post-boomer belief that
children needn't inconvenience or otherwise affect their
parents' lifestyle. Consequently, it has become socially
acceptable in recent years for parents to inflict their
ill-disciplined and unmannered children upon the public in
situations that simply wouldn't have been tolerated twenty
years ago. 

For example, the latest trend in Maine is to bring your 
screaming toddler into bars and brewpubs. Thanks in large 
part to the smoking ban in this state, all restaurants have
effectively become "family restaurants." It's gotten to
the point where people who just want to drink a few adult
beverages in peace must specifically ask to be seated away
from the children.

-MF