The city wants to ban smoking outside, in places where children play, but they stopped short of a ban on smoking on restaurant and bar patios.   
 
Thank God there is still somewhere to go where we will be free of ‘second-hand children’!!! 
 
Don’t get me wrong, I love kids, but there are some places they just don’t belong, and that includes any place where they could be exposed to second hand smoke..
 
I was on a patio last summer on a beautiful evening, the sun was still up, and the couple sitting at the table beside me brought their three children.  I don’t know if it was because they were outside, or because the patio was enclosed, or if the parents were just too busy trying to stop the baby from screaming, but the two older kids were allowed to wander around the patio.  They were running around the chairs, saying hello to the folks having their dinners, one of them actually asked me if he could have the bread that was sitting on the side of my plate…
 
Now, I had to hand it to the kid; he did say ‘please’ which was a better show of manners than his parents displayed.  From the dirty looks that some of the other restaurant patrons were shooting over at the parents, I was not alone in feeling that way.   
 
A restaurant patio is no place for a screaming baby.  Perhaps he was sending a message to his parents that he didn’t like the second-hand smoke blowing in his face. 
 
I’m not saying that there should be no smoking on patios, but there should be a bylaw against exposing others to second hand kids …
 
Or maybe that’s just me…