A group of politicians in France are pushing for a ban on adults-only holidays in the country, arguing that the exclusion of children from such spaces is discrimination
Parents and campaigners are calling for an end to adults-only holidays, branding the exclusion of children “violence”.
For many, the idea of a break away from the hubbub of a child-packed home where they can relax around the pool, a cocktail in hand and a book in the other, without the sound of infant wails shattering the silence, seems like a good time.
For members of the growing pro-children-on-holiday movement in France, banning anyone of any age from accessing a certain hotel or resort is completely wrong.
Laurence Rossignol, a socialist senator, is to table a private member’s bill in the French senate that would make it illegal to ban children from such establishments, the Times reported. Sarah El Haïry, the French high commissioner for childhood, has said that government lawyers are looking into whether it would be possible to take legal action against places that exclude families.
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“A child shouts, laughs and moves … we are institutionalising the idea that silence is a luxury and the absence of children is a luxury,” she told the French international radio station RFI. Ms El Haïry criticised the “no kids trend”, claiming it amounted to “violence against children”.
Senator Rossignol added: “Children are not a nuisance. We cannot accept that some people decide they no longer want to tolerate a particular section of the population, in this case children. We cannot allow our society to be organised around our intolerance of others, where people organise themselves to keep their distance from anyone who does not fit into their idea of their neighbours.”
Travel Companies Union roughly estimates that three per cent of holiday venues in France are adult-only facilities.
The topic of how children fit into society is a live one in France. The French Federation of Nurseries has made repeated calls to lawmakers to ensure children’s right “to make noise”.
This has been coupled with rising concerns about how much screen time children have, while the High Council for Family, Children and Age has warned that a lack of space for kids to play outdoors could have “harmful consequences for their physical and mental health”.
Not everyone is happy with the idea of an adults-only holiday ban. Sara Lewis told the Guardian that she thinks a ban would be a “totally unreasonable deprivation of people’s liberty”. “It amounts to forcing people to accept others’ kids, of which there’s more than enough of already,” the retired copyeditor from Brussels said.
Emilie, a stay-at-home mother, agreed with the politicians that such holidays treated children as “pariahs”, but questioned whether the ban would get to the root cause. In her opinion, it is wrong to create spaces where adults can live parallel lives free from children.
“I think it’s more about the French relationship with children. There is a popular saying in France about children: Les enfants doivent être vus, et non entendus, which means children should be seen, not heard,” Emilie said.