Why I'll Never Take My Kids To Vegas

Disclaimer! OK, technically two of my children have been to Las Vegas for a wedding, but they were 3 and 1 and hardly remember it.  But I digress........

My husband and I visit Vegas regularly as our little "getaway" (CLICK HERE for my post last week on the recap for my husband's birthday). We gamble, we lay in the sun, we eat fabulous food.  We love it, but, of course, Las Vegas does have it's "darker side".  And that darker side is certainly not hiding.  So, it puzzles me when I see families bringing their children to Las Vegas.  

I can maybe understand it....a little.  Vegas is making an effort to actually appeal to families!  The pools are fantastic.  There are amusement park rides (the roller coaster at New York, New York, the park at Circus Circus, a new ferris wheel going in behind the Flamingo).  Elmo and Sponge Bob are as common as Jack Sparrow along the Strip.  There are dolphins at the Mirage and lions at MGM.  I think the Excalibur was built for kids, because I am not sure what adults actually choose to go here alone.  

But the main focus still is gambling, live shows for adults, and what I will call adult activities (whether that be drinking, clubbing, or...well, I will let you use your imagination here!).  If you've ever tried to navigate with kids in a casino, I do not recommend it!  The security is strict about them wandering on any part of the "casino floor" and I am being honest when I say that it's a royal pain to get through it with children.  If you're walking along the Strip, how do you explain the billboard trucks going by with barely clothed women?  The cards handed out at every corner with the same women?  The insanely large drinks that everyone is walking around with?  Would my children really be able to separate me not approving of these things yet still loving Vegas at the same time?

If you head downtown, it is quite a cast of characters on Fremont Street.  Here you will see women barely dressed, hoping for tourists to grab a$$ a photo op and leave a tip.  There's lot of severely intoxicated people walking around.  While I am certainly not in the mind set to shelter my children, it just doesn't seem appropriate to take them here.  I would spend the entire trip coaching and explaining all of this to my kids.....and that's not the reason I go to Vegas.  

So, you might ask why would I go to such a place to begin with? Trust me, I ask myself this occasionally. Las Vegas, for me, is the town you hate to love and love to hate.  Like anything, though, you make your choices and pull from it what you want.  We enjoy gambling, we enjoy a nice pool and sunshine, we enjoy shopping, we people watch at Strip-side restaurants.  But the kids are not coming with us anytime soon.  I'll save their vacation time for Grandma & Grandpa's house and Disneyland.

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