It had been a long time since I walked into a club, past all the young ladies at the bar, heading towards the back of the venue where a band was belting out a song to an enthusiastic dancing audience. It had been so long that many of the patrons looked like kids to me.

Little kids.

Hey...they are little kids!

Doh! I'm at a bar with my daughter!

So, as it turns out, there's a rock music scene here in San Francisco (and probably any semi-major city) that caters to the younger set. Various bands have realized that there is a tiny little niche of music that is acceptable to both parents and their young children. These children must be young enough to not have developed a sense of what-my-parents-enjoy-is-uncool, yet old enough to get down and boogie. That age range appears to be roughly from 3 to 7.

There are many bands that cater to kids, the Wiggles being the typical example, but it's rare that a band can reach out to children without causing explosive nausea in the parents. It's a fine line. We saw a fun band called Ralph's World that played their own original music. The music was kid-themed, but maintained it's toe tappability.

The club was a typical dark music joint. The only accomodation, decor-wise, made to the children was a row of TVs above the bar showing Looney Tunes. My wife reported seeing the bar stools filled with kids, all staring at the TVs, with juice cups in hand. Good habits start early.

Apparently there is another band on the kid circuit, called The Sippy Cups, which plays rock classics from Pink Floyd, the Ramones, Velvet Underground, etc, but manages to dress up those songs so that the kids find them appealing. This is probably the holy grail of kid-parent rock. We have not yet seen them.

Ok, so I can take my daughter to bars, and I've taught her how to play poker. I think that's about it. That pretty much knocks the final items off of my parenting to-do list.