What actually happens if, as a parent, you decide to defy the ban and go to one of these establishments with your children? Is French law really on your side? The High Commissioner for Children Sarah El Haïry answers us.
While the trend for “Adults Only” or “No Kids” spaces continues to grow on trains, hotels and restaurants, the authorities are raising their voices. At the beginning of July 2026, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) officially requested an outright ban on these child-free spaces, describing them as discriminatory. In an interview with Journal des Femmes, High Commissioner for Children Sarah El Haïry denounces these practices and believes that they must be put an end to. “We must not minimize what this means: these are places which prohibit access to children or which refuse to sell the service. THISa means that we authorize the fact of not selling a service or welcoming part of the population. First of all, it falls under the law, and it’s called discrimination. THISThis means that we exclude families, children and parents, we consider that they are “sub-beings”.
Be careful, behind this trend which comes from abroad, from American or Asian countries, “it says something about how we consider the child in our society. Do we consider them as an accessory, as an object or, on the contrary, as a subject of law in their own right?“, asks Sarah El Haïry. Faced with this situation, a crucial question arises for the future of our public spaces: what do these establishments really risk if they maintain their ban on families with children?
Until now, parents did like everyone else: if an establishment specifies that it is only for adults, then they do not risk booking or showing up there with their children. “In fact, no, we’re not going to go elsewhere, that’s ultimately where there is a social question.”replies the High Commissioner for Children. Moreover, the law is clear: if you book an adult-only hotel and show up there with your children and they refuse you access, it is possible to ” sue him for discrimination“. On the other hand, it is not prohibited for an establishment to adapt uses in certain situations. For example, a swimming pool may be open to families in the morning and reserved for adults in the afternoon: “it’s a way of adapting uses to everyone, each clientele will find their own happiness and pleasure. But prohibiting access to a place or prohibiting total access to a service is not the same thing“.
“We cannot say “we are mourning our birth rate” and regret that there are fewer and fewer children, but at the same time place an absolutely massive burden and judgment of guilt on the shoulders of parents.” regrets Sarah El Haïry, referring to the recent controversy concerning wagons reserved for adults. “You can’t take the train without someone complaining because your child moved or made noise, but it’s not a question of education: they are children, they need accommodation and so, yes, for many parents, we will rather spend the journey between the two carriages, that’s the reality. When we are refused access to a terrace, we will go to another establishment. But in fact we don’t have to accept that, I think it’s time to say today, it’s not a trend like any other, it’s not a marketing offer, it’s something that deeply fractures our society and we don’t have to put up with it.“.
For Sarah El Haïry, the real challenge is to adapt the reception to the child’s height, in particular by arranging your restaurant or café, with places to store strollers, high chairs or booster seats, but above all a little kindness towards parents. At the beginning of July the second edition took place “The Choice of Families”, a prize which rewards the most kid-friendly establishments. Thus, cafes, restaurants, shops, cultural places, accommodation or tourist sites are designated by families who themselves evaluate those which make their daily lives easier thanks to concrete attention and a suitable welcome.
