Stimulate business by keeping kids home

I have an idea to help businesses garner customers by being innovative. The idea I have in mind is relaxing and would benefit many who visit restaurants, movie theaters, libraries and malls and even attractions such as museums and botanical gardens.

For those business people who need to discuss important matters over an uninterrupted lunch hour or for the group of moms who want a girls night out, this bad economy offers a good solution to businesses that require concentration.

In our over-stressed culture, they could offer "adult oriented" hours free of the commotion of small children. The businesses can pick off-peak hours that are not on weekends (a time when parents often typically have the most time to spend with their kids). Offer two-hour blocks of adult-oriented brunch from 10 a.m. to noon in a restaurant, an "adult oriented" matinee on Monday afternoons. Malls like Algonquin Commons could offer their stores the option of taking part in an adult-oriented shopping day one day per month and set their own hours.

There are numerous opportunities for kids these days. From clubs to special sections at bookstores, to celebrity clothing lines; businesses have cashed in on our youth-obsessed culture. I believe there is an ample (and reasonable) reason to do so on the older variety.

Allison M. Kramer

Carpentersville