‘Child-friendly’ stickers for cafés to launch in France

A new label promoting spaces as ‘child friendly’ is set to be launched in France to combat the growing trend of ‘child-free’ areas. 

Hotels, cafés, restaurants, museums, shops, and other public spaces that are recommended as child-friendly by users may receive a sticker to place in their windows to show they are happy to accept children in the establishment.

The red sticker -an example is shown here in the official press release - shows pram in the middle and the words ‘les choix des familles 2025’, the name of the campaign.

An online portal is now open for people to recommend spaces they think are child-friendly, and in October 2025 the government will select the first 50 establishments to be given such a sticker, with more to follow.

Recommended establishments need to: 

• Offer children's rates (entry fees, children’s menu, etc)

• Host at least one child-focused event per year

• Have staff who are kind to children

• Have adapted facilities (chairs, children's toilets, play area, etc.)

The campaign has been spearheaded by the haut-commissarie à l'enfance (minister delegate for children in France) Sarah El Haïry.

“I'm very proud to be taking action to raise awareness, and to be working alongside a number of partners for a “pro kids” movement,” Ms El Haïry said in a government press release.

“[The campaign] is a cry from the heart: we say to the families of France, ‘here, your children have a place’. Welcoming families is not marketing but a social choice. Invisibilising our children is more than ever a violence inflicted on them,” she added. 

It is one of potentially several plans from the government to attempt to combat the ‘no-kid’ movement, which sees children banned from public spaces and has rapidly gathered pace in France. 

Several meetings have taken place between politicians and representatives of the tourism, hoteliers, and food industries about the situation.

‘No kids’ vs ‘pro kids’

The campaign is a direct response to the backlash against ‘no kid’ spaces.

A trend that began in South Korea and has quickly spread to other countries, it is growing in popularity in France and sees certain spaces deemed as child-free. 

Proponents say these places are important so adults can spend time away from children, either as a break from parenting duties or because they choose to be child-free.

Unlike spaces that are naturally child-free by the material they possess (bars, clubs, casinos and tabacs, etc), these no-kids spaces refuse entry to children in places they are nominally allowed to enter.

‘No-kid’ spaces can include restaurants and hotels, sports complexes or other leisure activity zones.

According to Radio France, around 3% of such spaces in France deem themselves as ‘child-free’ spaces, but up to 54% of adults in the country support the creation and expansion of child-free public areas. 

This rises to nearly seven-in-ten young adults.

Legally, denying entry to someone on the basis of their age is illegal under Article 225-1 of France’s Penal Code, as it constitutes discrimination. 

However, establishments that are ‘no kid’ spaces argue that the definition of a ‘child’ does not exist in French law, so there is no legal basis to claim discrimination and that it is up to owners to decide who they let enter. 

The scheme has been created “because it undoubtedly corresponds to a need for identification,” of child friendly spaces, said president of the Groupement des hôtelleries et restaurations de France Catherine Quérard to France Inter. 

“If this label can make families feel more welcome [then it is a positive step],” she added.

“But it must always be in a positive spirit, not one of criticism. Those who display the label will assume it… those who won't display it does not mean they will refuse children, it just means that for them, it may not correspond to their clientele,” she added. 

Note that, at least at first, the majority of establishments that do welcome children will not display a sticker due to the application process. 

Do you think more spaces in France should be child-free, or is this discriminatory to children and parents? Are the stickers a good idea or do they make what should be the norm something exceptional? Are you ‘no-kid’ or ‘pro-kid?’ Please let us know via feedback@connexionfrance.com