Teens Are Getting Banned From Malls

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Franklin Park Mall in Toledo Ohio became the latest shopping center to ban teenagers from its property on Monday. Following a rash of restrictions on kids in malls – due to incidents involving misbehaving teens in Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Chicago retail complexes – the shopping facility announced a new policy prohibiting anyone under 17 without an accompanying adult after 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“[This policy] isn’t a reaction to anything or any event,” Franklin Park Mall spokesman Julie Sanderson told the Toledo Blade, which reports that the ban was put into place after a fight broke out in the mall over the weekend that required police to make multiple arrests. “This is about years of the community asking for this.”

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Close to 80 malls in the U.S. have some type of curfew or escort policy regarding teenagers, Jesse Tron, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers trade group in New York, tells Yahoo Parenting.

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And while the latest spate of such bans has been getting attention, it’s actually not a new, nor escalating, trend. “It happens with a handful of malls each year, not a huge amount,” says Tron. “Bans have just come into the public consciousness right now because there are several instances happening at once but I’d anticipate that it abates later in the year.” 

So why are bans occuring now in particular? Holiday break could be one factor. “Kids have been out of school and had more time to spend at the mall,” explains Tron. “They come in big groups and incidents happen.”

Restricting teens tends to be a last resort, he adds. Typical tactics put into play first include: dispersing large groups, banning individuals repeatedly involved in disruptions, and security staff making themselves recognizable as authorities. Most issues are avoided following these measures because by and large, these aren’t “nefarious in nature, just kids being kids,” he says. But the mall “frankly isn’t the place for that.”

So where can parents suggest kids hang besides someone’s family basement on the weekend? Teen Centers (think, the YMCA, which offers “Saturday Night Lights” and “Saturday Night Life” events in some cities), movie theaters, and event spaces (such as New York City’s teen-only 7eventytwo venue which offers art exhibitions, performance space, and film screenings) are a few options.

And there’s always fast food spots, seriously. One mother tells Yahoo Parenting that Chipotle restaurants are her 15-year-old son’s go-to gathering place with his friends. “I think it’s so bizarre and lame,” she admits. “But I guess it’s impersonal enough that they can linger.”

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