RE: On Pennsic....

[Dominica Harlan <DHarlan@RodgersBuilders.com>]

Poster: Dominica Harlan <DHarlan@RodgersBuilders.com>

> Another good thing - for those who did not go or simply did not read the 
War  Chronicle (Shame shame shame) was the Atlantian's Children's Party - I 
never saw such a happier group of children in a long time at War...(due to 
the heavily and rudely imposed "anti-child" attitude this year)....Duchess 
Arielle and staff did a fabu' job.

Did you sense an 'anti-child' attitude?  I had two of my children with
me, but didn't run into such attitudes.  In fact, there were several
people in my camp who actually *played* with my youngest, who is only 9 and 
sometimes hard to keep entertained unless there is something
electronic in front of him.

Istvan

I think the quote refers to the decided lack of outlets for children this 
year compared to past wars. The biggest lack was a play area after the 
ground-wasps were discovered the day of the Children's Party. I was on the 
staff of the party and we had several grateful comments from harried 
parents about how they finally had at least one thing for their children at 
the war and how hard it was to find a child-friendly area anywhere. I 
consider Pennsic an event primarily for the adult members of the SCA and 
feel that any children brought along should be arranged for ahead of time 
in terms of prep for interruptions of schedule and their comfort and the 
comfort of the non-child-adjusted adults around them. Playing with kids is 
one of my favorite daytime activities but i think many non-parents have 
been put off in past years by some parents who complained that the night 
play of the adults interrupted their children's routines. Both sides have a 
point -- parents have a right to bring their children to the war, but 
everyone else has a right to enjoy their vacation without being 
inhibited/hampered by others' children.  The solution, I think, is to 
increase kingdom-sponsored activities for children and ensure they always 
have a communal play area at the war. That way parents have a place to take 
their kids and no one camp or kingdom bears all the strain of supervision 
and entertainment.

Ceara

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