RE: babies at Pennsic

[April Dwiggins <ladybear9@yahoo.com>]

Poster: April Dwiggins <ladybear9@yahoo.com>

This is too true....  I know that last year our camp grumbled quite a
bit about parties being closed early due to curfew.  

I know that this topic is dealing mainly with having infants at
Pennsic, but there is something else that troubles me deeply.  This
past April at the demo/event in Wilmington, NC (yes, that would have
been Sheep Raids) and another time at an event in the Barony of
WindMasters, I have seen a girl who could not be more than 3 or 4 at
the oldest running around completely unsupervised.  It seemed to me
that this girls parents believe that "someone" will watch after her. 
First of all, THIS IS NOT SAFE.  While we hate to think that there are
bad people in the SCA, we don't exactly do background checks before
allowing membership.  Also, Sheep raids was a public demo that anyone
could go to, and anyone could have taken this girl with them.  Or she
could have been seriously injured and the parents would never have
known until too late.  And Second, it is totally unfair to expect
others (especially others that you don't know) to take on the
responsibility that belonged to the parents.  If taking care of or
watching after your child is too much of a chore for you when you go to
an event, get a babysitter or stay home.  

Now, I realize that this goes way beyond having an infant at war.  But
this was something that I have seen twice now (the same little girl). 
One thing that should be considered by families with small children who
like to wander off is to make sure that everyone in the family wears
something with a family device on it.  Had the parents of this little
girl been wearing the device that she had on, I would have known who to
take her to.

Anyway, I shall stop my rant now.  Thanks all for listening.

April     

--- Dominica Harlan <DHarlan@RodgersBuilders.com> wrote:
> 
> Poster: Dominica Harlan
> <DHarlan@RodgersBuilders.com>
> 
> April does have a point, though it is nice to hear
> about all the prepared 
> parents and well-behaved children. I've met them and
> enjoyed their company 
> at war, as I love kids. However, I've also seen
> noise curfews and behavior 
> restrictions for even a camp's neighbors b/c of
> someone's kid. As an adult 
> who pays a lot of money and puts a lot of effort
> into going to Pennsic, 
> especially, I resent my fun being curtailed (or I
> have to walk across half 
> the war to have it) b/c of someone else's child. I
> don't have any yet b/c I 
> don't want the responsibility/restriction, and I'm
> not at a war to meet 
> someone else's child's needs. Nor are all the other
> people who go w/o kids. 
> So if you do take a baby or child, be prepared not
> only for the child's 
> comfort, but also be prepared to have other adults
> around your kid having 
> adult fun -- bunny fur, cussing, loud late parties
> and all. I believe that 
> families have a place in the SCA, but parents need
> to be prepared for the 
> tremendous effort necessary to take care of their
> kids in an adult 
> environment.
> 
> Kilmeny
> 
>
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