You don't have the option of "a parent neglecting their children at a fannish event has impacted on my enjoyment".
There were a couple of times where I've seen children behave in what the kids would think of as ok for their age, but their parent has behaved in a way that was less than ideal.
Yeah, there was one fan who pretty much always arrived at an event, then just let their kid go.
On one occasion, this idiot's kid had very nearly been seriously injured. It was only avoided by the quick actions of another fan. And when that person suggested to the parent that they needed to keep an eye on the child, said idiot tore into them saying that this was their only time to relax, they were stuck with the child all day every day, etc.
Well cry me a fucking river.
If I had been in charge of the event, that's the point at which I would have banned that parent. As far as I'm concerned, if you are a parent it's your obligation to make sure your child is supervised. It doesn't have to be by you, but it does have to be someone responsible who is willing and able to do it.
Just expecting people around you to do it is not on.
Needless to say there were other parents in exactly the same boat who were always able to keep a watchful eye on their child without disrupting other people's enjoyment.
What an idiot! I so totally get the need to relax, and the desire to have time for/with some hobby you love, but a con is not free childcare! And something that comes from the primitive survival and wilderness stuff I've done - if you want your child to come home alive, there must always be exactly one person assigned to be responsible for the child and know exactly where they are at any moment. All the accidents, lost children and other fatal or near-fatal mishaps happen when every adult thinks the child is being supervised by someone else. A con isn't going to suddenly throw up a wild human-flesh-eating predator (you hope), but the same principle applies if you want basic safety: there must always be one person supervising.
I know a couple who have been regular SwanCon goers for years and they sent said child off to the Grandparent's for the duration of the Con. If you want to relax and have fun without worrying about your offspring at the con, that seems like a pretty reasonable option to me!
In any poll, there will always be options that aren't covered.
This is true, but I do think that it's not the kid that is the issue, but the parent and that blurs the adult/kid line in your survey. Parent's can be looking after their kids fine, or their kids be behaving appropriately, and still the parent's can be unpleasant. Though I suppose some of them would be unpleasant anyway, they just happen to have kids with them.
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There were a couple of times where I've seen children behave in what the kids would think of as ok for their age, but their parent has behaved in a way that was less than ideal.
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On one occasion, this idiot's kid had very nearly been seriously injured. It was only avoided by the quick actions of another fan. And when that person suggested to the parent that they needed to keep an eye on the child, said idiot tore into them saying that this was their only time to relax, they were stuck with the child all day every day, etc.
Well cry me a fucking river.
If I had been in charge of the event, that's the point at which I would have banned that parent. As far as I'm concerned, if you are a parent it's your obligation to make sure your child is supervised. It doesn't have to be by you, but it does have to be someone responsible who is willing and able to do it.
Just expecting people around you to do it is not on.
Needless to say there were other parents in exactly the same boat who were always able to keep a watchful eye on their child without disrupting other people's enjoyment.
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I know a couple who have been regular SwanCon goers for years and they sent said child off to the Grandparent's for the duration of the Con. If you want to relax and have fun without worrying about your offspring at the con, that seems like a pretty reasonable option to me!
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In any poll, there will always be options that aren't covered.
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This is true, but I do think that it's not the kid that is the issue, but the parent and that blurs the adult/kid line in your survey. Parent's can be looking after their kids fine, or their kids be behaving appropriately, and still the parent's can be unpleasant. Though I suppose some of them would be unpleasant anyway, they just happen to have kids with them.
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