I hate that so many people are blind some times.
This post here from an acquaintance of mine IRL really irks me. It is in response to an article where a child and parent were asked to leave the plane after the toddler kept repeating the same phrase over and over again and was giving the flight attendant a headache. The comment, made by my acquaintance in response to this article that really got me, was
"I'm child-free. I would love to know of a childless restaurant to go to. I don't have a child, so why should I have to be around children, if I don't feel like it. What's wrong with there being places that are childess?"
To me, this is like saying, "I'm not mentally disabled, (or fat, or physically disabled, or a woman, or purple or whatever stereotype you would like to put here) so why do I have to be around places where these people are?"
Just because they are children, does that mean they should be discriminated against?
I'm sure we all have our prejudices on things but it crosses the line into "discrimination" when an action is made solely on these prejudices.
This is on top of the wedding invitation that we received from a friend of DH where there was an insert that said:
"It is with deep regret, that due to limited space, we must ask that no children under the age of ten attend, except for those whose families are traveling from out of the area"
Is that a load of you know what ...or what? First of all, a lap child or a baby takes up way less space then a ten year old. Secondly, why don't you not invite anyone overweight or disabled in a wheelchair because they certainly take up much more space than someone sitting on your lap or sleeping in your arms. This on top of the fact, that I would have actually had an infant in my arms...
As for my toddler, unless it was a family wedding, we probably would have opted not to bring him anyways because he is so active and it would not be very pleasurable for us or for him if he couldn't wiggle around.
How offended am I , really? (and yes they know...)
And lest not forget that in the past, during times of war, it was the children who were often "killed" first...
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4 comments:
I couldn't agree with you more. I can't tell you how many times I have been on my soapbox spouting about how we pay lip service to how children are the "future of our society" and yet we don't want them to actually participate in society until they can behave like little adults.
I am certainly one who believes that as parents we need to be wise enough not to take our child into a situation that will only set them up to "fail", but in my opinion there are only a limited number of places and situations that truly qualify.
I think your comparison of not being mentally or physically disabled and so therefore why should I be around them, was right on!
The no-kids-at-weddings thing always perplexes me. Weddings, to me, are a celebration of family, of joining. Kids are often a product of that joining. Why not have them around as part of the celebration? They are the future. We had a mess of kids at our wedding; it's part of what made it lots of fun.
I don't agree that kids should be at evening wedding receptions, especially receptions that will include alcohol consumption. At my wedding hall they would have charged us full price for all children over the age of 3 (including the price of liquor, even though they obviously weren't consuming any alcohol), and my family is very Irish and enjoys their drink at weddings. I didn't feel it was an appropriate place for kids. I now have 3 kids of my own and I still feel this way. I don't bring my kids to evening wedding receptions unless I know for sure it will be "kid friendly" and won't last very late into the evening.
I definitely agree with you about the plane/restaurant thing - sometimes a parent can be doing everything he/she can to encourage good behavior, but the kids have other ideas. How are they going to learn to behave in social situations if they're kept in isolation?
However, I can understand the wedding thing. Children were welcome at my wedding, but it's a personal decision for each couple and I would never assume that my child was invited. I probably wouldn't go to a wedding if my child weren't invited, but I respect the couple's choice to have their event the way they want it.
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