I am only putting in my two cents because I am very unhappy that I cannot attend a concert today that I would very much like to see--largely because of childcare issues. Theoretically, I could take my developmentally disabled 14-year-old son with me. There's at least a 75% chance that he would behave pretty decently--and about a 25% chance that I'd have to take him out if he annoyed the people around us. He loves music, and would probably just sit and rock back and forth, which would be okay unless he got too into it and started bouncing off the people next us. As you may guess, I am speaking from experience here. He might also get bored and start talking too loudly, or discover some new and exciting unacceptable behavior that I haven't even thought of yet. It would cost $36 for tickets for the two of us. If he didn't behave, I'd end up angry and frustrated, and so would he.

Because of his disability and attendant behavior issues, I was never able to leave him with other people in childcare even when he was small. I did sometimes stay there with him if there was a play area with toys, and observed first-hand how people would dump their kids off and leave them for hours--once a two-year-old with a fever, and her mother could not be found. This is why my Renaissance Faire guild no longer provides childcare, or even a play area. We tried it, and it was abused. (We do run a kid craft table, where they can make stuff out of leather for a small donation.)

Most places have reduced kid rates, as everyone has been saying. In the U.S., kid rates are usually until age 12, though it certainly can vary. I would like to see it up to age 18, which in this country is when the little monsters officially become big monsters and can register to vote--though they still can't drink until 21. One local pub does a weekly session where kids are allowed up to 10 p.m., because they serve food until then and can claim it's a restaurant. I've been told by the management if the kid is low profile and nobody complains, they probably won't watch the clock real close.

We do sometimes take Daniel to the San Francisco FREE Folk Festival, where the price is right. He loves to hear music, but whoever is watching him cannot take a workshop, because he requires constant vigilence to see that he doesn't misbehave. So we grab a schedule as soon as we go in and start negotiating with each other.

The SF Folk Festival does provide a lot of kid workshops and activities, and because it's free, they certainly attract a lot of families. The more formal concerts are in a theater (it's held in a large school building), so noisy kids can be elsewhere, and people come and go a lot. People have to have a certain level of tolerance for kids, and parents have to make them behave. If you've got a real behavior problem, like I do, you may just have to make a decision about attendence.

Mostly I'm unhappy right now because I'm going to be doing my income tax instead of listening to fiddle music. If I had childcare or the tickets were cheaper, I could probably get away with doing both. As it is, I think I'll go put a tape on. Thanks for letting me rant.