AIBU to think music festivals are unsuitable for babies and toddlers?

[ShesRunningOutTheDoor]

Taking babies, toddlers and small children to music festivals is not good parenting.
A) loud - permanent hearing damage
B) drugs / drink mean - especially when darkness falls - it’s not a good environment for children to be in
C) dust. The dust gets in your nose and throat and lungs and is very harmful for more vulnerable babies / toddlers. All the adults I was with yesterday had sore throats and blocked noses from this
D) selfish. You might want to be there but your baby does not
I love a festival but seeing babies there makes me sad for them

E. I don't want to hear them

F. I don't want to see them.

I like to enjoy music events!

Totally agree but it’s the “becoming a parent won’t change me” brigade who plough on despite the selfishness.

I think it largely depends on the festival.
We have taken our daughter to Camp Bestival twice and she loved it - she wasn’t a baby though! And I would’ve thought latitude would be okay, but I wouldn’t take them to Boomtown! You can get ear protection and not go in a year where the dust is so bad - I had to come home early from Glastonbury once due to the dust setting my asthma off

Surely it depends on the festival? We have a family festival here with music but also big play areas, set up for young families. In fact there are three or four family festivals within a hour of us, all of which I would be fine taking young kids to.

Something like Download festival is obviously totally different!

I went to a small very family friendly music festival a couple of weeks ago. It was entirely suitable for littlies.

You just need to choose wisely.

This.

Depends on the festival.
Reggaeland was marketed as being family friendly but it really wasn't.

Yes big festivals - not small family friendly ones - I haven’t been to one of these. Even ‘nice’ big festivals like latitude and IOW.
I know it’s not download but everything I listed still applies

I totally agree. Festivals are for adults to kick out drink and dance. It’s weird taking kids. You will get flamed though.

We went to a day festival by the end it was very dark and big crowds walking to station many adults drunk / lairy and there were the festivals parents with their trollies and toddlers 🙄. No way on earth would have wanted any child of mine there at that age.

We took our toddler to an actual toddler-friendly event at a museum today and that was hard enough on him.

Yes, there are family-friendly festivals, but I have 'the children just fit in' friends who a) have miserable kids and b) wander around lugging water bottles and potties and having 5m fun once an hour and c) pissing off everyone in an adult venue.

It's never looked appealing from the outside!

Having a spent a week being woken nightly by a crying baby in a tent... i do wonder what some parents are thinking. (Not a music festival).

Went to a festival recently where lots of families were there - absolutely fine. In the daytime. Except main band on stage in main arena last thing at night F-ing LUNATIC parents quite near the front had their young kids asleep on rugs ON THE FLOOR while loads of drunken and high adults surge forward towards the front. Absolutely crazy. Everyone was so polite to these absolute cretin parents because it was a nice crowd. Comments like "oh sorry.....I nearly stood on your childs head....."

But it's all fine the parents had put ear defenders on their offspring, so they had obviously considered what might go wrong 😳

Depends on festival, camp bestival is good for families from toddlers onwards. Mine loved it

I agree. We go to a very loud sporting event in the UK, it's only in the last two years have we seen a few babies under 6 months and the odd toddler. I get it that parents don't want to miss out on things but surely that's what happens when you become a parent. I think it is very selfish behaviour and not fair on their children. To be honest I also don't want to pay a fortune and have to sit next to a grizzly/wiggly toddler.

Lots of festivals allow kids but not teenagers, so you're being unreasonable to say that all festivals are unsuitable.

YANBU OP.

I seriously question the mentality of some parents. Years ago at a steam train event I saw dad of the year standing on the platform next to a noisy, whistling, hot steam engine on a boiling hot day, whilst holding a new born baby. The noise and heat would’ve been terrifying for such a small baby.

The mind boggles what the thought process must’ve been for that day out. Absolute idiots.

Day festivals aren’t festivals in my book

I much prefer festivals with no day tickets as then everyone has to pace themselves, if you
get the day crowds in they are always the ones who get out of control as they can go home and sleep it off in the comfort of their own bed and not have to do it all the next day!

I saw a man with a newborn at ynot. The baby was crying at night and I wasn’t judging but I just said to my DD (7 at the time, wasn’t going to go but childcare fell through and she was possibly a bit too young herself) that baby must be thinking why am I here and not in my nice warm cot. I just wondered if maybe they’d got tickets before mum had got pregnant or something.

I think dust is very specific to this year? - because we've had almost no rain for such a long time. Usually festivals involve quite a bit of squelchy mud!
But yes I do agree, most festivals are entirely unsuitable environments for babies and little kids.

Yep. Not everything is for everyone. Some people will make their kids and everyone around them feel a bit shittier, maybe even put their kids in harms way and spoil other people's fun though, so they don't get FOMO and get to prove they're a super cool progressive boho parent.

What is the dust thing about? Why would there be more dust at festivals? I've never noticed this as a thing.

Say what you mean! 😂

YANBU. I go to a couple of festivals in my part of Australia and there's been an increase in people bringing children and babies, even though the festival is absolutely not child-focussed in the sense of any provision of kiddies' entertainment at all. It's totally adult-orientated.

The children must be so baffled.

I see it as the parents doing a bit of hip showing off and/or not grasping that being a parent means you miss out on some of your earlier fun in the interests of your children. You can always catch up later. I did. I never went to a festival until my early 50s.

If children are allowed which I'm assuming they aren't sneaking them in then I don't see an issue personally as long as safety issues are considered such as ear protection, not getting so drunk they can't look after the child etc.

A) loud - ear defenders, dint stand right by the speakers or where it's really loud
B) drugs / drink mean - don't drink or do drugs, keep away fro mthe places where duck and drugged up people congregate, go to bed
C) dust. This year is particularly dry, it normally rains. Can
D) selfish. Your baby also doesn't want to go to Costa or Asda or a million other places you force them to go. Toddlers and kids love it