Children/kids at wedding ughh

[soconfused]

Re: Children/kids at wedding ughh

@S02

I do not think there is anything wrong with Mr. Mrs unless it’s people from out of town with small kids. That would seem particularly inconsiderate, though understandable in many instances. You do what makes the most sense for you.

However I do think this is something we need to think about as a culture/society. When children are regularly excluded from our own socializing and important events, it can mean that they become unfamiliar with key traditions as well as how to behave/engage in certain settings, disconnected from the community, and more invested in socializing apart from us, just as we do apart from them. This is not the bride/groom’s “fault” or “problem” especially given the expense of weddings and all the other priorities one must consider, but it’s repercussions are real and significant for the community as a whole. If it’s possible to avoid making this a common trend, we should.

This is actually what my parents’ reasoning was for making sure we went to desi social events like weddings even if we didn’t want to. So we could stay in touch with the community and understand traditions. BUT they also made sure that they were with us at all times during the event and we weren’t allowed to run around like banshees and cause destruction everywhere we went. It’s not the having kids there that’s the problem–it’s having MISBEHAVED kids whose parents think weddings/social functions are basically a way for them to have free babysitting for the event and let their kids turn the hotel/the wedding stage into their personal playground. Maybe the people in my community are particularly bad at controlling their kids but we’ve had kids sit on stage the ENTIRE time and photobomb the couple’s photoshoot, run around like crazy outside into the street, ruin the dances, ruin the decorations, etc.