From: Suze.Hammond@f56.n105.z1.therose.pdx.com (Suze Hammond)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Kids, Halflings, Goslings, Smalls...
Date: 11 Aug 92 04:04:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: therose.713594709.F00006

TA>  From: archer@utkux1.utk.edu (T. Archer)
TA>  Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
TA>
TA>  My own two farthings worth:
TA>
TA>  I don't particularly like children.  Noisy, destructive, and
TA>  generally annoying.

Well, having had far too many of them, I'm not thrilled with the concept 
myself...but I don't think I'd go quite that far. Children are not 
destructive by nature. They *are* curious, and not knowing how things work, 
may very well take them apart in ways that can't be mended. The ones who do 
that to *other people's* things are being badly brought up, pure and simple!

In my seldom-humble opinion, despite all the current theory that doing 
anything to enforce discipline is child abuse, I happen to believe that 
raising children in such a fashion as they grow up to be socially 
unacceptable in any millieu outside their own family is the height of child 
abuse. You all know what I mean. A lot of our problem teens...the bunnyfurs 
who drink too much and mouth off... and the stick-jocks who think courtesy 
isn't for them... and several other recognizable SCA types... are most 
commonly people whose parents dropped the ball (or never bothered to pick it 
up) and they haven't a clue as to why others are so down on them. Some 
of them become quite paranoid, because people really are picking on 
them, and they have no idea they're causing it. Many of them are really 
still in the process of being raised by the SCA, often well into their 20s 
or 30s. Most of them have a long string of failures in Mundane affairs like 
the workplace under their belts, too. I think it's a national tragedy, and I 
am very proud of the SCA for the work it does in civilizing these deprived 
souls. (I don't happen to think a social club ought to be put in this 
position, however!)

(And hey, most of them make da*ned good human beings once they get the 
drift. It's a shame they have to go through so much grief.)

TA>  there is the occasional Scadian who seems to feel that the Society is
TA>  a commune.  These RARE individuals turn their children loose on-site
TA>  and
TA>  expect us all to collectively watch out for them.  While I don't have
TA>  any fondness for children in general, I like to think of myself as a
TA>  responsable
TA>  adult, so I find myself drafted as a sort of involuntary baby-sitter.

Bless you. Especially since you feel the way you do. You're probably good 
with children, too. The type of person who cares despite their personal bent 
usually is.... (I was the kind of child who hung out with the adults. I had 
several adults who became my friend who usually didn't care for children. I 
learned a lot from them because they didn't know how to treat someone like a 
child, so they treated me like a tiny adult, and I reallllly learned stuff 
from them everyone else had decided children couldn't do, like setting 
muskrat traps, and bending pipe, and other neat stuff. The memory still 
gives me warm feelings. :)

Locally I have a friend who is one of those great moms who can always take 
in one more, and often coordinates local children's events, and when I find 
a loose child, I take it over to her and her husband. I know she will hunt 
down the parents and give them a good talking-to if they lost their chick 
through this sort of blase' unconcern...

Moreach NicMaolain
trifid@agora.rain.com