From: CS341A002@husky1.stmarys.ca (Brynjolfr Myrkjartanarson)
Subject: Teenagers at Events
Organization: The Internet
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 13:01:00 GMT

Patri Ibn Cariadoc writes:
>Berwyn writes:
>
>> At Our last event (the second we've held) a number of people came from an
>> incipient group about 100 miles away.  The attendees consisted ofone adult
>> and half a dozen or so teen-agers (14 to 17), none of whom had a release
>> signed by their parents.  What do you do in a case like that?  Tell them,
>
>"Welcome to the event."
>Sorry, but I see all this waiver this, and release form that in the SCA as a
>very bad thing.  It is merely a reflection of the society which we are in,
>but I have always thought of the SCA as a place where you don't need release
>forms.  For me, the SCA is a place where you really don't have to worry
>about getting sued, or needing to sue someone.  Perhaps for others this is
>not as true, but that is one of the advantages of the SCA to me.  A 14 year
>old can be almost as mature and contribute as much as an adult.  Or he/she
>can be a total brat.  It all depends on the person, and unless you know
>them, its a gamble.  But with my (perhaps naive) general faith in human
>nature, I'd let 'em in.

Yeah. I'd let 'em in, but for different reasons... I'm cynical enough that
I believe that most people who have an attitude problem at 13 or so *still*
have an attitude problem 30 years later... merely a different one.

So I feel that if you're going to just generally let *people* in, you
certainly shouldn't be restricting it by something as trivial as age.

>> Sorry, you drove 2 hours for nothing?  Do you let then in and hope nothing
>> bad happens?  Do you try to fax (as if there are any fax machines in
>> Henning, MN) a signed release?  Well, we let them in.  Then we were
>> confronted with the 14 yr old who took Miller-in-the-Middle as an excuse
>> to grab some tush.  If he were an adult he would have been
>> slapped...repeatedly.
>
>It's a pity.  I would hate for some SCA members who happen to be teenagers
>to be turned away from an event just because one person acted immature.  But
>its a risk that I feel is worth taking.

Yes, exactly. Let's say you had a fairly large household in your group, and
one particular member of this household acts like a twit fairly regularly.
(I'm sure you can probably think of an example.) Do you turn away the other
members? Of course not. So why should that apply here?

>        As for the "if he were an adult..."  If you are treating him as an
>adult by letting him in the event unescorted, he should expect to be treated
>as an adult if he gets in trouble.  If you let a teenager into an event,
>they are pretty much responsible for their own actions, and should be aware
>of this.  Depending on the severity of their actions, I'd either give them a
>talk  about why they shouldn't have done it, and explain to them that if it
>happens again they will be tossed, or just toss 'em.  If their parents
>complain, explain to them what they did, and that the autocrat has the power
>to refuse admittance to anyone.

YES! It's my opinion that one of the greatest problems with modern society
is the creation of this age group "teenagers". We're talking about people
who in any real terms are adults. We call 'em teenagers because we don't
want to deal with them as adults... so naturally they act like teenagers,
whatever that is; it's a time when the person's *body* is maturing but
society expects them to remain children for a little bit longer. It's one
of the reasons why I'm a medievalist.

Although the legal stuff required by mundane society can get in the way of
this, I suppose...

>> Just wondering if other groups have run into this.
>
>BTW, I want to mention that the entire posting above is probably rather
>biased, and should be taken with a large grain of salt.  Why?  because I am
>16, have been in the SCA 16 years, and every since around 10 or so have been
>wandering around events (mostly Pennsic) almost completely free from
>parental influence.  I see the SCA as a place where I can be treated as an
>independent person responsible for my own actions, rather than some kind of
>pseudopodic extension of my parents, having to follow them around watching
>them do boring things I have no interest in.  If that were true, I'd hate
>the SCA, 'cause I like different activites than my parents do.

Well, I agree with you fully; I'm 22, and have been in the Society 1 year.
:)

           Most commonly known as Loki, occasionally sysop of TWWOL
      SCA: Brynjolfr Myrkjartanarson, founder of the Compaignie Mercurie
        The Net: cs341a002@husky1.stmarys.ca, cs341a002@stmarys.bitnet

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