Well, I attended the Shooting the West photography symposium this past Friday and Saturday and I want to share a little episode from Friday morning. I go strolling in with Cedric (in his stroller) and one of the registration ladies stepped in front of me and asked, “Don’t you have anyone who could watch him while you are here?” I said that no, I didn’t. She just kept glancing from Cedric to me, and I finally said that if he got fussy during any of the presentations I would, of course, step out of the room so he doesn’t disrupt anyone. She just stood there and wouldn’t let me in. Then she started saying that their ‘clientele’ is mostly of the older generations and ‘it’ (yes, she kept referring to Cedric as ‘it’) might disturb them, and she pointed out that obviously it isn’t a place for kids or babies because ‘it’ was the only one there, etc., etc. I kept reassuring her that I understood where she was coming from, but if it was that much of a concern then it should be stated clearly on their website and registration. She said they don’t want to say that kids aren’t allowed but…but what? If they aren’t, then they aren’t and just make that clear. I kept trying to assure her that I would do my best to not have Cedric interrupt any of the presentations but she just couldn’t believe that someone would bring their baby to such an event.
Okay, yes, it was a professional meeting of sorts (although I’ve been to much more high class professional meetings in my day…and the occasional kid/baby was present). I told her that if she wanted to refund my registration we would go home, but there was no way she was going to do that, so we stayed. And Cedric did just fine. I honestly had no idea what to expect attending the event and I knew from the get go that I wasn’t going to be able to take in 100% of the presentations with Cedric in tow, but I wanted to attend whatever was possible to learn a few tips about photography…and I did.
Another reason I refused to leave is because how can we expect kids to act appropriately around adults if they are continually banned from their presence. I take Cedric to church every Sunday because I want him to learn now how to act in church. I can’t ban him from church now, afraid that he’ll disrupt someone, and then start bringing him when he’s 3 or 4 and expect him to know how to act. Same concept with having him in a room full of adults. And besides, everyone was soooooo delighted to see a baby, they just oodled over him!