I doubt the parents thought there was going to be a hostile group allowed to invade their preplanned and approved rally. I doubt these kids were traumatized. Sheesh, kids can be pretty tough. If you protect your child from all of the potential *scary* things in life, you are doing them no favor. However, I respect your right NOT to take your child to places you think might be traumatic.
Let’s see — a political rally — a large mass of people voicing support for an issue that a lot of other people oppose — there couldn’t possibly be a counter-demonstration. You write about it as if it was a church picnic.
The very small child doesn’t understand what the rally is about, so why bring him?I want to protect children from things that their developing brains are not able to understand. I wish more parents would read about child development — I see small children suffering in poublic all the time because they are being treated like luggage.
This makes me think about the person who was a friend of a friend who caused a fatal car accident because she was taking her cat to the vet and while her boyfriend drove she held the cat in her arms instead of putting it in a carrier — most cats get extremely frightened by car travel, unlike dogs. The cat jumped out of her arms in a panic and caused the boyfriend to lose control of the car and he smashed into two other cars.
I’m asking peoplee to understand that the mind of a small child is not the same as the mind of an adult — large spaces, crowds, are upsetting to small children. They don’t know how to take in the information.