Baby On Board--Everywhere

So what do you think is more ridiculous: the Green Bay Packers charging 50-bucks to bring a nine-month old boy into Lambeau Field for a game...or someone wanting to bring a baby to a professional football game?

As far as I'm concerned, the Packers are well within their rights to charge every person passing through the gate some kind of admission fee. This goofball grandfather from West Allis raising a stink about how he had to buy a ticket for his grandson--even though he would be sitting on his lap--says the boy wasn't taking up a seat, so he shouldn't have to pay. What the grandfather is missing here is that when you go to Lambeau, you aren't paying for real estate--you are paying for the privilege of witnessing the game itself. Why do you think they have standing room only tickets at many venues? Now, to keep order within the arena, you are assigned a seat--usually with better sight angles the more you are willing to pay.

The real issue that I have in this entire debate is why you would even consider bringing an infant to a Packers game. I suspect the reason this grandfather did it is so that twenty years from now everybody in the family could brag that "Little Tommy went to his first Packers game when he was just nine months old." So Little Tommy, what do you remember about that game? Nothing? Really?? I thought that would be such a momentus occasion for you that your still-developing brain would store away every single thing that happened from the moment you pulled into the parking lot for the three hours of tailgaiting beforehand. Given that this was a night game--the child was probably asleep by the middle of the first quarter. If you can sleep with people shouting profanities all around you and spilling beer on you.

This Lambeau Baby case really sums up a growing problem in our society--parents taking their kids where they really don't belong. I have seen babies at R-rated movies, kids running around in bars and I have had dinners at very expensive restaurants ruined by crying toddlers. Somewhere along the line it became acceptable to take children everywhere--and to expect everyone else to cater to them.

I grew up in the '70's and I can tell you that my sister and I hardly went anywhere with our parents. Out for dinner was McDonalds or Pizza Hut. We went to Brewers games on Kids and Senior Citizens days. Shopping was a quick run into Shopko and if my parents wanted to go somewhere nice, they got a babysitter. Maybe there is a severe shortage of teenage girls wanting to make some extra cash by watching other people's kids for a few hours. Or maybe today's parents fear they can't be away from their kids for more than ten minutes without the children suffering some kind of irrepairable mental harm.

My wife and I don't have kids yet, but we are in total agreement that when we do we will only take them place where having children is appropriate. If that means we have to give up a few things--that is a sacrifice we are willing to make for society.