Friday, June 20, 2014

SHOULD YOU BRING YOUR CHILDREN TO A WEDDING & RECEPTION NO!

I know, I know your children are a part of the family. I have been in the video business for 32 years and I love kids BUT a wedding ceremony is a sacred service and should be treated as such. I have seen kids of all ages from 2-13 running wild in a Catholic Church playing tag. This game went on for 20 minutes while the seating was occurring. They were on the altar, running the isles and really had no clue as to how annoying they were. This is the PARENTS FAULT for not stopping this behavior. Screaming kids during the services is a real sore spot for the ministers, priests and rabbis. The parents do nothing to stop them. Kids get bored really fast during wedding services. This is the way kids are built. I did the same thing when I was a kid. They have an extreme amount of energy and they have to blow it off. Rarely have I seen a child who was part of the actual bridal party act up because they are being supervised. Non supervision is a recipe for this type of behavior. During the actual service it is usually pretty calm except for the 2 yr olds and babies occasionally crying. Ahh the reception. The way it works in that the people arrive about an hour before the introductions and dinner. During the cocktail hour the kids can run wild, really wild, up to crawling on to the DJ’s platform and playing there. Now it is becoming extremely dangerous. I have seen a drunk adult fall into a DJ’s booth, knocking over a tower speaker.Uunfortunately the speaker landed on the guys chest and landed him in the ICU with several broken ribs and both lungs collapsed. He did survive. Can you imagine a kid being crushed by this speaker. It would be horrible. I had a kid run into my flood light which the bulb runs at about 3200 degrees. The unit fell on him, lucky for him the back of the light landed on him and was bruised but not burned. Had it been the other way his skin would have been instantly seared off. This filament is hotter than molten iron and the whole front of the light is over 2000 degrees. There are too many reasons to keep your children home. It is NOT because we are child haters. It is because they can injure themselves critically. I have seen this as well. A 7 yo kid ran into a disabled lady, knocked her over and she was rushed to a local hospital with a fractured hip. She never recovered. Of course kids want to be a part of the festivities, but for their safety children under 13 should be taken to a baby sitter. Parents if you do bring kids to a wedding please restrain them from making the church and the dance floor their private playground.