O_o
Many people who are involved in protests are not very well-to-do and might have a difficult time finding child care. Other people might believe that taking a child to a protest is a useful educational experience. Still others might believe (perhaps naively) that law enforcement will be less brutal towards protesters if children are present.
Personal note: I have no recollection of this, but my Mother told me she took me to an anti-Vietnam War protest at Cal State University-Northridge when I was very young. Apparently, she left the protest because she needed to find a bathroom for me. When she returned from attending to my excretion needs, the cops were breaking up the protest and arresting many people. I may have spared my mother that particular indignity by my timely nature call.
1st amendment training? Lol.
Selfishness maybe. Just like people who smoke around their kids. They want to do it and don't consider that it can have a negative effect on their kids. Not all protests would be dangerous .. but they just don't seem like a place for children since there is the possibility of conflict .. by definition.
idiocy
ignorance
foolish
stupidity
can't-help-its
To teach them. To teach them to never be a parent like that.
Hello JA:
I LOVE the Constitution.. I LOVE my rights. I HAVE the right to assemble. It's THERE for a reason. Apparently, the FOUNDERS thought protesting was a PATRIOTIC thing to do. I happen to AGREE with them.. Some people, however, usually the authoritarian types, think protesters are bad UN patriotic people.. They should just SWALLOW the way it is, and KEEP quiet.. But, that isn't the America I know. I OWE that to my parents.
To your point.. I attended a protest. If I KNEW the cops were gonna attack, I wouldn't have taken my children. But, who woulda thought that would happen??
excon
I attended four protest marches in the 1980s, each of which was attended by about a quarter of a million people. Some of them did bring their children along with them. I didn't see anything wrong with that because there was no violence there for the children to witness. Some of the people brought their dogs along with them as well and I didn't see anything wrong with that either.
I've never done it and wouldn't.
I'm hesitant to say it's a bad idea in general, I think there are probably circumstances under which a protest could possibly be a positive experience for a child... say 7 or 8 and up. I probably wouldn't do it because I prefer my son form his own opinions about such without added influence on my part, but that's just a personal thing for me.
I definitely wouldn't take my kid to protest police brutality or abortion. lol That doesn't necessarily mean there isn't some form of protest they could attend and it would likely be a learning experience for them.
That said, I have not a scintilla of respect for people who bring their kids and use them as props for their cause or as shields they think will enable them to behave badly free of consequence. That's a boatload of 'ain't right' I want no part of.
If it was one that had little to not chance of being violent, it would be a good way to teach them about our 1st amendment rights.
You make good points. I asked about this because I saw a lot of kids in the crowd at the protest in Phoenix last night and was bewildered by it. Then, people started lashing out at the cops for using pepper spray when there were kids in the crowd. My initial thought was "Well, why the heck did you have kids there?" Early on, it was a very peaceful protest, but towards the end, people started throwing things at the police and rushing the line. It seems to me, people should be able to read the crowd and know that things are about to happen and would get their kids out of there. I only watched it on a live feed, though. Perhaps it was so dense that people 20 feet away from the line couldn't tell what people at the front were doing?
Interesting story, though. Lucky Mom. :)
Actually, I can see that, and I do see that as a positive thing. It's just not a good place for kids to be when the crowd starts to get out of line, though.
Right, that was kind of my take on it. I guess some protests have little chance of getting out of hand, and I can see them being family-friendly, but it seems like an overall bad idea to me.
lol 
It's not just about the cops, though. It's tough to know what a big crowd will do. While I'm 100% in favor of the right to protest, I also see a huge difference in what a 2 year old will take out of the experience and what a 15 year old will.
Well said.
Yes. I was speaking of the protest that happened here last night. That's the one that got me. I couldn't understand, what with everything going on, and the shootings in Dallas on top of it all, why a parent would bring their kid into that. But, yes, it could be educational under the right circumstances.
I have no idea. They have to be nuts.
