saburch wrote: tdb wrote: saburch wrote:
If you have a kid, bring a stroller. It's way easier to manage children, and all the accompanying *stuff* you need to have with a stroller than it is to carry your bag, a diaper bag, wrangle the kid, and look at stuff etc.
And before anyone says anything else -- until GenCon gets rid of the "Family Fun Pavilion" you don't have a leg to stand on asserting that kids shouldn't be there.
I don't think anyone said "don't bring kids to GenCon". I think they said "don't bring the stroller into the exhibit hall". Not really the same thing.
No, those are pretty much *exactly* the same thing.
No, they are not the same thing. There is a lot to Gen Con that is NOT the exhibit hall. If you bring a stroller to gaming events your kid is probably going to have an instant fan club at your table. If you bring a stroller to the restaurants and social events people will be happy to accommodate you. If you bring a stroller to the spa events....well they are pretty much custom made for that sort of thing. If you bring a stroller to the workshops and seminars you are probably going to be just fine.
However if you bring a stroller into the exhibit hall it is not safe for your kids or other attendees, you WILL be holding up traffic for everyone around you as you try to shove a stroller down a packed aisle and you WILL be creating an obstacle for everyone going by when you leave that stroller in the aisle- drag it into the cramped booths while you shop.
You use any kind of "absolutely necessary" justification because every person clogging up the aisle will use a variation of the same excuse- "my kid can't walk through the exhibit hall without a stroller!".
Part of being a responsible parent is realizing that your kids are not physically and/or emotionally ready for some activities, and that strollers are often not an appropriate solution because it is either unsafe or it will cause problems for everyone else involved. Part of being a responsible parent means that sometimes YOU have to change your vacation plans or what you will be doing on your vacation plans based on what your small children are actually ready for. Part of being a responsible parent means you may have to trade off child care duties, sit out parts of your vacation, or find a sitter. Being a responsible parent sometimes means saying you might have to wait until next year.
The Gen Con exhibit hall is an extremely crowded, over stimulating environment that requires a LOT of walking, and it is packed with people who aren't really paying attention to where they are going let alone their bags/backpacks/luggage/whatever. This is not an environment for strollers.
If we are talking about good etiquette rules at Gen Con creating a problem for everyone around you because it is more convenient for YOU is pretty much textbook BAD ETIQUETTE.