Thanks….

Yes.

“That’s insane.”

Nope.

“Have you heard of a thing called Thanksgiving? Or Christmas? Or “travel” at all?”

Overrated.

“It would seem you know all about ignoring reasonable arguments, wouldn’t it.”

Nope. I address them. You haven’t offered any. You’ve offered nothing but self-importance as your defense for HAVING to take your kid everywhere. Classic obnoxious parent.

“Thanks for helping me stick up for families and their right to exist everywhere that everyone else does.”

I’m sure we’ll be seeing you with your kid at the strip clubs with Mr. Templesmith and clan.

“I’ll be posting photos of what a good time she had at Comic Con quite soon.”

That’s just gas.

“Incidentally, plugging my ears with my fingers does not impede my ability to read, only type. ”

No one said you couldn’t read; only reason.

I seriously don’t give a crap what you do. No matter what Tom Spurgeon thinks or how insane Heidi believes I am I know my argument was sound, and reasonable parents will accept it. Lots of people will hate you and your kid–with good reason–because you’re a self-important parent (or at least you play one on the internet) who doesn’t care how much of an inconvenience you’re being to everyone else , and if you believe the convention floor is a safe place for your kid, then you’re just hopelessly naive.

Parents are the ones forcing their kids into planes and onto the convention floor, and they’re the ones who should be blamed. So, yes, if it takes official rules to keep stupid parents from putting their kids in jeopardy, then so be it. Either way, I really don’t care, but when something happens to your kid at Comic-Con and you hear someone yelling “I TOLD YOU SO” from across the hall, think of me because that person probably agrees with me. It won’t be me because I’ll be too busy jumping from stroller to stroller trying to get a ginormous Watchmen bag.

It would seem you know all about ignoring reasonable arguments, wouldn’t it. Heidi, I’m hugging you mentally right now. Thanks for helping me stick up for families and their right to exist everywhere that everyone else does. I’m only sorry you didn’t get to meet my daughter again this year. You’ll love her when you do. I’ll be posting photos of what a good time she had at Comic Con quite soon.

Hence the head shaking.

are your fingers in your ears, and are you saying “LA LA LA LA LA” very loudly as well?

It’s easier to ignore a reasonable argument and continue thinking you’re right if you do it that way.

I am making good points, and you’re just refusing to notice.

“But someone could spill coffee on you or your kid, anywhere, any day of the week.”

I knew you were going to say that. The idea is to not put your child in places where it would be MORE likely to end up in situations like that. One of those places is Comic-Con.

“Those who do leave their kids at home a lot, often have kids with trouble dealing with social situations later on in their childhood.”

..and you know this from your years as a child psychologist?

“Like I said before, this is about people not liking to wait for strollers to go by at comic cons. I think it’s you who are beyond help.”

If people can wait for an exceedingly long train to pass, I’m sure a stroller isn’t that big of a deal. That’s just what you’re focusing on. I made no specific mention of “having to wait for a stroller to go by”, but maybe someone else did. Complaining about strollers isn’t directed at one specific thing a stroller or parent with a stroller does. Some parents use them inappropriately, and are careless in their operation and look at everyone else as if they’re the problem if something happens. I’m a courteous individual, and I have no problem waiting for people–with or without strollers–to pass before I’m clear to walk. I personally have no stake in whether there are strollers at the convention or not. I still think it’s a poor parenting decision, and the only reason I’m bothering to respond to you is that I would hate for your poor kid to have to suffer for those decisions. (and by the way, I don’t believe you’re making any good points either.)

The other christopher,

I knew you weren’t the same guy, but I neglected to note that in my response. Sorry about that.

“I made the “grocery store” analogy in regard to your argument that they didn’t get anything out of being there, hence the “So what comic books does your 8 month old read?””

That was someone else’s argument, but it’s one I agreed with. Children that young probably get the same thing out of the grocery store and Comic-Con, so why not stick to the grocery stores where it’s safer for them? Probably because it’s the parent who wants to say they brought their kid to Comic-Con, and so they can show pictures of their kid at Comic-Con to other people. This supports the self-important classification of those parents (which isn’t directed at anyone specifically and it’s a sentence which started with “PROBABLY”, so keep that in mind when you–not you specifically, christopher–flame me for it.) Your other comments were appreciated, but I laughed at the “kids day” comment because Comic-Con hasn’t seemed kid-friendly to me in the last 5 years despite what the program says. Heroes Con, however, IS a kid-friendly convention start to finish and especially so on Sunday. Parents, bring your giant strollers and kids to Heroes Con. (I wonder if Heroes Con people will be pissed off at me for saying that.)

The Beat said, “I don’t like a crying infant on a plane, but my ears hurt like hell too, and I refuse to insist that people with babies travel cross country by covered wagon.”

There are these things called “trains” now. I understand your point, but how often is it deathly important to travel with an infant across the country? Probably more often than I would think, but there are alternatives to air travel. Also, crying kids on a plane don’t bother me all that much, but I do question the parents for forcing that travel on the kid.

I believe kids requiring a stroller, shouldn’t go to Comic-Con. I don’t know if they should be banned, but I question the parenting decision to bring them to the show. Strollers–with or without passenger–shouldn’t be anywhere on the convention floor, and I do believe they should be banned from the floor only due to the complete insanity of what goes on down there. Yes, parents can avoid said insanity, but that doesn’t prevent the insanity from coming to them. Having or not having a kid doesn’t sway my opinion on this topic, and I haven’t had any problems with this in the past so I’m not motivated by any personal bias. This has just been what I think and feel about this topic and the individuals it represents.

I don’t like a crying infant on a plane, but my ears hurt like hell too, and I refuse to insist that people with babies travel cross country by covered wagon.

What I *don’t* like is when some pampered brat keeps kicking my seat repeatedly, and the parents do nothing to control or reprimand their child. We all see this kind of thing all the time, and it is obnoxious and dangerous.

Generally speaking when my friends and family members have kids, those kids become part of my social circle, from the time they are tiny babies. Of course parents like to get away from the kids from time to time, but children are people too, and some are great and some stink.

The argument here isn’t against well-behaved parents and well-adjusted children — the kind of child exemplified by everyone posting in this thread, I am certain! — but with obnoxious parents and wild, undisciplined children. They are a pain in the ass at Comic-Con and they are a pain in the ass at Wal-Mart. Enforcing some kind of blanket child ban is just petty.

By they way, I’m a different “Christopher” than “Christopher Moonlight”.

I made the “grocery store” analogy in regard to your argument that they didn’t get anything out of being there, hence the “So what comic books does your 8 month old read?”

There really isn’t much danger when you are smart about how/where you take your kid on the convention floor. The first thing you learn when you’ve got a stroller is: “Big congested crowd = turn down a less crowded aisle and find a better way.” Perhaps there are some who would try to face the crush of people, but to make a blanket assumption that every parent would do so, is just… well… wrong.

I respect your opinion that Comic-Con may not be a safe place for kids. However I think the Comic-Con organizers seem to disagree. After all, they actually consider Sunday to officially (check your program) be “Kids day”. With kid oriented programming and events abound.

And for the record, I never take my daughter to movie theaters. When we want to catch a first run movie, we hit up the drive-in. Being inside your car, and making sure not to park next to people is a good way to enjoy a movie with a young one and not disturb others. We occassionally bring DVDs and a laptop computer in case she loses interest in the movie. (She liked Iron Man whenever he was in the armor, otherwise she watched Chicken Little while laying on the back seat.)

Like most parents you seem to suffer from a certain delusion. You seem to be beyond help.

I stand corrected about the strollers. Maybe it’s a different convention that bans them. However, quibble all you like about what “oversized” means. I don’t even think anyone owns anything smaller than Tank-sized anymore.

I believe people mostly have a problem with some–not all–parents who bring their kids with them in giant strollers and cause problems. I still believe kids small enough to require a stroller shouldn’t be at Comic-Con. It’s no big deal to bump into someone if you happen to be distracted while crossing the convention floor, but if you run into a stroller, suddenly you’re evil incarnate. What if that guy would have been carrying freshly purchased coffee and it fell all over your kid? The fact remains that Comic-Con isn’t a safe place for kids, sadly, and parents who continue to bring them are displaying a lack of parenting skills. Accusing someone of not having a kid therefor not knowing what it’s like lends no validity to your argument, and only cements your position as self-important. “Children are by no means defenseless while their parents are around. ” Yes, they are, and your inability to realize this only helps prove my points.

I now want to address this comment “1. When my daughter was 8 months old, I took her to the grocery store. Yes, even though she had no idea why we were there or where we were. Shockingly enough, she didn’t even participate in what brand of cereal I bought either.

No one at the grocery store would have thought I was a poor parent for doing so.”

In order to make this a valid comparison, you would have had to take your kid to a major store like (Wal-mart, circuit city, or best buy) during a day-after-Thanksgiving sale. You can’t really believe a grocery store is equivalet to Comic-Con.

As any parent will say, I can’t tell you that. Being a parent is such a potent experience it can’t be described. If you did know it, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. As for ears ringing; I’ve never had that problem. You’re the first to ever bring it up in my experience. Kids seem to handle that sort of thing better then adults, anyway.

And parents with babies still try to attend panels…where the crying baby comes into play. But even outside from there, it’s hard to equate the noise from general conversation with that of crying babies. 1) Wailing babies are a more jarring sound than conversation and 2) conversations have some value.

That is probably the most ‘tard thing I’ve read all week.

1. When my daughter was 8 months old, I took her to the grocery store. Yes, even though she had no idea why we were there or where we were. Shockingly enough, she didn’t even participate in what brand of cereal I bought either.

No one at the grocery store would have thought I was a poor parent for doing so.

2. The only people who have ever been bumped by our stroller in the past 3 years I’ve attended Comic-Con with my daughter, where folks who were walking in one direction while staring the opposite way. Or just suddenly stopped in the middle of a walkway.

3. My daughter is 3 1/2, she remembers Comic-Con enough from last year that she was looking forward to this one for weeks when we mentioned we were going. She said that she wanted to see Batman because he’s nice and “likes hugs”, but didn’t want to see Vader because he is a grump and she did not want to hug him.

Just tonight actually, she was talking to a family friend all about her experience. Especially how neat it was to meet Snoopy… and that she wanted to bring her lightsaber but couldn’t find it in the house before we left.

So, maybe not an 8 month old, but she got a lot out of it.

Oh yeah,… and her favorite comics are “Owly” and “Mickey Mouse”.

Overcrowded.
Smelly.
LOUD (how many adults complained of ringing ears? aware of how much more damaging that can be the younger you are?)
Scantily clad women (your mileage may vary on the appropriateness of that)
People dressed as horror characters that could scare your child.

And all for a living organism that doesn’t yet have the ability to absorb what is going on and is basically being dragged around the con as so much luggage. Sorry, but taking a child that can’t even figure out what is going on around them brought by their parent? It’s just selfishness from yet another parent that feels they are entitled to living their life the same way they did before having a child. Just like the parents who take their baby to a 9pm showing of an R-rated flick.

First of all, strollers are not banned from comic con. Let’s keep the facts strait. Parents are asked not to bring over sized strollers, and rolling hand carts are banned.
I don’t understand why this movie theater thing keeps coming up. It really is totally different then what we’re talking about. In fact, this whole thing is getting out of hand. What I’m seeing here is a bunch of people who don’t have enough patience or courtesy to wait an extra couple of seconds so that a family (who has just as much right to be there and enjoy their day together) can get along like everyone else. So in order to not be a bad person in their own mind, they find all sorts of ways to justify they’re snide and self absorbed attitudes, including but not limited to labeling parents as bad people who are putting they’re poor defenseless children in harms way. I’ve got news for you. Children are by no means defenseless while their parents are around. If you don’t believe me, try hurting one in front of mom or dad, and just see if you make it out alive. What really disturbs me is that this attitude towards strollers seems to be not only about comic con, but everywhere that people seem to be on foot. Parents and their kids go hand in hand. Deal with it, or stay home, because like I pointed out before, we have as much right to be out in public as everyone else. If you don’t want to look inside yourself and try to understand this, then that’s you’re problem and not the parents.

I appreciate your attempt at interjecting some humor into this discussion, but the fact remains that strollers are banned, and parents should use more common sense in regard to bringing their children to movie theatres. Comic-Con is perilous enough for the adults. Putting a defenseless child in that situation is a poor decision, and I hope you never have to be taught the lesson of just how bad a decision it was.

My only criticism is of the parents themselves. Some are clueless, or ambivalent, not realizing how annoying their child’s behavior is.

Yeah, I grumble when I see a stroller on a subway train during rush hour. (The rules require strollers to be folded. Very unlikely.) I’ve seen four-year-olds in strollers, and wondered “why?” (Or, where can I get one of those?) Otherwise, like most New Yorkers, I just tune it out.

Tom, I peed my pants when I hear Mark Waid was writing Incredibles. Next year I’ll wear my Aquaman Depends…

I was at the Tori Amos panel and a baby started crying.

Yeah, I remember that too. It was kind of a surprise. As I recall, though, it wasn’t very long before the parent took the baby out of the room. Presumably as soon as it was clear that he/she wasn’t going to stop crying.