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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2017 9:11:46 GMT
Schools have a legal duty of care for the kids in attendance. Theatres don't, and I expect they prefer there to be an accompanying responsible adult, in case of crisis. Then there can be no issue of parents or guardians expecting the theatre to take any responsibility for child protection. I don't think that this restriction has anything to do with behaviour - That would be discriminatory, and we all know that people of all ages may behave either selfishly or considerately to others.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Sept 4, 2017 15:26:00 GMT
The problem is that by not having a restriction you put the threatre in a position where anything going wrong could be blamed on them. Whilever they have a rule in place, if someone breaks it and THEN something goes wrong, they have a much stronger case for absolving themselves of responsibility.
I can't say I blame them to be honest. Not in the current climate. The whole thing around child safety is messed up if what we hear is correct. If a known and trusted teacher can't hug a child when it's upset for fears of inappropriateness, why would a theatre allow a kids to sit in a darkened room squashed up next to a bunch of unknown adults?
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Post by Oleanna on Sept 4, 2017 15:26:48 GMT
I started travelling to London and seeing shows on my own (or with friends of the same age) when I was 15. It's an important education, especially for people who may end up spending their lives in the theatre anyway.
Theatres and box offices will never ask your age or for proof of age unless you're buying an age-restricted ticket (under 25 etc.).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2017 15:30:07 GMT
Okay, you remember the teen you had to help with the Underground, but what about the thousands you haven't? I've had to write really detailed instructions on a fairly simple tube journey for a 40 year old co-worker because she was getting in such a panic at the thought of it, but I can't assume every single 40 year old is pathetic and has been coddled just because of that one. It's unfair to assume that a shift in societal attitudes to liability and awareness of safety issues therefore means the younger generation aren't double-tough. Sure, maybe some of them aren't, but still others will now speak up when they experience or witness harassment on the tube in a way that no one would have even thought to do twenty years ago. I don't think anyone gives the yoof the credit they deserve. I don't think my generation got any credit when we were the yoof, and I doubt the current yoof will give the next generation any credit either, it's just the way the world goes. Doesn't mean the credit isn't due though.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2017 15:46:24 GMT
Lots of concerts say that children under 14 must be accompanied and often at younger age range concerts you'll see parents parked up waiting to pick up their offspring after the gig ends. Being at a standing rock gig without an adult IMO would be much more potentially dangerous for a younger teenage group than going to the theatre or cinema. You hear about people's personal space not being respected at gigs and worse and even if a good natured "mosh" starts, younger/smaller people can get thrown about a lot.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2017 16:31:40 GMT
True, but makes me very angry. Ah, nostalgia for 15-year-olds being blown up in the trenches and 14-year-olds in service being raped by their betters. Those were the days. |
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Post by callum on Sept 5, 2017 10:06:14 GMT
Well, although I would've started going earlier if I had the access from my town oop norf, I'm 20 now and started going when I moved to London for uni a couple of years ago.
9 times out of 10 I'm often the youngest in the theatre. Which is fine. I'm always responsible in finding my seat, getting the tube, not being disruptive etc. I've never felt discriminated against or looked down upon in a theatre because I'm young. I just wish more people my age would start going regularly - though I suppose that's easier said than done with ticket prices.
Anyway - for the OP they won't be the first pair of 14-year-olds that have gone to see Wicked, LM I'm more uncertain.
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Post by callum on Sept 5, 2017 10:10:36 GMT
And just to contribute to the other discussion going on, I think millennials get a bad rap. What did the Gen X people go through in their childhoods to make them more mature?
The 'things weren't like this in my day' argument has been repeated again and again but I agree that there is something different with the millennials. I read a great article in Vanity Fair about this if anyone wants to seek it out.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2017 12:06:12 GMT
What did the Gen X people go through in their childhoods to make them more mature? Timmy Mallett? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2017 12:11:37 GMT
I used to go to the theatre a lot by myself from the age of about 13 as well, TM- my parents would take us on visits to London from the north and they'd go off and do something else. I agree that it did me a lot of good and got my theatregoing off to a great start - made me feel grown up as well. You've got to start to learn how to cope with situations like being lost at some point. Also, sadly, if you're a girl you do have to learn how to deal with creepy guys and the sooner you do it, the better, because you can't be surrounded by trusted adults 24/7. I moved to London when I was 18 and I don't think I'd have coped if I hadn't already learnt how to get around big cities by myself.
I suspect my parents were quite lax though - they also used to leave me and my sister locked in hotel rooms while they went to the bar when we were really young. If there had been a fire, we'd have burnt to a crisp!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2017 12:12:57 GMT
What did the Gen X people go through in their childhoods to make them more mature? It was more what we didn't, really. Basically far fewer rules, but far more personal responsibility - there were still many who had served in either the war or done National Service, and their discipline filtered down. To put it another way, an adult was expected to take responsibility for a child - whether related or not, and adults were expected to take responsibility for their own actions and not find someone else to blame / sue. Hope someone else on here can clarify that, but I hope they see where I'm trying to go. Also callum , key words to find that article, please? Also no mobile phones - so you could disappear and genuinely no one could find you. I miss those days...! |
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Post by callum on Sept 5, 2017 12:51:26 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2017 12:57:51 GMT
Does anyone think this thread is in danger of turing into the Python's Four Yorkshiremen Sketch... (link for the whipper-snappers among you  ) |
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Post by TallPaul on Sept 5, 2017 13:26:40 GMT
I'll see your Four Yorkshiremen, and raise you a Capstick Comes Home!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2017 9:38:00 GMT
callum , thanks, finally got to read it. Even if a little American, that's it, it's spot on  . And so what if we did have to get up before we went to bed and live in a box in the middle of t'street, @emicardiff . It were luxury. You had a BOX? luxury old man, luxury. And a STREET? We had a hole in the ground and counted ourselves lucky. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2017 10:28:04 GMT
We had a hole in the ground and counted ourselves lucky. You had ground? We floated in the vacuum of space with one atom of hydrogen between us, or two on Sundays if we'd been good. |
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Post by peggs on Sept 6, 2017 18:45:40 GMT
Am feeling a cultural part of my heritage now filled in, it's so very educational on here
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 7, 2017 10:12:15 GMT
^At least you had definite atomic particles. You could have only had the Higgs Boson, and back then you wouldn't even have known if you had it or not!
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