ninme

India Knight:

Speaking of children . . .

A vicar in Staffordshire last week ordered a toddler out of his church for being too noisy. He was marrying the toddler’s parents at the time.

Should children be banned from weddings? Couples have certainly got braver about putting “no children” on their invitations, which really outrages some people (not me: any excuse for an adults-only day out, plus I don’t see how weddings are fun for children, unless there is child-specific entertainment laid on).

But of course I don’t think children should be banned from weddings as though they were leprous. The problem, I have observed over the years, is never with the child and always with the parents.

Only recently I sat through a wedding that was ruined by a baby howling throughout the exchange of the vows. This wasn’t the baby’s fault, obviously, but God knows what the mother thought she was doing not removing him. This scenario has played itself out dozens of times: child cries or misbehaves, parents look on fondly and do nothing about it, even if half the congregation has turned around and fixed them with basilisk stares.

Take your children to weddings, by all means, but learn some manners first.

Heh.