depends on the situation and what they are doing. Since you didnt say that I will take a shot. Out at a store. Better be important reason. like single parent, with a sick child, needed Tylenol to break a fever. totally understand that. 11:30 at night running outside the house. what are they thinking. they should be in bed already. out for a drive. well not so bad. I used to take my child fro drives when he was younger. sometimes only way to get him to sleep. sometimes it was late. out selling dope. well don't think anyone would disagree that is wrong. Maybe if we knew more of the situation we could comment better.

Tired kids are crabby kids.

i've known parents that will keep their kids out til 2-3 am

Ive known kids that keep their parents out that late.

Guess it depends if the family is a night shift family or not. If you are working nights and sleeping days then probably your kids do too. I really don't think it is great for kids but sometimes if that is the only work you can get you have no choice.

Where the weather is brutally hot during the day I can't see dragging a child out in the heat. My son had serious breathing problems as a toddler and I used to take him out very late or very early midweek to get food and medication because the air was clearer. I could lay a blanket down in the cart and a crib sheet over the top (had too with twins people always wanted to touch them even if they were sleeping) and they generally slept through most of the trip. I could get through three times faster when there were minimal customers.

I do tend to believe that most kids getting dragged around at night is just poor parenting. The kids look exhausted even though it appears they are controlling the parents rather than the other way around most of the time. What is really sad is when you see school age kids. They don't have a chance at doing well in school. When mine hit even preschool age they had pretty much a concrete bedtime. That ment the whole family quieted down too. Kids should not have to listen to media or parents blasting away. Sorry to any one who did.

I guess my thought is it depends on the circumstances. In summer and on weekends I'd take my son out that late, if there was something special going on (carnival, drive-in movie, etc). For the most part, though, he was in the house and in bed when it got dark. We didn't make a habit out of it. I did (and do) know parents who did.

My kids have nearly always gone where I go...

On a Friday night, or Holidays...(our kids get 6 weeks holidays in Summer...) if I am going to a gathering, my kids always come with us...so does everyone elses.

They have a space created for them, either a huge tent, or the loungeroom, if we are at a house...and a giant bed made for them...they slept like puppies in a pile.

My kids have seen the sun rise, the moon rise...they have danced around the fire with us, drummed with us, sang, played guitars, fire twirled....whatever we adults are doing they are doing with us.

With sometimes up to 20 or 30 adults, there was never a shortage of parents to care for the kids...all of them.

it's called LIVING....interacting.....LEARNING.

My kids are whole and healthy well adjusted people in their own rights, with their own views, and a deep insight into what 'family' means.


From tiny babies, to now two over 20 and two early teens...they know they are coming with me, if they choose to.

Eh, when they're infants, they're up crying at 4:30 am. When they're small children, they're b!tching because they have to go to bed at 9 pm. When they're old folks, they're complaining that they're not in bed by 7 pm. They'll get a normal bedtime at some point in their lives. Til then, let 'em have some fun.

well my daughter is 8, and i let her stay up till i go to bed on the weekends,(i get to sleep in a lil if she stays up later) but she has a bed time of 8 30 during the week. i love my daughter and want her to have a lil fun on the weekends, and it is the 21 century and we all have different life styles. so if kids are up late with their parents then so be it. its not my place to judge other peoples parenting skills.

when my kids were 8 yrs old<taking the older for example>
... their bedtime during school was 8 pm. in the summer it was 9pm and they had to come in the house at least 1 hour prior to bedtime to wind down oh yea and on the weekends during school maning fri and sat night they got to stay up till 9

Sometimes ya gotta run to the store, and cant leave them.


What wierds me out is people with their kids in a bar, or a loud, boisterous bar/resturant.


My son puts himself to bed around 8:30 9:00 and theres no getting him outta bed when hes out, BUT he wakies at all times, and cant get back to sleep soemtimes too.


Anyway, I dont DO babysitters, never have.

While I agree that there should be structure in childrens lives and a reletively decent bedtime is a good thing for growing minds and bodies ...one thing this tread fails to recognize is that the kids in this incident are with thier parents and we dont have any idea what the reason was ... you judge to harshly and although your opinion is a valued one none of us has any idea if their was a special occassion or just a family night out with friends.

Actually, there were quite a few of us who said it depended. I agree, kids need structure but who's to say what the "right" structure is?

agreed

I feel the same way as long as your not at a bar with them or drinking and driving with them. I do not see that it matters.

Many times my kids were out with me at 2am due to horse events we were at and they did not end till late sure they snoozed on the way home and most of the time they had to be carried in.

Or if we went to a Circus or late Movie and decided to stop somewhere after wards we did.

Now this was in the summer or Friday night or Saturday night for school nights they went to bed around 9pm.

Many times there are different situations that others have no idea why they have them out.

But I never went just to the store ect with them at that time normally if we were out it was due to we had went somewhere prior.