Hmmm, I’m not overly impressed hearing about a bunch of toddlers nightclubbing on Oxford Street yesterday.
Some might say it is just a bit of fun – it could be just like taking them to any disco. The kids drank apple juice under the watchful eye of childcare workers and had a ball dancing to the latest music.
On the other, the thought of young children in any nightclub along Oxford Street leaves me feeling a little queasy. I mean, they are 5 year old kids dancing around in a place where only hours before all manner of seedy things were going on. (And before I am accused of being out-of-touch, not that many years ago, Oxford Street and it’s surrounds were my playground – I know all manner of seedy things go on.) If baby loves disco, let baby disco at home where it is safe and clean and the music is not ear-splittingly loud.
It just seems wrong to me? When our kids are becoming adults way too early as it is, do we want to expose them to something like nightclubbing at such tender ages? Of course they are going to have fun- they are 5 years old and surrounded by music and bright lights with mum and dad nowhere to be seen (parents were upstairs having a drink). Are they not also going to become 14, 15, 16 year olds who want to get into these clubs again?
The pictures of the shirtless little boys dancing madly in the paper are sad. It is so obvious that some parent is lamenting their lost youth and remembers the days when they were sweating it up sans t-shirt in clubs along the strip. Surely the young lads didn’t think to whip off their shirts themselves? It is all a little off to me.
However, it was a sold-out event and the first of many apparently. What are your thoughts on ‘Baby Loves Disco’? Would you consider taking your child to an event like this on Oxford Street?
Michelle is a mum of two and wife of one who is working every day to find a comfortable fit with her relatively new SAHM status. She writes regularly on her site, Australian Mothers Online, where she is also compiling a list of all Aussie Mum Blogs in hopes she can pick up a few tips on how to hang onto her sanity whilst raising her two gorgeous boys! She loves to read, wishes she loved to exercise and is constantly wondering what she is going to be when she grows up. 
I’ve not heard of this disgrace before reading this post, so I’m not as up to speed as I would normally be.
Having said that, I think I’ve just read all I need to know. Anyone who thinks they are assisting their child’s development by participating in this is kidding themselves! Let kids be kids for the all-to-short and ever-shortening time that they are able. Surely if it is exposure to music or dancing that the kids are getting out of this, it could be easily substituted at home.
My Boy plays guitar with me, and loves to hit the ‘Demo’ button on his electric piano thingy before dancing around the house singing ‘Dance Mummy’, ‘Dance Daddy’ or ‘Dance Lloydey’(the dog)…Sure, he doesn’t whip his shirt off, and there are no disco balls or bars, but I, for one, think that’s a good thing?
Completely agree with that comment. Who in their right mind thinks this is a good idea? I mean, inflicting dance music on children?!!?
Agreed. If my Child ever starts randomly chanting ‘Oomska Oomska Oomska’ or playing with toy Nissan Skylines, it’s off to Boarding Kindy with him!
Haha, yes I hear you! I heard from one of the organisers re this post:
“I’m one of the organisers of BLD and I promise you, you had to be there to get it. It’s not about kids growing up too fast. It’s not about parents refusing to grow up. And it’s certainly not about kids running around unsupervised while their parents drink. The kids aren’t even aware they’re in a nightclub – they just know they’re in a really cool area with awesome music and fun things like a flashy dancefloor and maracas and tambourines and it’s the funnest thing they could ever imagine. They were fully supervised all the time. The parents had one, maybe two drinks tops (non drivers only, of course)! It’s not something that can be recreated anywhere else – it has to be in a club for the atmosphere to really work.
It’s very easy to criticise something when a certain spin and angle is pushed by certain media outlets…but a very different thing if you were there. I urge you to come along and check it out for yourself.”
Needless to say I won’t be taking up the offer and the sentence I emphasied is just my point… why do kiddies need to experience the club atmosphere? Let them do it when they are 18… or 17 if they have friends in Nissan Skylines who know how to doctor up a really good fake ID.