Taking your children to a concert

[sue11]

Myself and friends (all adults) went to see the Jessie J concert last night. It was a fantastic concert and we all enjoyed it, but I was surprised to see quite a few youngish children (accompanied by adults) at her concert. Some of them only looked about 8 or 9 years.
I can understand youngsters going to see the Saturdays, JLS or One Direction etc, but Jessie J? I do not believe she expects her music to be listened to by a very young audience. She swore during her concert quite a few times, some of it was part of her song lyrics and some whilst addressing the audience, the word motherf"*%er was used a couple of times.
Of course I personally have no problem with her swearing as it is used within her song lyrics and anyone coming to one of her concerts would expect this, but I kind of feel that parents with children under the age of 14 should think twice before letting them listen to this kind of language.

Does anyone agree with me or am I being a bit old fashioned?
Thanks, Sue.

[joannie10]

I would agree with you Sue - seems a bit young for children going to that kind of concert. Were there any age restrictions mentioned though at the time of booking tickets. Concerts are so expensive too these days that seems a lot to spend on a day out for a young child.

[chrissa1]

I wholeheartedly agree with you Sue.

[MarkRae]

It's the way of the world, sadly, and they'll almost certainly hear much worse in the school playground...

[joggerjayne]

I do wonder about Jessie J.

She's a good artist ... but "that" song?

Her target market is abviously younger teenage girls.

So she has a song with the mother-f word.

When it's played on the radio, it's bleeped out.

When she appeared at the Summertime Ball, she held the microphone away from her mouth.

When she sings it on telly, she has to miss out the word.

So when, at what point, does the song get played in full?

Who on earth persuaded Jessie J that she should record a song that she would hardly ever be able to perform properly ?

[B00]

I wouldn't have THAT much of a problem taking an 8 or 9 year old to a concert, especially if it was an artist they particularly liked.

After all, how many dads take their kids to football matches? I'm sure they hear far worse language there!

[joggerjayne]

Much worse than the mother-f word ?

Goodness, not at Brighton we don't! LOL

[rockyracoon]

I'll be honest and say I'd rather them hear the foul language from Jessie J than say go to a concert were the star looks and dances like a ***.

[B00]

Examples Rocky?

[rockyracoon]

X Factor stuff like Rihanna, Christina Aguillera (sp)

[sue11]

Thanks for all your answers so far, the tickets were bought by someone else not myself so I do not know if there was any age advice on the website (Bournemouth BIC), I have not checked myself because to be honest I really would not have expected anyone that young to be at a concert of that type, so would not expect to see warnings on the booking website.
I agree Joggerjayne that her swearing is beeped out when played on the radio, but certainly not at her concert!
Hi Boo, I expect you are right that there is far worse swearing at football matches, but you would not expect to hear anything from the players that is loud enough to reach the kids ears and the public do not particularly have a duty not to let any kids hear any bad language.
But with Jessie J, it was amplified and you could not possibly miss it! It is not Jessie J's problem as she is playing to a mostly adult audience, the responsibility lies with the parents who chose to take their youngsters to this kind of concert.

[B00]

And you expect the crowd around a kid not to swear loudly at the ref and players during a football match sue? Because i my experience, the language is usually pretty colourful from the fans.

[B00]

And at 8 or 9 most kids are savvy enough to know people do use bad language, alot, however they usually know not to say it themselves, especially around their mums and dads!

[anneasquith]

i would agree.

[sue11]

Hi Boo, I don't go to football matches, so have no idea how bad things are when it comes to the fans swearing, to be honest if the language used at matches was that bad and a parent knew it was going to happen every time they went, if it was me, then perhaps I would think twice before taking young children to them, as I said I think the responsibility lies with the parents.
My point is that any fan of Jessie J should know that she was likely to swear and should really have considered this before taking young children to the concert. It may be that they had no idea, there were parents with a mix of older and younger children, but I did not see any of them taking their youngsters out in outrage!

[ummmm]

I would have absolutely no problem taking a young child. They are only words...and unlikely to have any damaging effect.

[chelle7272]

T&C's of the venue website says that if there is an age restriction it will be clear during booking and that they have the right to refuse anyone considered underage. So there could no have been an age limit in place for the performance, so perhaps parents were unaware of the potential content?

Althoughas you say they could have left...

[ummmm]

I tried to book stone Roses tickets recently. When you go to book it just says children under 14 need to be accompanied by an adult.

[sue11]

You may be right ummm, we know what they mean, but a youngster will (or should) have no idea.
However I am not sure that I would want to hear an 8 or 9 year old innocently shouting motherf"*&er at their friends in the school yard because Jessie used it the night before!!

[B00]

Sorry ot burs your bubble sue, but most kids by that age know and regularly use that word, and worse to their friends in private anyway.

[B00]

to burst*