Bride arranges child care far away from wedding reception. AITA?
When this bride feels like she may have upset guests at her wedding, she asks Reddit:
"AITA for arranging child care far away from my wedding reception?"
I got married this summer. And while I wanted a child free wedding I realized that this would exclude a lot of my friends and family. So I came up with what I thought was a good compromise.
I rented out my brother's indoor playground and paid the staff to work late. Basically I paid them double time until midnight whether there were kids there or not. They are all trained in first aid and have all been screened by the police.
On top of that several of the older kids that didn't want to go to the reception stayed there as well to keep an eye on everything. As well as two ladies from my church. I also provided food and drinks.
The problem is that the playground was about two miles away from the reception. So you basically had to choose between leaving you'd kids there or bringing them with you. I figured that it was a good option for anyone with kids that might get rowdy. Anyone with infants obviously wouldn't leave them there.
Boy was I wrong. People were mad that it was so far away. About a five minute drive. They were mad that the kids didn't get the same food as the people at the reception. No, they got pizza, nachos, and fried chicken.
They were mad I didn't have someone to watch nursing babies. I was cool with people bringing babies to the reception. There was a mother's room at the hall for nursing and changing babies.
I have been called all kinds of names for what I honestly thought was a nice thing. My husband said we should just have gone child free and dealt with that hate instead of wasting money on ingrates. My aunt actually called me an asshole for not wanting a couple of dozen screaming and crying kids at the reception. AITA?
Let's see what readers thought.
gypsycat25 writes:
NTA this is the best solution I've heard on here from anyone who wanted a child free wedding! You provided multiple options for people to chose from, put the kids there were they have fun with others their age, get your own baby sitter or stay home.
Whoever still had a problem was looking for one. Also, who gets mad at different food options? What you provided sounds way more kid friendly than what was probably at the wedding.
peacelovelina writes:
NTA. This was so kind of you. Honesty it shows how truly ungrateful parents are. Like you got FREE childcare to attend an event that’s 5 minutes away with people who are trained to watch kids? OMG the horror.
The world does not revolve around parents once they pop out a baby. People do it every day and it doesn’t make them special. Mostly it tends to make them entitled and I’d totally tell them that.
unexpectedly writes:
NTA. Only comment I have is I've never attended a wedding where my children weren't welcome at the venue. No hard feelings, just doesn't align with how I was raised.
Often the best and sweetest moments and photos were because of the children in attendance. If you had explicitly explained the accommodations and folks still chose to attend that's there problem.
To add, I also don't send a gift to a wedding where my entire family isn't welcome. To me this becomes the "brides" event and not a family event to celebrate your wedding.