Smileless2012
Better to express one's opinion and be accused of being judgemental than having an 'anything goes' approach to raising children.
I think that labelling people as 'judgemental' because they voice an opinion on an issue such as this is a variation on the 'no debate' statement. It is the same ploy - it stifles debate (as I believe it's intended to do). No one really wants to appear judgemental or phobic. I think it is deliberate. And it's unhealthy.
The organisers, and their supporters, have made their case and justified the acts. Fine. But, we cannot disagree or have a different opinion... because we are not the parents, and it is about parental responsibility, and anyway, to do so is judgemental?
There's no reason to suspect that the mothers at this performance are anything other than normal, nice, caring mothers, who love their children.
But this is a cultural shift and it affects everyone. Because there's a whole industry of services dedicated to the welfare of minors which would indicate that 'parental responsibility' is very definitely not an exact science.
Babies and toddlers cannot speak for themselves and are therefore vulnerable to the whims and fancies of their parents who do not always have their best interests at heart. So we, the public in general, are the backstop. We are sometimes relied on by child-protection services to be the informants, the whistle-blowers. If that were not the case, these services would not exist. Teachers, doctors, other medical professionals, dinner-ladies, shop assistants - everybody in fact, has a duty of care towards children.
So let's have a debate on the issue. These performances may be nothing more than harmless fun for he parents where the babies and toddlers are just amused by adults hanging upside down. I'm not an expert in child psychology but I do know from my own experience - as other mothers will - that babies are not simply a passive pair of eyes watching and ignoring what's going on around them. At this crucial moment in their development they are absorbing and processing everything they see, one way or another.