There will always be people who hate kids. Always. There will always be BURNERS who want a child-free Burning Man.

The recent discussion has sparked due to a severe misinterpretation of a letter Harley sent to the theme camp organizers, where she reminded them all that BM was a "family friendly" event. She also talked about NEW scrutiny from the State of Nevada regarding making sure children weren't exposed to certain kinds of adult conduct, because it would violate existing laws.

A lot of people interpreted this as meaning that BMOrg was suddenly PUSHING a "family friendly" event, and that it represented a CHANGE to BM, and that it meant people would have to curtail certain activities or sequester themselves, when, in fact, Harley was merely reiterating the EXISTING policy and request by BMOrg.

So, people being people, they viewed this potential for change as a threat to their indenties, and, humans being largely fearful of change, they chose to lash out and cry and whine and bitch and predict the end of Burning Man.

Which is all just a bunch of drama.

Burning Man is family friendly insofar as it welcomes and encourages people to bring their children if they choose. It doesn't appear to me, from what I've read, that this year will be any different than last year...and the allegations that it'll turn into "Disneyland In The Desert" are baseless.

Children being present at Burning Man do not threaten free expression any more than having other adults does. For the sake of courtesy, BMOrg has asked, like it ALWAYS has asked, that events of a highly sexual nature be semi-private, and that the organizers of said events take pains to make sure kids don't inadvertently wander into, say, a fetish club or a bondage show. Or, even, a room full of people fucking.

Some parents will continue to bring their kids at their discretion, and its up to us Burning Parents to set an example for people by being responsible for our children, which, as far as I have ever seen, is the case.

So, in short, I think its a lot of hot air. Banning children from Burning Man would be a serious error in judgement, and I don't forsee BMOrg doing it.

Fauna, no worries, there are literally hundreds of children there.

As the law stand in Pershing County, it is illegal for any adult to be nude in the presence of a minor, this is including mother and child.

I don't speak for the event anymore, but it's just letting people know that outright coordination of sexually explicity that has some theme camps getting word.

The event has become a rather hedonistic mecca in some respects over the years. I suspect it will continue to change.

As for children, to me, the more the merrier. It's easy for me to explain what my son see's, and he's 6. He's grown up as a burner his whole life. To him, the art, the fire spinning, the music, and yes, the nudity is all part of it. Of course, I'm the wise parent that makes sure my son isn't brought over to a camp where something is just too wild.

There will never be a curfew and there will always be children, more and more children. An entire new generation of incredibly expressive, artistic and open minded people.

But this will be the first time in over 10 years, I won't be there. We've decided to get dusty and hot at a few other times in the year out there, hee hee!

I'd bet the vast majority of the "no kids at Burning Man" party are not parents themselves.

Burning Man is a community. Communities have children. The idea that our community should exclude children to me seems obsurd. They are as much a part of the community as adults are. As a community, we should be conserned about the well-being of our children and do what we can to keep them safe. The Burning Man organization has done a nice job in supporting the needs of all community members, including families, children, and adults who want "complete freedom of expression." There's no reason why everyone's needs can't be balanced.

Anyhow, as for "freedom of expression," well, communities *all* have standards for behavior of some kind which they expect community members to abide by. Same is true for us. It's reasonable for the community to put minor limits on behaviors/locations of behaviors in order to protect children and everyone else. That's what it means to be a part of a society; you can't just do whatever you want whenever and where ever you want, even at Buring Man. Kids don't really change that much.

Anyhow, it's the responsibility of us as parents to decide what we are willing to expose our kids to. Most of us are responsible parents and give our kids lots of guidance while there.

I haven't taken my son to burning man yet but hope to this year... Though I was at atrance party once where a drunk floozy was like: How people bring kids here all judgemental like mostly threatened because she was having trouble standing... not knowing also that my kid was one of the kids at the party... and I responded personally mine would hate me if I left him behind and secondly kids are people too and as much as you respect other people at this party you should also respect the little people. Luckily that was a rare and random incident but I know from these experiences my kid has become a very intuned, open minded, articulate, and creative person... not to mention he gets such a thrill from the combination of music, community, nature and creativity... most of his best kiddie friends have also come from these experiences.
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