My partner and I have always enjoyed going to live events, festivals, and concerts. The city we live in has so many nearby events that it is basically impossible to be bored.
Now that we have a child, we don’t just seek out kid-focused events; we still go see the bands and performers we enjoy — even if they happen in the evening.
We often choose to keep our toddler out later than most other parents to enjoy these events. Some people may feel differently, but I have no regrets about bringing our daughter along to enjoy a fun night out with her parents.
I’ve always been an extrovert
I didn’t suddenly stop enjoying concerts and evening events out of the house around fun people. I may even crave and appreciate them more now.
Over the years, I’ve been told “life is never boring around you,” asked “how do you always know what fun stuff is going on?” and, most recently, jokingly crowned “the queen of local events” by a friend. I didn’t think I was doing anything much differently than others for the first few years, but I have finally come to own these truths. There are so many vibrant activities to enjoy out in the community.
It’s hard to find other parents like us
At times, it’s been isolating to not have parent friends who like going out as much as we do, or much at all. I get why many don’t want to go to a concert that starts at 8 p.m. because they don’t want to miss their kid’s bedtime or secure childcare. That’s just not something we let hold us back.
We’re always open to company, but it’s been hard to find. Rarely, some friends will also bring their kids to a fun late-evening event, but mostly we’ve just made peace with our toddler exploring the world with us in a nontraditional manner.
Our toddler seems to like being out on the town
At a year old, our daughter was a regular at our local art crawls and art museum’s after-hours DJ parties and even got her first few autographs. She bops with joy (while wearing protective headphones) at almost every concert we attend, and still occasionally stays up past 9 p.m., or later, if the situation warrants it.
By the time she turned 3, the big-name concerts that we took our daughter to included Tyler Rich (her first headphone autograph!), Uncle Kracker, Keith Urban (she was up way past 11 p.m. that night, she didn’t sleep like we had expected her to), Dasha/Jordan Davis (up way past 11 p.m. again), Jelly Roll, and Gwen Stefani.
A third of the time, she is busy dancing her heart out, another third she is befriending whoever is behind us or next to us (or any nearby dogs), and therest of the time, she might fall asleep, need a potty break or diaper change, want another snack, or get a little too antsy so we’ll walk her around a little bit to reset.
No, our toddler isn’t invited to every concert we attend. She was not invited to see Kesha or Pitbull when I went out for a girls’ night. Nor did she see Brooks & Dunn. For that one, we split a babysitter and carpooled with friends. But she has come to basically all other big evening events with us.
This year, our threenager has enjoyed seeing Jo Dee Messina, Alana Springsteen, Fitz and the Tantrums, Fake Happy (a Paramore tribute band), Teddy Swims, and Miranda Lambert. Up next, we’re taking her to see Brad Paisley.
For us, this is the logical choice
In parent math, the choice about whether to bring my child to concerts is pretty clear.
How can I accurately estimate when the openers will finish and when the main artist will play? It’s hard, I’ve tried.
How crazy will the traffic and parking be around the concert? Sometimes friends or prior experiences can help guesstimate, but that could always be wrong. That’s not ideal when you have a sitter waiting back at home.
Also, do I want to ask around for a babysitter and pay them $15 to $20, or more, per hour? Do I want to go to the concert so badly that I’d add $100 or more to the cost, prepare the house, have backup plans for various worst-case scenarios, and make sure we’re monitoring our phones constantly through (probably) loud music? It’s pretty unlikely.
Does our daughter enjoy music and people? An enthusiastic yes. So that’s the option I’m picking.
After living through years of COVID protocols during our engagement and the formative years of our marriage, it’s so joyful to appreciate music and energetic events in a crowd of friendly people and to watch our daughter learn to do the same.
It’s OK if sleep schedules are a little off sometimes — for us, it’s worth it. And, luckily, my pediatric sleep consultant said that what we’re doing is fine. Thank goodness.
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