Ask Lemmy

those kids do it for a hobby

The pageants are the parents' hobby. The kids are whisked into it at a vulnerable stage of development in which they don't have the agency to decide any of it for themselves.

Nah, i must disagree here. The posters are right about being a hobby for some people. In two very bad ways

There are (usually the dads) who only pick it up once in a while the same way they go mountainbiking,etc. Then they usually try to "make up" what they didn't do the rest of the days and make it "extra fun". (As usual the Simpsons did a good take on it in their fun dad episode) But they don't give a rats ass the rest of the time. They don't go to the doctor with the kid,they don't know their school schedules,etc. They pick their hobby up maybe twice a month. I hate these people - because they are so numerous. When I am out with my kiddos I get comments "oh,do you babysit for your wife?" "Oh, it's nice you take that burden off your wife once in a while." Like what? Are you fucking crazy? My wife is the actual main income earner and this is not the 50ies.

The other kind is as bad,imho. The overinvolved ones. The ones that basically want to do everything so right that it becomes their hobby (or obsession). The "oh no, my kid can't eat sugar that is not made from XY" "I will not raise my child, i will love-raise them", etc. Note that while these have a crosssection with helicopter parents they are a distinct group themselves,as some prefer an intentional other style of parenting (all nature and free roaming,etc.). But they will focus on it - countless blogs, books from unqualified authors and instagram posts will be read, countless discussions, for them it becomes their hobby...or more.

So..there are some people who have parenting as a hobby. And that doesn't mean the ones who have no time for hobbies anymore - as parenting is fucking hard sometimes.

Their sugar free energy packets that you mix in water tasted like jello so I kind of liked those. I haven't tried the cans though.

Related but a lot of smaller LARP clubs (European style at least, can't speak for America) end up extremely culty because of a perfect storm of factors:

• takes up loads of time and resources just to be average; making costumes, learning stats, downtime activities etc before you've even left the house

• predominantly twenty-somethings who recently moved out of their parents' house and end up house-sharing with other LARPers from the same club

• the RPG + Am Dram elements mean that it takes years to be able to access a lot of the game, whether it be types of spellcasting or a character in a position of power. This means that if you want to quit your club for another one, you're losing years of progression in a way that doesn't happen with sports or most arts-based hobbies.

• spending whole weekends in the middle of the woods with no outside influence, where you have to follow instructions given by refs. It's also not unusual to be up until sunrise or even do all-nighters playing through the next day as well

• success or failure at the game is often at the whims of said refs, MUCH more than in Warhammer

• ...as a result of which, the club management hierarchy ends up translating into social hierarchy outside of official events. The people at the top are the ones that effectively determine whether a party, day trip or even a wedding is going to be a big event or not, and the regular membership treats them accordingly. So, culty as heck.