Conversation Time: Children and liability

[Eric Ose]

Hey Lab,

If someone wants to host an event with kids, but not their parents should we be requiring them to do more than have waivers filled out?

It has been long conveyed to me that children must be accompanied by parents or guardian. Someone has asked me about hosting camps for kids and I emphasized and re-emphasized that parents should be there also.

Apparently I could be wrong about this and unnecessarily hindering creativity / making. I hate it when that happens in our community.

We do have precedent for events where parents aren't present. I and others have had teachers bring their students on tours of the lab. Also I had one actual hands on making field trip.

Also FYI this isn't just about kids being difficult. Adults can be just as problematic and perhaps more difficult to deal with. Mixing badly behaved adults with children is an even bigger headache. At least if the parents are present they are as aware as anyone else of the problem and can remove themselves and their kids from the lab asap.

Eric Ose

Robot Ambassador

It's just an idea until there's a date and time included.

[sherman...@yahoo.com]

When this comes up for me at the Paleo meetings I make sure (i) there are at least two adults present in the meeting with the children, (ii) the parents are within five minutes of the meeting (go to a restaurant) , and (iii) both the parent and the children agree and sign a waiver that includes the child will NOT leave the building.

S

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[Luis Montes]

I never allowed kids without their parents or a teacher on any of the events I've run. 

Might be easier for us if that was just our official policy.

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[Eric Ose]

FYI I have no plans to host events with kids. This post has confused a couple people. Writing is not one of my strengths.

Someone else asked me about hosting kids camps. In the past I have said no to this specific question since parents would need to be with them. I may just be presuming things. I should come with a warning. That said it is an important topic and should be discussed.

Eric Ose

Robot Ambassador

Sometimes cool things just happen, but usually you have to plan them.

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[Eric Ose]

Sherman, 

When you host your paleo meeting do you have kids that are 5 to 10 years old attend your meeting or are you talking about teenagers? 

The age range for the kids camp is 5 to 10 at least that's what the current query is about.

Eric Ose
Robot Ambassador
It's just an idea unless there is a date and time included.

[sherman mohler]

Ahh. Yes in our case if we allow a parent to "duck out but stay within a 10 min walking radious and have your cell phone" it's for kids ages 11 and above. We want to give precocious kids a chance to feel they can talk "like an adult" to professional paleontologists with our parents gushing over their kids brilliance...

-- Sherman

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.

[sherman...@yahoo.com]

WITHOUT their parents gushing over them....

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/2068322528.1948313.1717871592847%40mail.yahoo.com

.

[Ryan Mcdermott]

Just to share a couple of practices I've encountered:

All the spaces I've ever taught at that have adults working with children also require all of the adults present (volunteers, and staff) to have background checks on file, and some of them require fingerprinting as part of the background check.

When we do stuff with kids when their parents aren't present, there is a representative from whatever the partner organization is that is there to handle the kids as a chaperone of sorts.

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