Sci-Fi Conventions can be great fun, but are they really appropriate places to bring your kids?
I've loved going to Cons since I start gong to Anime Cons in the 1990s. Once I moved down South, I discovered the wonder that is Dragon*Con. But I found that once a year wasn't enough, and began going to other, smaller cons throughout the year.
After my daughter was born, I didn't really think about not attending cons. So her first convention was ConCarolinas 2009, and she was only 7 months old. But because she was so small, we didn't get to stay very long.
At Dragon*Con that year, we left her in the care of my Aunt and Uncle, but thought we would take her to the parade. She was 11 months old at the time, and she did okay for the first part, but then the Netherworld float came but, she freaked right out.
It was then that my husband and I decided that we wouldn't bring her back to Dragon*Con until she was 6 of 7 years old, since a lot of the costumes folks wear could be very scary to a toddler.
We do still bring her to the smaller cons, like Fanaticon and ConCarolinas since there isn't a lot of scary stuff at those. Plus I love costumes and like dressing her up (though I did get a lot of crap from my husband for getting her a Star Trek Red Shirt outfit).
But for bigger cons, she can stay with relatives. I remember this past Dragon*Con, the hubby and I were walking into one of the hotels where the con is held, and saw a little boy around our daughter's age having a complete meltdown. We looked at each other, and expressed how glad we were that wasn't us!
