To: seneschal@eastkingdom.org, chancellor-minor@eastkingdom.org
Date: July 21, 2019
Dear Lady Hugoline and Mistress Katherine,
In the wake of the Society revising its youth policies, we are writing to you to encourage a similar review of the East Kingdom’s rules in this area.
In particular, the policies of the East Kingdom Chancellor Minor state that “Youth between the age of 5 and 12 … must be within sight and sound range of their parent/guardian/responsible adult/teen supervisor at all times.”
As we wrote to the Society leadership, after having our ten-year-old take the subway across Manhattan to school every day, it seems absurd to say that when at an SCA event he would require an escort to the bathroom.
The reality is that the current rule is generally not enforced, and if you walk around many events in our kingdom you will often see school-age kids hanging out and playing together and moving safely around the site without necessarily being directly and continuously supervised by a designated adult.
While we agree that younger children require a greater level of oversight than teens, we do not think that all youth under the age of thirteen require continuous monitoring at all events, and we believe it is appropriate to allow parents to exercise their judgement and discretion in these matters, in conjunction with guidance from event stewards and other event staff if conditions or activities at a particular event warrant it.
Thank you for your consideration,
— Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin
— Alienor Salton