The Safety of Children.

[chaos001]

I agree totally, and I know I am going to get bashed here, but I feel it is just a reflection of our society. Talk to your children about how they should behave. I had a discussion the other night about social media and how our kids grow up too fast these days. People sending pictures on phones to who knows where? All I had to say was, most young men haven't changed in 50 years, in my humble opinion, a lot of young woman don't have the respect for themselves that their mothers had. Am I an old goat or has our whole society just taken a lighter stance on some of this stuff? Reality TV anyone!!!

You, sir, deserve an Amen!

And what's sad is that quite a bit of the population think that it's OK to act that way! I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist when it comes to Big Brother wanting to control society by making it dumber and more about self-interest, which of course helps a consumer-driven world.

[BDAMom]

I've been asked for proof of health insurance all 4 years.

[charlie1223]

Drumcorps is inherently unsafe. Just think about all the dangers and safety concerns there are!

[tja273]

While I cannot speak to every corps or even some corps in the modern era, I expect little has changed.

To the specific incident referenced loosely in this post, I know that our corps would always leave behind the corps directors motorhome if any member did not return to the busses before they had to leave. The LAST thing any member wanted to do was spend the next few hours on the corps directors vehicle until the next opportunity to return to the corps busses. I expect the event that happened was more of a misunderstanding than a malicious attempt to "leave behind" someone who was late. Finals night, with so many people leaving with family or even another corps for a ride home can be confusing. If the corps missed these members somehow, I expect this was a VERY rare event.

Also, I remember frequent bus checks when we arrived at new sites...especially when we left an area with a lower drinking age than 21. Like any parent, the corps staff cannot prevent every "undesirable" activity, but they did their best. In the modern era, that may be more difficult than the past.

That said, I also recall "free day" in New York, New Orleans, and other locations, where we were "set free" for the day to relax and enjoy ourselves. While I doubt my parents would have released me upon NY City or Tijuana for a day at the young age of 16, they also knew me well enough that I could control my behaviour.

That, I guess, is my main point. It is really up to the parents to be familiar with the corps they are becoming associated with. If my parents had not met Mike Moxley, Wayne Downey and other staff members before tour, I may have never had the opportunities I did.

If you are sending your child off with a corps for the Summer, you MUST know what they are getting in to. Smaller corps will likely have more supervision (simiiar to your high school bands, since that is usually their staff). The top level corps will typically have members in the 18-22 range where this level of supervision is not required. You must know your kid and you must get to know the corps they will be marching with. This is YOUR responsibility!!!

[DCImonkey]

WOW....reading the OP's post you'd think we were all snorting lines of coke off of hooker's ####s on the tour busses between shows.

Reading the post above mine by Tim, His last paragraph is interesting....and a generalization. My wife won't appreciate me airing this out here, but I had more sex on my high school band trips and marching Division 3 than I did at Carolina Crown. As a matter of fact, I was so tired after Crown rehearsals, I didn't even get "tour goggly" I went to my sleeping bag and slept! I will say this though, I remember setting up a sleeping bag next to a female marching D3 and the staff came in that gym and grabbed all the male members sleeping bags (PERSONS INSIDE) and drug them across the gym. The corps did what they needed to do, but obviously they can't watch over young people 24/7...and neither can their parents.

Alcohol? With the exception of Finals night or the occasional beer at Ruby Tuesdays on an off day, I never saw it! EVER!!! Nobody was dumb enough to drink when we had rehearsal the next day. ...and guess what? Ruby Tuesday's cards you...so this whole "save the kids" crap is moot.

Smoking? Hmm I never met a kid that started smoking on tour. As a matter of fact, the smokers are much fewer and far between than they used to be. It's not conducive to marching (especially brass players). If your kid is a smoker, chances are, they were doing it in your backyard with their friends before they ever went on tour.

[HPUEuph]

I'll just say that if your kids are smoking, and drinking on tour it more than likely has already been going on beforehand. I've heard of kids being sent home from tour for a variety of reasons from theft to the above listed happenings.

[skywhopper]

Just to be clear, I'm the parent of a prospective member, and I'm interested in the stories, but I'm not worried that my daughter would be taken advantage of or fall into a life of hoodlumism or anything. I trust her and I understand that touring with a drum corps is likely as safe if not more so as most any other way she might choose to spend her time here in a few years.

But it is interesting to hear the personal tales. Not from a dirty laundry standpoint, but just in terms of having the knowledge to share with her when she gets around to making the decision. I'm also interested in what steps the corps take to prevent the worst problems, what punishments are meted out to the marchers or staff who contribute to problems, and whether or not there's a safe harbor of sorts to appeal to if a member finds things are getting out of control in some way, personally or in some group. Because no matter how responsible each individual member is, they also need a support structure in a high stress environment.

[MikeD]

Because no matter how responsible each individual member is, they also need a support structure in a high stress environment.

That is 1000% correct, IMO. What we are talking about here is not the individual member responsibility...we all know what the members should do, no matter their age...but rather the responsibility the corps has to create a safe environment...and in the case of minors...how the corps legal obligations may differ as compared to their legal obligation to members who are legally adults (at least chronologically!).

Edit...

How the corps deals with the situations that fall outside the 'norm' is what this thread is dealing with, not the 99% of the time when things are moving along relatively smoothly.

Edited August 15, 2012 by MikeD

[MikeN]

IMO we need to separate how members should behave, which many posts including this one hit just fine...from the legal obligations a corps has in accepting minors as members.

Yes, all members should do this, that and the other thing in a responsible manner. The key here is to understand that what the members should do in no way removes the obligation the corps have in providing a safe environment for their members...and the added layer they have accepting minors into their corps.

I can't agree with this more. There's a difference between what the members do/try to do, and how the corps is set up to deal with it. Honestly, as a parent I have no control over the first, save to make sure my kid is equipped to deal with it. The second, however, is absolutely something I care about.

(didn't have to think about this so much until my daughter went to her first corps show this summer and is now interested in marching someday)

Mike

[MikeN]

Edit: I'll say that the biggest safety concern in drum corps today has nothing to do with sex, drugs, or alcohol. It's the long-term health of the members. In general we are very responsible nowadays when it comes to the short term health of marchers, but I still feel that long term health concerns are sometimes ignored. Skin problems, joint problems, eye issues, and (above all) hearing issues that can crop up decades down the road are often overlooked.

I also totally agree with this - especially the skin issue - this is something that will need to be addressed at some point.

Mike