Please Stop Shaming the Parents Who Brought a Baby to a Taylor Swift Concert

A photo of a baby fast asleep on the floor in the standing room section at Swift's Eras Tour in Paris has gone viral and sparked outrage.

Like many Swifties out there, I was unable to obtain (or let’s get real, afford) tickets to attend Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. I hoped to wear matching friendship bracelets and sparkly skirts and experience the concert with my 9-year-old daughter.

Instead, over the past year, I managed to get my fix by obsessively watching clips on social media, trying to guess her “secret” songs of the night, and scanning the crowd for famous faces.

I still hope the ultimate mother/daughter Swifie concert adventure awaits us.  If it does, I do have some anxiety over the logistics. My daughter is always up for new experiences but making our way into a stadium filled with a sea of identical little Swifties (making it nerve-wracking if we did get separated), conquering long bathroom and merch lines, booming noise levels and a very late night is a lot for me, a 40-something woman. So I know it would be sensory overdrive for my daughter—but I always felt it would be something worth figuring out and conquering together.

I was surprised to see the latest image causing a viral uproar from Taylor’s recent Eras Tour stops in Paris was not of her boyfriend Travis Kelce dancing in the stands or even her pal Gigi Hadid packing on the PDA with her boyfriend Bradley Cooper.

No, it was a photo of a baby, fast asleep on a purple coat in the standing room section of the La Défense Arena in Paris. The world exploded with shock and a cacophony of parent shaming.

The poster on X (@whatamind13), shared two photos of the baby with the caption, "get ur baby off the floor and GO HOME." In the photos, the baby appears to be wearing ear protection but is lying on the floor, next to a bag of merch, surrounded by feet.

The comments were all focused on the danger of the situation, which is obviously very scary. A child's safety should be the top priority and there are other ways to bring a baby to a concert.

One commenter (obviously not a parent) writes, "Couldn’t have even went the extra mile to wear one of those body things the baby can sit in against there [sic] chest like?"

Another says, "have they heard of a…. babysitter?????" (more on that in a minute).

My first response was not anger towards the parents—but rather jealousy that a sleeping baby had a ticket to the show I so desperately wanted to bring my own child to. I felt a kinship with the baby’s parents because I get it. Experiencing pop culture moments with my daughter is important to me.

Wait, please hear me out, and don't parent-shame me!

By no means am I saying that laying a baby on a dirty concert floor amid loudspeakers, screaming Swifties and an oversized, overzealous crowd (filled with germs) is baby-friendly.  But, I completely understand why these parents may have decided to go for it—for a few reasons.

Babysitters Are Hard to Come By

I have to state the obvious reason that a baby may have experienced one of the biggest pop culture touchstones of the millennium. Babysitters are never guaranteed. Even if you live close to family, they still get sick or have last-minute emergencies or conflicting plans.

Even if you paid the high price for Taylor Swift tickets, you likely don’t have a lot of budget left over for a babysitter. These days, the average sitter charges anywhere from $17-20 an hour—assuming you can find one trustworthy and dependable.

So what would you do if no sitter was available, no family around, and tickets to the Eras tour manifested right off your bucket list? I’m sure some parents would be disappointed and forgo the concert. But if you think you can stay present even with your baby as your plus one, that’s a parenting choice only you can make for yourself.

I personally would wear my baby instead of laying them on the floor but I give these parents some credit with the protective, noise-canceling headphones on their baby’s ears.

Also, many venues these days don’t allow a bag bigger than a postage stamp so bringing bottles, blankets, toys, and snacks may be an issue but again, you know what your baby needs, and if you can be creative with how you pack your stuff—why not go for it?

Becoming a Parent Doesn't Take Away Your Fan Cred

If you’re a fan of anything or anyone, not just Taylor Swift—that passion doesn’t go away when you become a parent. Your desire to spread the joy it evokes becomes stronger. At least that’s how I felt as I wanted to pass that unbridled joy onto my flesh and blood.

As a Gen Xer, my fangirl days run deep and started way before 1989 (if you know, you know). I’ve been a massive Aerosmith fan almost my entire life and have seen Aerosmith on every tour (multiple times) they’ve launched since 1994.

My attendance at those shows is non-negotiable. I’ve seen Aerosmith several times alone because I am so in the “zone” during a show that Taylor Swift herself could sit next to me and it wouldn’t register.  When I was four months pregnant, my husband and I went to an Aerosmith show. You better believe I sang, danced, and hoped my unborn child was absorbing every bit of Steven Tyler’s signature screams.

Now, had my daughter been born when that show came around? Nothing would have stopped me from going—if I didn’t have childcare. I’m sure my husband wouldn’t have gone for it but I know I would’ve done everything to figure it out.

For me, an Aerosmith show is a religious experience. Their music got me through some dark times and rough life transitions. I assume many Swifties feel the same and hearing the music that healed you in a live setting is unlike any therapy session. Yes, your child’s safety and well-being always comes first but I would have found it a full circle moment to bring my baby to see Aerosmith—had that need arisen.

There Are Experiences You Need to Have With Your Kid

Sure, a baby may not quite absorb and understand the nuances of a Taylor Swift show like a tween-ager would. And yes, there are lots of other things to take into consideration—I really don’t even want to think about diaper changing or feeding in the middle of a stadium—so yes, bringing a baby to a concert, even a Taylor Swift concert, is not a well thought out plan. But it’s a choice I wholeheartedly understand.

In addition to Aerosmith, I’m a lifelong Blockhead. I saw the New Kids on the Block OPEN for Tiffany before seeing them on their headlining tour several times in junior high. I never thought I would see them as a full-fledged adult. The fact that New Kids on the Block is still touring and my daughter is almost the same age as me when I first discovered them? Attending a show with her would be surreal at any age. I’m working on making that happen this summer.

When my daughter was a baby, I proudly introduced her to the music of Taylor Swift. I got her to emit the biggest belly laughs by singing and dancing to “Shake It Off.” I desperately wanted—and still want to—experience the magic of a live Taylor Swift show with her. She’s been a big part of our mother/daughter bonding.

So let's give the parents who brought their baby to see Taylor Swift a break . . . and if anyone from Taylor Swift’s team reads this, maybe they should consider adding a section filled with babysitters to the next leg of the tour.

For more Parents news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Parents.