Taking Child to Pink Concert Not Bad Parenting, Says Judge
Pink‘s recent The Truth About Love tour somehow became embroiled in a parental custody battle after a New Jersey woman was accused by her ex-husband of bad parenting for bringing their 11-year-old daughter to the “So What” singer’s December 2013 concert. However, in an expansive 37-page decision, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Lawrence R. Jones wrote that the mother “in no way, shape or form exceeded the boundaries of reasonable parental judgment” by attending the Pink concert at Newark’s Prudential Center, NJ.com reports.
“[The mother’s] decision did not subject the child to any unreasonable risk of harm, or compromise [her] health, safety or welfare,” Jones wrote. “To the contrary, when all the smoke from the custody litigation clears, it will be self-evident that all which happened here is that a young girl went to her first rock concert with her mother and had a really great time.”
In the ex-husband’s complaint against his wife, he accused Pink of promoting “lyrical profanities” and “sexually suggestive themes and dance performances.” However, after the daughter told her mother that she was “dying” to see Pink live, the mother watched the singer’s live performances on YouTube first before determining that the concerts featured “age-appropriate singing and dancing.”
Jones’ decision even went in-depth about rock n’ roll’s long history of upsetting adults, including a tidbit about how the Rolling Stones were once barred from performing in Jersey City and Asbury Park because “Satisfaction” was deemed indecent. Jones also explores parental advisory stickers and even breaks down the empowering lyrics of Pink singles like “The Great Escape” and “Perfect.” (Jones does note the latter is the radio friendly version of the track “Fucking Perfect.”)
“Perhaps most important, however, is the fact that [the daughter] enjoyed a parent/child night out together, sharing an experience which was clearly very important to the child in her young life. In this day and age, it is easy for parents to put off important bonding experiences with their children until a tomorrow which simply never comes,” Jones wrote. “The positive value of this experience is not diluted in any fashion merely because there may have been some incidental curse words or allegedly suggestive themes during some of the songs at the concert.”