The show hadn't started. It was still a good 10 minutes before the show was to start.
I didn't stand at the rope and complain. I left the kids at the rope with their father and sought out an area manager to voice my concerns over this policy. I wasn't belligerent with her, I calmly expressed my disappointment that the kids were not left in when there were empty seats, and she agreed with me. She listened and promised to pass along my concerns to the appropriate people. End of story.
And you're still not going to convince me that the grownups shouldn't let the kids have the seats for this particular event. For everyone who thinks my opinion on this reflects selfishness and entitlement, what about your own selfish need to watch the expression on your child's face at the exclusion of other children? You can see your child's reaction just fine from the sidelines. It's not a stadium that seats thousands. It's a small shaded area with some benches that seats maybe, what, 100? I'm convinced that many of the folks were just resting there and got caught in the show crowd, since they gave all of the other shaded areas to the smokers... Anyone wanna digress on that?
(The voice in the back of my head keeps saying, "I've been waiting for this bus for an hour. I'll be darned if I'm going to give up my seat to you, carrying that child. You should have gotten here earlier."

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