With warmer weather and summer around the corner, concerts on the Jersey Shore will be rocking. Many families will attend these concerts and see performances of all different varieties. However, as seen by the parents in this case, custody battles can bring out the worst in people.
In a recent New Jersey Case, the Court ruled that a mother did not show poor judgment by taking her 11-year-old daughter to a concert by the singer Pink, and the decision cannot be used as fodder in an ongoing custody dispute with the child’s father. The child’s father alleged that the Pink performance was age-inappropriate because of profanities in the singer’s lyrics, as well as sexually suggestive themes and dance performances.
Judge Lawrence Jones of the Ocean County Superior Court, denied the father’s request that the decision be afforded a negative inference concerning the mother’s parenting style. The Judge stated that the mother “in no way, shape or form exceeded the boundaries of reasonable parental judgment in electing to take the child to the show.” Judge Jones further stated that a “review of the lyric sheets and videos of the concert indicate profanities and curse words are sporadic and incidental, and not unreasonably pervasive.” Judge Jones stated that “a parent’s right to expose the child to age-appropriate works of the creative arts is a reasonably anticipated part of a parent-child relationship.”
Parents with joint custody do not need to agree on everything, but must understand the right each parent has to exercise reasonable parental discretion.