When Parenting Meets the Public Eye: Taking My 13-Year-Old to a Morgan Wallen Concert

A few nights ago, I did something that felt simple, joyful, and honestly pretty “normal mom” in the moment: I took my 13-year-old son to see Morgan Wallen in concert.

If you know my son, you know this part matters—Morgan Wallen is his favorite artist. Not “one of,” not “lately,” not “kind of.” Favorite. The kind of favorite where the songs are on repeat in the car, where lyrics become background noise to homework, where a kid lights up just hearing the first few notes.

And then something unexpected happened: I was offered a last-minute opportunity to take him—one of those rare chances that pops up and you either grab it or you don’t. I grabbed it. Because I’m his mom, and because childhood is short, and because sometimes the best memories come from the plans you didn’t have time to overthink.

We went. We sang. We laughed. We watched a stadium full of people share the same excitement. And my son had one of those nights that will stay with him for a long time.

I posted a few pictures and videos afterward—because that’s what parents do when their kid is happy and you want to remember it.

And then I received a few negative comments.

Not a lot. But enough that I felt the need to respond.

So I posted this on social media:

“I have received a few negative comments, not a lot but a few, about attending Morgan Wallen’s concert last night. He is my son’s favorite musician. I was offered a last minute amazing opportunity to be able to take him and I jumped on it. I am well aware of his troubled public life. He is extremely talented and I can talk to my son about the difference between someone who is talented and someone who should be considered a good role model. A man is only as good as his actions. Last night I watched a man walk around an entire stadium trying to reach as many fans as possible. He was positive, fun, and stuck to his job… to entertain. He didn’t tell us how he felt about the world and he definitely didn’t tell us how we should feel about that world. He put on an amazing show and I barely saw him break a sweat. Thank you for the opportunity. It’s one this kid won’t soon forget! #imalittlecrazy #theworldisinsane”

I shared it alongside a photo of Morgan Wallen making his way around the crowd to connect with my son.

And what transpired after that was beyond anything I could have imagined.

That post was actively viewed by more than 80,000 individual accounts. Well over a thousand people engaged with it, and close to 300 left comments.

For a regular social media influencer, that might sound like just another Tuesday.

But I’m not a social media influencer.

I’m just a mom who also happens to be a Board of Education representative.

The Part People Don’t Always Understand About Public Life

Most of the engagement was overwhelmingly positive—easily more than 95%.

But there were a few loud voices who insisted I was being completely irresponsible for taking my son to that concert.

Some questioned how I could “let” my son look up to Morgan Wallen.

And then came the leap that surprised me most:

If I had “that poor of judgment” with my own child, how could I possibly be trusted to help direct the education of all Baltimore County public school students?

Here’s how.

Because parenting isn’t about pretending the world is perfect.

It’s about preparing kids to live in it.

Famous Doesn’t Mean Flawless—and That’s the Lesson

Morgan Wallen might be famous, but he is human.

Morgan Wallen might be talented, but that doesn’t mean everything he has ever done is role-model worthy.

And if we’re being honest—haven’t we all known people we love who have made mistakes? Family members. Friends. Coworkers. People in our community. People who have done things we would never want our children to repeat.

What expectation are we setting for our kids if we only allow them to be in the presence of people who have never made a mistake?

That they can never make one?

That they can never be forgiven if they do?

That is a heavy burden to place on a child.

And it’s not realistic. It’s not healthy. And it’s not how growth works.

What I Didn’t Know—And What I Chose to Teach Anyway

Truth be told, I honestly had no idea about the private video that was leaked of Morgan Wallen and a friend where he said a word I have never and would never use.

Whether or not context matters is up to every individual to decide for themselves.

But I want to be clear about this: it is not a word I have taught, and it is not a word I would ever condone my children using for any reason at all.

At the same time, I am not going to judge a man only by his fall.

I choose—and I choose to teach my children—to value a person by the way they get back up.

Because we are going to fall.

We are going to make mistakes.

Some more horrible than others.

But how we pick ourselves back up after that should matter more than the fall itself.

The Concert Was a Memory—But the Conversation Was the Point

That night wasn’t about pretending someone is perfect.

It was about a mother taking her son to see his favorite artist.

It was about joy.

It was about being present.

And yes—it was also about having real conversations. The kind that matter. The kind that help kids learn how to think, not just what to think.

We can acknowledge talent without excusing wrongdoing.

We can enjoy music while still holding people accountable.

We can teach our kids that admiration doesn’t have to be blind.

And we can teach them that people are complicated—and that character is revealed not only in what someone does wrong, but in what they do afterward.

Final Thought

I’m not asking everyone to make the same choices I make.

But I am asking for a little more grace—for parents, for kids, and for the idea that learning happens in real life, not in a perfectly curated bubble.

That concert was a gift to my son.

And the lesson I chose to teach him through it is one I hope we can all teach our children—and adults, for that matter:

We will mess up.

We will fall.

But what matters most is how we stand back up.