Taking children to the movies

[DesignFox]

Don't get me started on cell phones. During my senior year of high school, some twat rocket brought his phone to our production of Godspell. THREE fucking times during the show his phone went off playing the Mexican Hat Dance. Once during the most dramatic (silent) moment in the show.

I still twitch when I hear that goddamn song.

If I could have found out who it was, I was just young and stupid enough to go grab it and smash it.

So, if you're out there rude cell phone douchebag, thank you very much! 10 years later I still have a grudge against you!

[lordlundar]

This is actually pretty close to another issue, and that is the wave of current "violent" video game laws going around, all of which boil down to allowing the government to dictate whether a child can play a game rated higher than their age bracket despite what the parent feels. And I will say the same thing in this that I have been saying in the other:

You are not the child's parent, so back off.

It's their child and so far as I know, he is not causing a problem, so how is a child being there such an issue for you? What gives you or any other person the right to dictate how the parents raise their child without any proof that they are harming their child?

(and before someone brings up CPS, there is a VERY wide line between the situations that CPS is called in for and this)

[IDrinkaRum]

I've been going to the movies since I was 4. (I remember at one point, my mom was pregnant - my sister wasn't born until after I turned 5 - and I asked her if the baby could see the movie through her belly button )

However, I grew up a little differently from other people/children/whatevers in this thread: I am an Air Force Brat.

We mainly went to the movies at the Military Base (the first time I went to a movie theater off of base, I was really confused as to why there was no Pledge of Allegiance being said after the previews/before the start of the film).

For those who don't know about Military in general, let me tell you this: A child gets in trouble, the parent knows and everyone up the chain of that child's parent's command knows too. The parents are held responsible for the child's outbursts.

I really do believe that parents should be held accountable for their children's actions in a movie theater. If the child (meaning little ones and not-so-little ones) acts up in the movie theater, then it's the parent's responsibility to do something. If they don't do anything, then it's fair game for someone else to either compain to the parent or take it to the manager.

Mr. Rum & I have taken Child Rum to the movie theater. However, we only take her to the theater when we know the "Sensory Friendly Films" are showing. The times we've gone, it's just been the 3 of us, so Child Rum can run around and be as loud as she wants to.

[Lace Neil Singer]

My parents took me and my brothers to movies as small kids; we knew the penalty for misbehaviour would be to be taken out of said movie and locked in the car for the duration. XD

Movies had intervals back then so were a lot easier. XD Hmm... I just thought of something... cuz my brothers refused to go and see certain movies (My Little Pony, She-Ra, Care Bears), I ended up going to see two movies. Strange they never noticed. XD

[violetyoshi]

If a child is well behaved and just watching the movie, then it's not up to nosy strangers to do anything.

Rare to see a child doing that. I mean, we can keep going on about this, but if the majority of children were well behaved, why would people be complaining?

For the record, I'd be just as annoyed at a pair of teens making a racket in the cinema as I would be about noisy, bratty children. Or, as I once had, a stupid bitch who insisted on using her mobile phone halfway thru... well, til my friend grabbed the phone off her and threw it under the seats.

At least you can talk to teens, or get a movie manager to talk to them. There's no talking to parents, because they make it out to be an offense against their perfect angels. They'll attack whoever suggests their screaming banshee should leave the theater, threatening their job. This is why this is allowed to continue to happen, it's not worth it to the theater to risk a entitle parent writing a angry letter to their manager, and getting them fired. You simply can't talk to them with any reason, they'll just make it about the children.

[kibbles]

why would people be complaining?

Because some people aren't happy unless they have something to complain about. Even sucky customers go to the movies

[AdminAssistant]

but if the majority of children were well behaved, why would people be complaining?

Oh...something about squeaking wheels getting all the oil.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

It's called confirmation bias.

You don't remember the half dozen silent kids, you remember the screaming brat. You forget the five things a psychic got wrong, but not the one thing they got right.

Maybe I haven't been to the cinema enough, because I haven't encountered any disturbance of any kind whatsoever 9 times out of 10. Then again, I don't count most of the little things as a disturbance (person getting up and blocking my view, someone whispering something to another person, or cursing when they drop a soda etc.)

[DesignFox]

I dunno. It's so fucking rare to go to a movie and NOT have disturbances that I tend to remember my good experiences comparatively.

When SO and I went to see Star Trek, we couldn't have picked a better day! It was mother's day, beautiful and sunny outside, middle of the afternoon.

The whole crowd consisted of older couples (late 20's and up).

The amazing and blessed silence! It was beautiful! Not a single cell phone went off, not a single child made a peep (if there were even any kids in there, which I don't think there were), not a soul was opening their phone to text. I thought the world was going to end it was such a great movie experience!

I think I just cried thinking about it...and remember when movies were almost ALWAYS like that.... (j/k about the crying)

Now if we want to talk about a bad experience- and big part of why I don't cough up the 10 bucks to go very often- we can talk about going to see Shrek the Third. The movie itself was terrible (which was disappointing because I really enjoyed the first two) but someone brought a toddler- a toddler that wouldn't stop screeching at the top of his lungs. It wasn't until I made a rather loud comment along the lines of "take your damn kid outside until it's done screaming" that the father finally took his son out to the lobby to calm down.

In my opinion this was inexcusable for two reasons. 1) this kid was maybe 2. Even for a kid's movie, that's pretty young to be expecting the poor child to sit still and quiet for 2 hours. 2) Mom was there with the older child who was behaving himself. No reason why Dad couldn't discreetly leave the theater when the younger child started fussing, and come back in when he had been soothed. The fact that I had to make a snide comment and shame this person into politeness really just makes me weep for humanity...and really makes me want to beat people with a clue bat.

I also sort of felt for the little boy that WAS behaving. I mean, c'mon! How many of you with siblings wanted to miss out on parts of your movie because your little brother was screaming? Us older folk can say, "well, he is only 2..." as a kid, I could imagine being like, "why the HELL did we have to bring HIM?" XD

Frankly, I think if your kid is less than 4, they probably don't belong in a theater. However, I agree that it's up to a parent to ultimately decide this, since...all kids are different! So long as the child is behaving, or the parent takes ACTION I have no issue! Especially if the movie is rated for and geared towards children.

[Lace Neil Singer]

It kind of begs the question; why didn't Dad just take little brother someplace else? It's a rare toddler that can sit still and shut up for two hours, after all.

I remember once being in a movie theatre with my parents (boyf was working and Mum wanted to watch the movie too) to see The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe. This woman and her two kids who were aged around five were sitting behind us. During the first part, annoying little girl kept asking her stupid mother questions in a loud voice; and the mother replied similarly loudly. Her little brother was quietly kicking the back of my mother's seat.

I have very little patience at the best of times; after only a few minutes of both, I swung round and said to the mother, "Shut your damn kid up and if your son doesn't quit kicking my mother's seat, he'll be sorry." The woman bitched at me, so I got up and went to get an usher. The woman and her kids ended up being unceremoniously booted out, and I got to watch the rest of the movie in peace.

[violetyoshi]

It kind of begs the question; why didn't Dad just take little brother someplace else? It's a rare toddler that can sit still and shut up for two hours, after all.

I remember once being in a movie theatre with my parents (boyf was working and Mum wanted to watch the movie too) to see The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe. This woman and her two kids who were aged around five were sitting behind us. During the first part, annoying little girl kept asking her stupid mother questions in a loud voice; and the mother replied similarly loudly. Her little brother was quietly kicking the back of my mother's seat.

I have very little patience at the best of times; after only a few minutes of both, I swung round and said to the mother, "Shut your damn kid up and if your son doesn't quit kicking my mother's seat, he'll be sorry." The woman bitched at me, so I got up and went to get an usher. The woman and her kids ended up being unceremoniously booted out, and I got to watch the rest of the movie in peace.

One time, this kid was kicking the back of my seat, ah yes it was when they had Spy Kids in 3-D, and back then a 3-D movie was rare. I would've gotten the usher, except that the child was Black and his parents we're both White. How much would you want to bet, they'd pull out the race card in the name of the child, if the usher said a word to them?

[anriana]

One time, this kid was kicking the back of my seat, ah yes it was when they had Spy Kids in 3-D, and back then a 3-D movie was rare. I would've gotten the usher, except that the child was Black and his parents we're both White. How much would you want to bet, they'd pull out the race card in the name of the child, if the usher said a word to them?

It's amazing how you manage to take every thread and post a "OMG EVERYTHING ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE EVER IS WRONG AND STUPID" comment.

[LeChatNoir]

One time, this kid was kicking the back of my seat, ah yes it was when they had Spy Kids in 3-D, and back then a 3-D movie was rare. I would've gotten the usher, except that the child was Black and his parents we're both White. How much would you want to bet, they'd pull out the race card in the name of the child, if the usher said a word to them?

Isn't that almost as equally racist of you to automatically assume the worst of someone because of their skin color (white, black, or whatever)? I would have called the usher anyway. Or at the very least turned around and asked the child to stop kicking my seat. And if the parents got sucky, well that's their problem. They'd still be in the wrong and most likely would've gotten booted.

[Boozy]

One time, this kid was kicking the back of my seat, ah yes it was when they had Spy Kids in 3-D, and back then a 3-D movie was rare. I would've gotten the usher, except that the child was Black and his parents we're both White. How much would you want to bet, they'd pull out the race card in the name of the child, if the usher said a word to them?

Again?

There's no need to turn every thread into a discussion about race. Start a new thread or find an ongoing one on the subject if you want to make racist statements. I'll take you to task for it there. But don't derail this or other non-race related threads.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I have actually asked people to control their kids and gotten positive responses; however, seeing as that stupid bitch was bellowing in return to her daughter's bellowed questions I really didn't think that I'd get much sense out of her. I probably should have just gone straight for an usher, but I guess I wanted to give her one chance to do the decent thing before I got the big guns out.

Incidently, when I went to see Finding Nemo at the cinema, there was this adorable little girl there with her mother in the seat next to me. At first I groaned inwardly cuz I thought that the girl would be making a racket all the way thru, but she sat quietly and watched the movie without making a single noise. Just one hiatus when halfway thru the woman had to take her daughter to the loo and I had to move slightly, but that was hardly worth complaining about. XD