No, not those kind of films…. I just got home from seeing The Batman (great film, but very violent), and a mother was chasing her loud 5 year old around the cinema throughout.
Honest question- if you’ve taken a young kid to see a mature film in the past, why? Would you leave if they were causing a disruption?
Back to the high seas for me.
It's a great experience seeing blockbusters on a big screen, with the amazing sound and the recliner seats (and if you're lucky to live near a D-Box cinema, motion seats), its not dirty or anything in anywhere I've been! Yeah sure, they may be idiots in your session, but I go to the movies a lot and rarely have a problem. It's also great to have the crowd reaction in some movies, it adds something you won't get at home.
I also love going to the drive in - you'd think that would solve the problems of being in a regular cinema, it has it's own set of completely different issues (automatic headlights for instance)!
What is this another `% ing Cotton Ball Club gathering ?
I took my kids to see Jacka$$ I forgot which one .
We took our two toddlers to watch Spider-Man with our elder kid (who’s a teenager and actually wanted to watch this movie). We ended up forfeiting both our (parent’s) tickets and had to take toddlers home. Left the teenager on her own to watch the movie, who actually loved it.
That’s a tough decision, but very respectful and unselfish.
why did both parents have to leave ? i would of just left and got my partner to stay with the older child
Ha ha… yes the toddlers are quite a handful too much for the mum; we plan watching it together when it's comes on streaming.
Jfc i saw texas chainsaw massacre and bambi when i was a kid and i came out just fine.
Well apart from your hanging out at the local Stihl store and being barred from the Deer Sanctuary.
I watched plenty of SBS in the mid 80's as a youngster, and turned out ok.
Swol left arm though, right?
Bruh, I gotchu.
Just swap arms so the forearms and vein development aren't too unbalanced.
I saw the movie Congo when I was little. I closed my eyes and ears as hard as I could during the violence. Whenever I had a fever it came with nightmares including the scenes from the movie. Don't do it
Me and Indiana Jones right there.
X Rated movie right there
STOP EATING MY SESAME CAKE
Frightening indeed.
When I was 10 or so, I got invited to the movies for my friend’s birthday. His mum came with us, which didn’t seem too unusual because we were still kind of young. I didn’t even know which movie we were seeing, I was just along for the ride. We get to the ticket counter, and she asks for 1 adult and three kids to a little family film titled ‘bad boys 2’. The attendant kind of looked at her, then at us, before reluctantly did the sale. I was from a household where swearing was a no no, so you better believe that I left that cinema feeling like my ears had been violated. She then drove me home, smoking the whole way with the smoke being blown into the back seat.
My parents were not happy when I walked in reeking of smoke and telling them I’d just seen bad boys 2. It was that day that I learnt that not all parents were as responsible as mine were.
Yeah but what ya gonna do
Not an "adult" movie. It's rated M. That means kids under 15 can legally and freely access it. MA requires parental supervision, and R18+ requires that they be 18.
A 5yo running around a theater would likely behave similarly in any kind of movie, especially with parents that are incapable of controlling them.
Why did you ever leave the high seas? Spend the money you save on a home theater setup.
Eww it's like bringing a non-sleeping baby. Shut up or get out. I've endured this hell - ballet on screen, kids bored, running around, doing cartwheels… nothing was done.
depending on my child , some of my kids used to sit quietly in the movies but i honestly haven’t been to the movies for years as my 14 has autism and 100% wouldn’t sit the length of a movie so there’s no way i would of taken him to annoy pl that are watching a movie and my 3 yr old has never been cos he wouldn’t sit either but my 5 yr old grandson goes regularly and doesn’t make a sound ..if i did take a child and he was running around, i would leave
No kids mucking up in the session I saw last night, but so many people coming and going throughout - we had what we thought we good seats on the walkway across the cinema, but had dozens of people walking back and forth in front of us as they went to the toilet etc.
I remember coming out of Joker quite disturbed, only to see a mum and her two young kids of early primary school age coming out of the cinema at the same time. I was quite shocked.
There are parents that need some short, sharp visits from Mr Padiwhack.
Failing to teach your kids not to be annoying sh@ts limits their opportunities in life.
Always been a few around though…..
Had the same issue when I went to watch Wolf of Wall Street in the cinema.
Jesus, what a film to take a kid to.
How else to teach them about hookers and blow?
I doubt the kid wanted to see the movie; thus the poor behaviour (bored stupid). The parent(s) probably wanted to see it and took the kid along to save on baby sitting costs. It’s wrong and the parent should have been responsible and left (WITH the kid).
How'd you know the kid was 5yr old?
You get pretty good at it when you have a kids and a big family.
My mother took me and my little sister to see Gremlins. I think we would have been 5-7. It gave my sister nightmares and I sat quietly and watched it. Moving around and making noise was not an option. If we didn't like it we were told to go to sleep.
Make your kids suffer, find a sitter or tie them up outside. Please stop raising entitled shits.
PG movie. I remember watching it in primary school at the end of the year when teachers get lazy.
If the rating supports parental supervision, fine from a parenting viewpoint. If it is truly an adult rating, it's basically a illegal for the child to be taken or allowed in.
In this case, the violence that the child is being exposed to on screen is not a good thing.
That the parent did not remove themselves from the theatre when unable to control the child further points to them being poor citizens (inconsiderate of other members of public) and poor parents (no control over child). I don't care about the PC crap excuses. Use a condom or the pill.
i saw young kids at 50 shades of grey with their moms.. probably single moms (i was dragged to that movie btw) i started buying gold class reading cinema to avoid annoying family with crying children (and ones that run around) coz they cant afford to pay 3+ gold class tickets and usually go to the cheap ticket (economy class) one. this is the only solution lol otherwise wait for it to come out online.
Go to the last session of the night. No kids and the only distractions are the X rated show in the back row.
This is why I don’t go to the cinema anymore..
I hate people!
i was watching jurassic park once at hoyts and 3/4 through the movie a fight started (no idea how in the middle of a movie). it got fairly violent and police had to be called and the cinema evacuated. it was much more entertaining than the movie itself and we got vouchers in the end for another session
Went to a 930 Screening of Avengers age of Ultron and at about midnight after the film a couple walked out with their child who couldn't have been older than 4 or 5. Not exactly an R rated movie, but I did think it wasn't great parenting.
Adult Films
a better word would be non-PG film movies
This was a long time ago, but I remember going to an early session to see Alien Resurrection. It was rated MA15+ (from memory) and featured all kinds of violence and gory deaths that you can imagine.
In front of me was a parent with children maybe 7 years old. I hope the nightmares those kids had was worth it for the parents!
7? i think i had nightmares watching them as an adult
That movie freaked me out as an adult, I love the Alien franchise but I will never watch that one again. There is something primally wrong with some of the concepts for me
Hard to tell which was worse.. resurrection or alien3.
Just saw this movie last night and there was a family behind us with young children… they left the cinema within the first hour. No idea why they thought it would be a good movie to take their children too. I wonder if they tried to get their money back too
Crazy. At least they made the right decision in leaving.
I remember my father taking me to see '2001: A Space Odyssey' when I was 8 or 9… I was terrified of computers for many years - thought they killed people. Hard to explain that to kids today as they don't understand not actually having computers in their lives.
I'm really surprised if children could sit through The Batman. It's almost 3 hours long, and sometimes has the pacing of molasses in winter.
Sounds like the 5 year old was completely bored and wanted something far more appropriate for their age group to watch.
I would have told the manager. You don't pay $25 for a ticket then $30 for popcorn and dirnks to have the movie ruined by noisy idiots. Whether they're drunk teenagers or little kids that shouldn't be there.
Thanks, will do next time.
Bored or couldn't handle it. These movies are in competition to be the most violent. Remember seeing Batman as my first cinema movie circa 1989 in South Africa. Must have been about five then. Seen that version again now and it's pretty tame. This new movie is super gritty and realistic blood plus people getting punched etc would probably freak kids out.
Don’t forget people having bombs strapped to their necks by a serial killer…
The problem with kids and parents nowadays. You should not be friends with your kids you are the parents.
You do not bring him or her to an adult movie. And yes the batman movie counts. They will see these most prob with their friends. The movie is not the point. It's about setting limits and boundaries. And that's important at that age
anybody's allowed to go. dont want kids running around the theatre stay home and watch it online.
Thanks for your input Sarah. Hope you and your boy enjoyed the movie.
R 18+ material is restricted to adults as it contains content that is considered high in impact for viewers. This includes content that may be offensive to sections of the adult community.
Subjecting a 5yo to murder, death, blood and all that other sort of violence just seems like another form of child abuse.
A little late with this but back in the day as we oldies say took our eight-year-old son with us to the drive-in to see Clockwork Orange this has had a devastating effect on his life, he has become a film buff entire rooms full of shelves containing films. Spends his spare time in movie theatres and obscure film festivals , So don't let this happen to your child.
May be the parents wanted to watch the movie. Not sure if I should feel sorry for the parent or the kid. The movie probably have very good cinematic effect, the kid may be got scared by some of the violent scene and started to run around the cinema.
Yeah, hard NO from me. I vividly remember my 8 year old brain being unable to process some of the things I saw in Childs Play back in 88'.
My parents, (non-English speaking) just picked a movie by the poster (Totally ignored the AO rating and the large murderous looking doll).
And 15 mins into the movie, it was already going south.
But we paid something like $30 (a lot back then for a poor immigrant family). So for us, going to the cinemas was like a trip to Disney land.
We didnt want to "waste the money" and we just struggled through the movie..
What was meant to be a treat with the parents to Great Union, took a few years to get over.
i loved chucky
Batman is fairly popular superhero with the kids. The problem could be parents who don’t realize the different batman themes and audience it’s aimed at. Not all parents know their pop culture.
i’m not excusing the parents behavior. they probably should’ve left once they realized it wasn’t aimed for kids but the sec i read batman, i wasn’t so surprised.
Do they get let in by the ticket people obviously with an underage kid? My parents/siblings lied to me all those years with “no you can’t go with us, they won’t let you in etc.”…
I worked at a cinema for years, children can go into MA15+ movies whilst under 15 as long as they have a parent or guardian with them. They can be 4 or 14 doesn't matter. And you can bet that parents have tried to take their young children into R rated films before too, blows my mind.
Surprised so many people are against kids watching M movies. I used to watch movies like Bad Boys 2 when i was around 12. I don't think its caused any issues. I guess 5-6 is a bit different and in a public setting.
I think if you are going from about the age of 13-15 it can be alright.
By then, you've done primary school, written a few things about ancient history, geography, done some primary school science classes etc so you're not a complete idiot and you know fact from fiction, right from wrong.
I wouldn't take a 5 year old to something like this - amazing what they pick up even if you don't think they're watching. Its violent and not meant for them - that should be the big takeaway. Having said that i have family members that were letting their kid watch violent movies at 7 unaccompanied…he's turned out ok, but he does have a serial killer look in his eye…maybe its just me.
If you could suggest to them, there's mums and bubs cinema sessions (yes, im a dad, how dare they) at Event Cinemas that have subdued but brighter lighting and softer sound with all the modern movies where kids run around like idiots and no-one cares - most of the kids were lying around on the floor during one or two sessions i went to.
I couldn’t stop laughing at those comments adding their own imagination that the parents forced the 5 year old to watch a M rated Batman movie instead of the 5 year old didn’t understand or couldn’t care it was not suitable for it to watch but requested the parents to bring it along. When I was a kid most Spider Man and Batman cartoon and movies were for kids or at least were appropriate for kids to watch. If you were not there and didn’t know the truth and the entire truth of it just make comments based on only what you know and stop adding your own imagination into it.
Yeah exactly, people aren't using their critical thinking skills.
Seems like an ordinary day at the cinema to me.
What would you prefer? The child be left alone at home? Not everyone is wealthy enough to gave a babysitter but they still want to enjoy life.
A Real Shortsighted Viewpoint from the OP and others who state it is bad parenting…
You obviously haven’t seen the film. It’s not at all subjective, it’s just bad parenting. After her kid ruined the experience for others, she should have left. Don’t try and justify her selfishness.
In case you have no idea what does restrictive practices mean, read this before making any judgment on what the mother should do!
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/vic/victorian-principal-sto…
What would you prefer? The child be left alone at home? Not everyone is wealthy enough to gave a babysitter but they still want to enjoy life.
The options aren't just to see the movie with a 5 year old and let them run wild, or see the movie and leave the kid alone at home.
The movie doesn't have to be seen the first day or even the first week. There are other options for people that aren't wealthy - Family, friends with kids ( if they can play together at your place today, I'll look after them next week so you can…)
Seems like an ordinary day at the cinema to me
And if this was Toy Story I would probably agree, but I wouldn't take a 5 year old to see Fast and Furious 15. Too much noise, swearing, gunshots. I wouldn't take them to see Aliens (Dark, monsters, jump scares), and I wouldn't take them to see Batman (violence, gun shots, scary people in masks). I'm also of the mind that if you're in a situation where there is an expectation of quietness/peace and you can't control your kid, that you would remove yourself (and the kid) from the area. Kid's running up and down the aisles during church? you take them outside until they quiet down. At a yoga retreat? don't take your five year old.
Bad parenting isn't about a kid being noisy (that can happen to any kid), the bad parenting is not doing anything about it.(and some of that may be putting them in a situation where it's likely to happen). I don't think seeing Batman will scar the kid, but they're obviously not sitting quietly enjoying the movie.
How do you define good or bad parenting? By your standards and based on your experiences etc? From the limited info given in the OP the mother did not ignore her parental responsibility or broke the laws such as enjoyed the movie when the kid was running around in the cinema but she did chase after the kid to ensure its and others‘ safety. Removing the child from the cinema by herself without breaking the law may also be difficult and if it had created so much disturbance why didn’t OP or other audiences request the cinema staff for help? I cannot make any comment on other options you pointed out preventing this ‘scene’ before the event as there isn’t sufficient info or too many possible reasons such as watching The Batman movie wasn’t a planned event but ‘strongly’ requested by the child when they walked past the cinema in the shopping centre etc.
From the limited info given in the OP the mother did not ignore her parental responsibility
Whether you're chasing the kid or not, if they are running around throughout the film (as described by OP) it's ignoring your parental responsibility. If that happened elsewhere (like in a street) would she have had control of the kid? or would she miraculously be able to control the kid now that it's a different situation?
Removing the child from the cinema by herself without breaking the law may also be difficult
How do you think other parents control their kids? Grabbing a 5 year old by the arm or picking them up and leaving would not be breaking the law.
too many possible reasons such as watching The Batman movie wasn’t a planned event but ‘strongly’ requested by the child
I can't think of any reason that "unplanned" they have to go in and watch other than someone forcing them to go in, forcing them to buy tickets and forcing them to stay.
As for being "strongly"requested by the child being an excuse, what would happen if the child "strongly" requested to drive a car, play with a knife or just eat something they are allergic to? Parents say no to their kids all the time. They then deal with the kid when/if they throw a wobbler. You don't just let them do something they shouldn't be doing and chase them around.
if it had created so much disturbance why didn’t OP or other audiences request the cinema staff for help?
Most people are passive and don't like to cause trouble. Even though I have an issue with what happened, I admit that I wouldn't have done anything. I would have just grumbled and moaned afterward. If it was so bad that I couldn't watch the film, I would have just asked for my money back, I wouldn't have asked the ushers to step in. On the other hand, if I was in the mothers position I would have been mortified that it was happening (I get embarrased enough when my brother laughs too loudly next to me during a movie)
@dizzle: Please go to read more info about when one can legally use restrictive practices before you make more comments. And don’t forget about the link to the news about the school principal may be facing penalties or jail time for dragging a student (by its arm) away from the playground.
Yeah the “excuses” in your eyes are just as ridiculous as the imagination or assumptions made on the parents who brought the kid to the movie in my eyes.
Those examples you made has shown you don’t know anything about restrictive practices. If for example, the kid wanted to watch The Batman classified MA or R the parents could legally restrict the kid to not to allow it watch it. Chasing the child in the cinema or anywhere to prevent (to immediately retrain it when necessary) it from hurting itself or others is one of the reasons you can legally use restrictive practices. Not allowing kids to do what they wants to do (such as grounding them in a house and not letting them out) is not a valid reason for restrictive practices.
You do know many superhero movies such as Avengers and Spider-Man Home Coming are classified M but the ‘violence’ may not (based on OP’s comments) at the same level the same as The Batman right and guess how many 5 years old kids have watched Avengers and Spider-Man Home Coming?
Bad decision made by the parents perhaps but based on the only info we have I don’t think it is bad parenting when the mother at least spent her time chasing the child instead of sitting there to enjoy the movie.
If you keep the anger to yourself and complain to others behind someone’s back instead of speaking to the person (or to your brother) directly to solve the problem at that time to prevent it from happening again, you may have bigger problems in future.
@wtfnodeal: The "excuses" just show that the parent can control the child, but there are circumstances when they choose not to.
The classifications are just guides, it's the parents responsibility to choose what the kid sees, especially a 5YO - I wouldn't let a kid play a video game until I had checked to see if it was suitable, same for the movie. I would put restrictions on the internet use as well. It's not that hard.
Beyond all of that, if you can't tell the difference between a teacher or principal using physical force to correct a childs behaviour (having used that example a couple of times), and a parent picking up a 5 year old and taking them somewhere else, then I'm not sure I can help you understand further. It's a 5 Year old kid, it's not "restrictive practices" to take the kid home.
@dizzle: By the way, looking at the WA government guidelines on the restrictive practises (which actually targets misconduct in aged and disability care, not parenting), it appears there are some common sense areas in it that allow certain practices that limit freedoms
Is this practice typical for the age of the person? For example, use of a cot for a one
year old.
Would a typical person in the community expect to be able exercise choice in relation
to the matter? For example, drinking soft drink or coffee.
Both of those would reasonably cover a parent disciplining thier child in a peaceful way and/or removing them from a location. I suppose you could be given a court order to stop it happening again, but it's not going to happen for stopping a 5YO from seeing a movie.
@dizzle: Ok, you are then making an assumption that the 5 years old kids described in the OP doesn’t fall into one of the disability care or has no behaviour issues? If we both can make any assumptions as wildly as we want why is mine an excuse but yours is the truth? If a parent isn’t using restrictive practices to stop whatever the child is doing and grab or drag it to go home then why is the principal accused of using restrictive practices to drag the student from the playground back to the classroom (is it not common sense that students head back to classrooms when recess time is over) or anywhere else in the school? Making a choice such as drinking water or soft drink does not involve with physically restricting one from doing something. Have you fully understood what exactly we are talking about before making more examples?
Doing research on the movie before allowing the child you watch it is again you are making assumptions that the parents were in a planned position but failed to do so. You imagined they had days to prepare to watch that Batman movie but didn’t do any research.
Parents discipline children can now be limited to not rewarding bad behaviour in case you didn’t know and such as if the child has capability to walk to the playground nearby if it wants to you cannot restrict it to do so even it has behaved badly unless you have concerns of its safety to walk alone to the playground. It is why you see more and more kids hanging around the streets or skateboarding on the roads as if it is nothing as the parents cannot always restrict them from doing so.
@wtfnodeal: Ok, assumptions I made:
That a mother can pick up their 5 year old kid (disabled or not). Pretty standard parenting tactic.
That the mother wasn't forced to watch the movie in a split second decision. Still don't understand how you think the mother was "forced to watch the movie by the kid"
That not letting a kid see a movie they want is not a punishment, or restriction of freedom.
Anyway there's no convincing you that a parents main duty is to protect the child and help them grow, and sometimes that means the kids can't just do what they want.
@dizzle: I didn’t say the kid forced the mother to watch the movie but simply stating the mother was doing what she was supposed to do to chase the kid in the cinema to prevent it from hurting itself or others. Not letting the kids watch movies such as not buying the tickets is not restrictive practices but physically remove the kids from the cinema against its will and freedom to stay there is restrictive practices.
It is parental responsibility to protect their kids but the kids can do what they want to grow naturally not restricted by how their parents want them to grow.
All I see are comments based on limited info in the OP mixed with ‘half a cup empty‘ of assumptions or imagination and judgments on that ‘mother’. Frankly speaking, I doubt OP did speak to the female to confirm if she was the mother of the ‘maybe’ 5 years old kid. If the sky is the limit there are endless versions of story so it is best to end this discussion right here right now.
I took my kid to see an adult film. The usher yelled at me, "GET YOUR GOAT OUT OF HERE!!!"
I saw this film last night. I was kind of surprised to see two kids in front of us (Gold Class - expensive family trip!) but they weren't 5. I think 5 years old is way too young for this film. It's quite violent for a Batman film, loud, intense, etc.
I personally would never bring my son into a film unless it was actually a kids film.
Also the movie was 3 hours long. I am so jealous of anyone who didn't need to go to the toilet at least once!
my grandma took us to see bad santa! we walked out in like in 2 minutes after he started swearing at the bar.
No they shouldnt be taking their kids to things like this, I wouldnt, but its not just movies. There are simply some things you shouldnt be taking little kids to. Daughter does Ballet and when they have their concerts twice a year at the Newcastle Civic Theatre people often bring small children that scream and carry on. Really not the place to be taking kids when the audience should be quiet. Just like people talking at the movies, throw a jaffa at them.
Would I take my kids to see an M rated movie (like the Batman) … yes, I would (and have) if I think they can handle it. I usually preview the trailers with them before we go. Sometimes they will opt out but they are both over 10 and we only started doing this a few years ago. Would I leave the cinema if they become distressed? Yes, (and have done on one occasion). An M rating can be given for several reasons. My kids have enjoyed LOTR, the Hobbit, Star Wars and most Marvel and DC Comics movies that all carry the same M rating as the movie in question. Would I take my kids to see an R rated movie (like Deadpool) … absolutely not.
Is the movie any good? Has a high rating on IMDB.
The only comic book movies I've liked so far have been:
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight rises
Joker
Logan
Would I like this one?
Yes, but don’t expect non-stop action. If you like Se7en or Zodiac, you’ll like this.
It does seem to be popular, but for me it was long and kinda boring, and trying too hard to be cool and edgy. I think you would like it though, it's style is somewhat similar to the Dark Knight trilogy, but for me it doesn't come close to that in terms of story.
The parents may end up regretting it. I remember seeing a scary movie when I was little and it frigging petrified me for years. It was a stupid fear too, of lions getting in the house and chasing me, but it took a long time to get over that silly insane fear, just because I had watched a movie that was too old for me
I remember that whenever we're watching something on TV near our toddler. Better to wait til she's asleep sometimes!
Yea, I had a similar experience except it was to do with Zombies. I had a good period being eaten alive in my dreams because I got corner by the mass of zombies. The only way to get out of the situation was to force myself to wake up. Unluckily for me I fell asleep promptly after and for some reason the dream continued where it took off with the zombies eating me. I woke up again, this time I ran to the bathroom and washed my face with some cold water and took a walk around the house to cool off.
One of my kids is autistic and makes noises during movies. I've taken them to the cinemas in the past but usually to the specific lights on during the movie screenings. I've taken them to a few movies when they didn't have those screenings for M rated movies though. I don't want to be there at all, I hate the dirty looks and I usually try to go when it's dead. What was I meant to do though just exclude them from anything where others could be inconvenienced ie pretty much everything?
You wait 'til the movie is available on DVD/streaming services.
Not a bad idea but going to the movies has always been about the experience, not the movie. I 100% realise I'm coming off as a douche here but put yourself in the shoes of someone with tourettes for example. Should you never go to a restaurant or a maccas or a movie or a roller blading because it makes other people uncomfortable?
I'll agree that there are definitely places and experiences that someone who makes noises will just never have like going to an opera, I just don't think the cinema isn't one of those expensive or very special places.
Just out of curiosity if your brother had tourettes and your father died, would you invite him to the funeral or would it ruin the experience?
There's appropriate times and places. On an airplane or train, for example, if a child is being loud. If the parent isn't doing anything to soothe or distract the child, then I'll go ahead and blame the parent. If the parent is trying, then there's not much that can be done, it's just something you have to put up with and try to be understanding about.
Funerals are also a different situation. I have nothing against a person with Tourette's attending the funeral of someone they're close to.
But cinemas? Nah.
I'm autistic myself, and I get where you're coming from. But it's not up to the general public to put up with it.
If watching a movie at the cinema is something you really want your child to be able to do, maybe try contacting an ASD-focused charity or organisation and explain the situation to them? I know many NDIS providers take participants to the movies as "Community Participation". Barring that, you could talk to a staff member at your local cinema and ask if they could hold an autism-friendly screening of a specific movie.
Also, I'm a bit curious. You say that going to the movies is about the experience, not the movie, but you also say that you don't think the cinema is that special. If that's the case, your kids can wait for the movie to become available for home viewing, no?
Or if it is that special, then you can understand then why other people value the experience and prefer it without disruptions. (I'm probably coming off as a douche myself, now. Sorry about that.)
@labcoat: I think it depends on the situation and the kid. Some kids have heaps of interests or heaps of things providing enrichment to their lives and some kids are just hyper focused on only a couple of things.
Also I just don't think we should exclude people from living life because of disability. None of my kids make noise in the cinemas anymore but when they did like I said I would take them to the screenings provided when they were availble.
The whole blaming parents thing is ridiculous, I've had kids that were angels from day one and I've had kids that would misbehave even if they were harshly disciplined at every instance. I've seen parents scream at their kid in public because they've just lost their cool and can't handle it anymore and I've seen kids playing up when their parent just has 0 energy left to give to the situation. Everyone thinks they'll be a great parent but until you've been in that persons shoes for a couple years, you don't know what it's like to parent their kids. It's not something you get to just try on and you don't know whether you'll be a good parent for those kids until you've been a parent for those kids.
@Guerilla89: If I were you, I'd just keep taking him as you're doing. He's playing life on hard mode already, the more enjoyable experiences he can have (like going to the movies), the better.
As a random stranger in the same cinema, I would be less annoyed about your son making those sounds, than other things which happen at the cinema like drunk teenagers, sick people coughing, random neurotypical people just chatting away during the movie, etc.
I'm less worried about kids seeing certain films over parents taking their child to a cinema for their own reasons and disregarding other people's experience. With the home entertainment options we have these days, you don't have to wait long to see a movie at home, or choose a time when you can go without the child. A cinema is designed to be a quiet space (for the audience anyway), as opposed to other public areas, and deserves a little more consideration.
A few years ago, I took my daughter and two of her friends (all in year 11 and other parents were aware) to an adult opera of 'Snow White' as part of the Brisbane Festival.
To book tickets, I had to acknowledge that it was an 'adult' opera. We arrived and got our seats. There was a lot of signage indicating that it was for adults only.
Took our seats and on the opposite side of the theatre we saw a lady bring a little girl - probably around 6? - down the stairs, wearing a Disney costume. Thought it was a bit odd… Not long into the snow (soon after Snow yelled 'she's not just a f()(^ witch, she's a f)()&) bitch', we saw same lady drag child out of the theatre.
Chatted with staff after about it. They asked me if I was aware it was for adults when I booked - I said absolutely, and that it had been made clear when we walked in. Turns out that the staff had warned the mum, got the manager who did the same…
She insisted on attended with said child, then complained loudly about the content.
Look, if people cheer or laugh at an appropriate moment, that's fine. Kids laughing at a joke during a PG movie is fine.
But a toddler at an M rated movie? No way.
Even if it's a G or PG movie, if you know your child is too young to sit still or stay quiet, then don't take them. If they unexpectedly become disruptive, you need to remove them from the cinema.
I will also note that I've seen awful phone etiquette from parents at cinemas, including browsing Facebook and straight up being on a (loud) video call. What happened to turning off your phone during a movie?
I think the thing is, even though I'm a parent, I wouldn't do that shit, I would rather just not watch it in the cinema. There's a certain set of parents who go well hey who said parents can't still have night out at the movies, I am so not sacrificing my life that way! Well that's what being a parent is…
Can't blame the kid in this instance, they would never sit still it's their nature, blame the parent.
Look if there's one thing I've learned since becoming a parent - it's not to sit in judgment over the weird choices other parents make. You don't know what's going on for them. My internal rule is if it's not reportable to child safety services then I'm just going to shut up. There are things that are going on for families that you can just never know about from the outside and while it's really easy and satisfying to lord it over them and judge away, they ultimately dgaf because that's the least of their problems anyway.
Just ask for a refund. The world is full of kids. They're a part of life. I would never take mine to that movie at that age, but that's just me. I can think of multiple scenarios where a parent might for justifiable reasons, all of them pretty sad. That said before I was a parent I probably would have written a post like this. Hell even afterwards for a while. Hard to understand until you get there and you go for weeks on 30 minutes sleep a night. Years even.
Agreed. This was a once a year event for me, and I doubt I’ll go again until there’s a new Star Wars.