Date nights are a precious thing once you have kids. Ask any parent. It's not just about having the energy to do it. A lot of planning is involved. If you both have busy careers, it's about coordinating schedules and -- more importantly -- booking that babysitter well in advance.
My husband and I were long overdue for some one-on-one time. So I was super excited that I was able to get a sitter for both Friday and Saturday nights. We didn't have anything crazy planned. We were looking forward to checking out two hot, new restaurants and catching a couple flicks that everyone else but us had seen.
Both nights, the food was fantastic. The wine was great. The movies, well, not so much. And it wasn't because of the actors, directors, or storylines. Nope, our rare double-header was ruined by kids -- somebody else's kids.
At both movies (Hunger Games the first night, The Avengers the next) there were babies and toddlers in the theater. Crying babies and singing toddlers to be exact. Everyone was beyond annoyed.
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It's not like we were watching a Disney film or some other animated flick you'd expect a whole family to attend. No, these were violent, action packed scenes. But to be honest, the inappropriate subject matter is not what I take issue with. (I remember being horrified when I saw a dad come into a screening of Precious with three kids under 10 and these movies were nowhere near as sexually explicit).
I have a problem with the fact that some parents don't care if they ruin the film for everybody else. There was crying, whining, and at some point I swear I heard a verse if a Barney song. I kept trying to will them to get up and leave. They didn't.
Now as a parent I sympathize with the desperate need to get out of the house and engage in some kind of activity that has nothing to do with Play-Doh or The Fresh Beat Band. And babysitters are expensive. But is it fair to spoil the film for other patrons?
When I can't find a sitter (which is often), I stay at home and rent a movie from cable or Netflix. Why can't everyone offer the same consideration? At the very least, they should exit when the wailing starts. These parents threw out a couple of "shhhs" but otherwise seemed relatively unconcerned, just staring at the screen as if it wasn't bothersome.
I've read message boards where parents have discussed the best time to take their tot to a movie, trying to sync it up with the sleeping schedule. But come on. Does that ever really work? What baby is going to stay asleep while the Hulk screams and pounds his way through a two-hour film?
Should parents bring babies into movies that are not for children? Is it rude to other moviegoers?
Image via Max Wolfe/Flickr
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Comments 96
I think it's way worse to bring toddlers or young children to age-inappropriate movies than to bring babies. Usually you can nurse a baby through a movie or they sleep and it's no big deal. Going to movies in the daytime is the considerate thing to do though, IMO. When I had my first daughter and was on maternity leave, I liked going to movies and suspected -- rightly -- that once I was back at work I'd have no opportunity to see a movie in a theater for years!
I agree, the price of movies and concessions are so expensive it's very rude to have our time ruined by parents who don't take their babies/ toddlers out once they gut fussy. My sister is like this, shocker, yeah I know! It's super annoying and embarrassing... makes me not want to go anywhere with her, despite how much I love my niece. So, parents I definitely understand it's not the child, it's the parent... babies are going to act like babies -- they get tired, and hungry and fussy. You have to be the adult, and not be so selfish, take your little one's needs into consideration that maybe what you're doing isn't more important. Their attention span doesn't last as long, and just because you decided to have kids already doesn't mean we all need to babysit them for you 24/7!
In my opinion, babies and small children shouldn't be watching movies anyway. They should be playing. Get off your ass, quit ruining everyone else's movie & take the kid to the park.
I took my 7 week old to the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter, dressed her up and everything. She nursed through the whole movie (under my wizard cape!) and never made a peep, we also went to go see Transformers the week before and people came up to me afterwards an apologized for giving me dirty looks since she never made a sound. There is a way to do it appropriately. When I went to see The Hunger Games at midnight we were stuck next to a family with 4 kids under 3 who played on their phone the whole time WITH SOUND and screamed....
I will say that I have taken my son who is now 16 months old to two movies with me. I know I get the look when I walk in with him but I have managed to sync it with nap times and he slept through both movies. So we saw Avengers and one other without him making a peep. I had a bottle for him and went to the movies during nap time. We had people after the movie was over comment on how unexpectedly silent he was.
I went to a Midnight showing of Friday the 13th and there was a bunch of little kids there, one was probably 1 year old! Then I went to a Saw movie and there was 2 young kids (like 4 or 5 yrs old) sitting behind me, are you kidding me!