Do you remember the first movie you took your toddler to see? Maybe it was a Disney movie. Maybe it featured talking animals. Maybe it was a Disney movie starring talking animals. Whatever it was, it probably didn't involve torture, terrorists, or Osama bin Laden. Meaning, it probably wasn't Zero Dark Thirty. Because ... why would you take a toddler to see Zero Dark Thirty?
That's what an anonymous moviegoer was wondering about in a recent post on Momania. She'd just gone to see Zero Dark Thirty, apparently, and someone a couple of rows ahead of her in the theater brought their 2 or 3-year-old daughter. The moviegoer wanted to know -- were the parents wrong?
Well of course it's not exactly right, bringing a tiny kid to see a movie about Osama bin Laden. That said, is it ... okay?
According to the person who wrote the post, the little one fell asleep after less than an hour of the film. (Still, that's one heck of a graphic, torture scene-filled hour.) Realistically speaking, this kid will probably forget the horrible imagery and probably won't be warped for life. And if that's the case, then, what's the big deal?
I guess it all comes down to the individual kid. I tried to take my daughter to a "grown-up" movie exactly once during her babyhood (I believe it was Riding in Cars With Boys), but the decibel level scared her to tears and we made a hasty retreat before the other people in the theater could start throwing popcorn at us. Afterwards I learned that movies are SO loud nowadays they can actually damage a baby's little sensitive ears. I felt awful -- I nearly made my baby girl go deaf, all for a movie?!
But can I really judge the Zero Dark Thirty mom? No, because who knows what would have happened if my kid didn't start shrieking 2 minutes into the previews when I took her to the movies? If she slept through the whole thing without a peep, I probably would've taken her to the theater again and not given the content of the movie too much thought, honestly -- I mean, the Teletubbies were over her head at that point.
Sometimes a mom just needs to get out of the house. Desperately. And nobody's around to babysit. Who knows?
Still, the next movie this kid sees should probably be about talking animals instead of Osama bin Laden.
Would you take your toddler to see Zero Dark Thirty?
Image via phil wood photo/Flickr
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Comments 17
The first movie I took my now 6yr old to was 300. He was 4months and slept through the whole movie.
My 2-year-old son gets frightened of King Friday on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. I try to minimize television exposure in general, so no, I wouldn't take my son to see Zero Dark Thirty. But given the fact that children become so enamored with what they are seeing on the screen, don't think for a moment that they are not internalizing what is in front of them. Just because they might not recall specifics doesn't mean that it doesn't make an impression. Kids absorb everything. They don't remember much of their childhood, but how they were treated, what they saw, and their early interactions affect the rest of their lives. That said, it is a choice I make for my child, and not a comment on anyone else's parenting.
That is such a terrible idea!! No one should do that! I watched the news when I was little with my parents and instead of being afraid of the boogy man, from a very early age I was afraid of being kidnapped and killed. I'm not violent or anything but I really believe it screwed with my head. Just don't even go there people.
I'm a bad mommy...oh well. When everyone was in an uproar about taking small children to see the Dark Knight Rises, I took my 3 year old and 3 month old babies and never had a problem with them. My daughter slept through it and my son LOVED it! I know that as a parent it is our job to protect our children, but I'm not big into censoring a lot from them. My son watches almost everything that my hubby and I do, he also plays "violent" video games such as Call Of Duty Back Ops and considers himself a master zombie hunter. He is sooooo loving and sweet, he just never had any real interest in kid's shows or movies and though he's a little guy, he's still his own person and has his own tastes. Taking this kid to see Zero Dark Thirty was the mom's choice and no, we have no right to judge her! However, the parents that allow their kids to misbehave and ruin a movie experience for everyone else around them...I always want to throw a lot more than popcorn at them lol!