I haven’t taken my two-year-old to any movies yet, but given how mesmerized he gets with the teevee, I don’t think “bouncing uncontrollably in the theater” would be a problem.
**Blinking,[/B[ on the other hand… 
Oh, lighten up, Whatsit. She recognized that there was a problem, and she left. 20 minutes might not have been too long to stay if she got him out of there as soon as he started yammering. Bouncing might not have been a problem if it was overshadowed by the general “ooh ahh” of the audience. And perhaps she learned from this, and will get a babysitter next time. She didn’t do any of the things other posters have been complaining about, like letting him roam free or going off on other people who shushed him.
Sounds like she got to the theater, realized that she’d overestimated her son, left for the sake of the other patrons, and is now vetoing the idea of doing this again until he’s older. She wanted to tell you how she’s vowed never to make this mistake again, and all you do is jump her shit for making the mistake in the first place. :p, I say. :p.
This confuses the hell out of me, especially when I see kids in movies like this without any adults. A lot of these movies would be extremely boring for kids, and I can’t imagine any prepubescent child finding even the slightest enjoyment out of them.
And any parent who would take their child to an inappropriate movie should shove a bucket of popcorn and an Icee straw up their anal orifice.
I don’t have any objection to people taking their little kids to movies, as long as they are not disruptive, or are taken out if they start to become disruptive. And are taken to an age appropriate movie. (Honestly–we as a nation are desensitizing our children to ghastly violence and I think that’s a crying shame.) But I have taken my kids to movies and have had to leave the theater on occasion–and they should be taken out the MOMENT they start to make a fuss. (If you can’t stand 30 seconds of fussing while a child is being removed from the room, then I’m real sorry.) As for infants, I have taken mine several times–they are more manageable than toddlers, as you can stick a bottle or even a breast (it IS dark in there, you know!) in their mouths and it seems to cure the problem! I do try to go at less busy times (afternoon matinees during the school year are great!) and I go without the kids sometimes too. But I try to be as considerate as possible when I do take them.
What I really dislike at a movie is when someone who has already seen the movie (whether child or older) narrates the whole damn thing so that just before something critical:eek: happens, they tell everyone and spoil the moment. AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! :mad:
If you are taking infants to the movie theater, you are not being considerate. At all. In any way, shape, or form.
I have an infant myself, and I know how noisy it can be, getting him latched onto the breast, or fishing out all the stuff for his bottle. I know how noisy he can be while eating. He makes little noises and slurps and swallows. Occasionally he loses his latch and babbles or squawks at me to alert me of the problem. When he’s done, he burps and sometimes has an explosively loud bowel movement. None of these things is conducive to a good movie-watching experience. There is absolutely no way that you can expect an infant to stay quiet for the length of a feature film. Sure, it’s possible that the baby will sleep, but you have no guarantee that will happen.
And no, it is not reasonable to expect the other moviegoers to put up with listening to your crying child being removed from the theater for 30 seconds. Would you be happy if someone’s cell phone was ringing for 30 seconds? How about if the guy next to you had a severe coughing fit for 30 seconds? What if that 30 seconds happens to fall during the climax of a suspenseful movie? If I need to go to the bathroom and disturb the guy next to me in the process of getting up, I can decide to wait until the really good/suspenseful part of the movie is over. You have NO control over when, if, or how your infant is going to behave in a movie theater, and that’s why infants DO NOT BELONG IN MOVIE THEATERS.
I would also like to point out that the other reason we don’t take Whatsit, Jr. to the movies (although the major reason is so that we don’t disturb other moviegoers) is because the sound system is so loud that it could potentially damage his ears. Infants have sensitive hearing. Movie theaters are unbelievably loud. You do the math.
a slight hijack:
I heard that in England, R rated movies meant NO one under 17 was admited, with or with out parental consent or chaperone.
Is this true?
I took Dominic to his first movie when he was about 2, I think. However, it was a Disney animated film AND he already sat and watched full length movies at home without talking or getting up. We had to remind him a couple of times to be quiet, but that was all. We’ve taken him to lots of kids’ movies since then (he’s 6 1/2 now) and he’s an exceptionally well behaved movie-goer. When he does need to ask us a question, he leans over and whispers in our ear. He also knows that if he doesn’t behave, we’ll leave and he won’t get to see the rest of the movie. He adores movies though, and has a long attention span for things that he enjoys.
We took him to see The Phantom Menace about 5 times in the theater. He had already seen the first 3 SW movies many times on video, and we told him that if he got scared all he had to do was tell us and we’d leave. He loved it.
Once, I took him to see a movie as a treat–his choice. He picked Jurassic Park III. We had a looong talk about it. Again, he had seen the other two on video and liked them. He explained to me very earnestly that he knew it was all pretend. Again I told him that if he got scared or wanted to leave he just had to say so and we’d leave right away. I was fairly nervous about taking him to see it, but I had told him it was his choice, and he did seem to understand what he was getting himself into. I figured it would be a guage if nothing else, and maybe a lesson for him as to what he was ready for.
He loved it. He then recited the whole plot to my husband later that day. Heh.
I’m very fortunate to have a kid who is so well behaved at the movies. All too often I see kids that …aren’t. Kids that need to be gagged or sedated. I’ve had to ask parents to keep their kids from talking far too many times. I don’t hesitate too much taking Dominic to movies, but I know how he behaves. I also know that if he were prone to talking or getting up, or whatever, that we’d see far, far fewer movies in the theater.
Oh, he also gets his own booster seat and puts it away at the end of the movie. AND he puts his arm around me and has me rest my head on his shoulder for the scary parts LOL!
I think I’ve taken my daughter nearly seven, to three movies.
Shrek
A Bug’s Life
Some other Disney flick.
I sat near the isle, (Just in case of potty break) Told her before hand that we do not talk during movies, that this was a special treat, ect.
I think she talked once, right as it was coming on… something to the extent of “Mommy!!! Look at the huge TV!!”
Never would I take her or my five month old to any other kind of movie, nor would I take the five month old to ANY movie. She’d not get anything out of it. MY seven year old went when she was five… she got something out of it.
I cannot stand to see someone with childeren, even babies at movies, when we go we get a babysitter, if no babysitter, we don’t go. Theres always DVD… which is about the same cost of a movie with all the trimmings anyhow.
Msrobyn… its because you’re pregnant right? I will never go to a movie pregnant again… I missed the last 20 minutes of Pearl Harbor because even though I tried to hold it, after a half hour, I couldn’t take it anymore and practically flew out of the theater. I kept whispering to my husband, do you think it’ll be over in like a minute? Not that I missed much, but still… I ended up not going back into the theater cause I thought as soon as I went in, I’d be tackled by people leaving… If I do go, next time I’ll make sure I have the isle seat. I always feel like an ass if I have to go during the movie and need to get by all those people.
The children don’t need to be gagged and sedated. They just need to NOT be taken to movies.
And most importantly, parents need to learn how to rein in their offspring! Children need to know that there are places for boisterous behavior, and there are places where it is inappropriate. [One of these parents is my son’s mother and one of these children is my son. I’m the mean parent because I constantly say we won’t do something because he disrupts other people’s enjoyment. We miss out on a lot because of this, but I refuse to soften my stance, but my time to reinforce appropriate behavior is limited]
I agree, and my son absolutely knows that he can’t be loud or act up at a movie (or in various other settings) and as a result of his understanding and following those rules, he is allowed to do things like see movies. Not any movie, obviously. Also we try to see matinees, though it is mainly because of the staying up past bedtime issue.
See, a two-year-old at a Disney cartoon sounds completely fine to me, especially a two-year-old whose parents are aware of his limitations and know that he is capable of sitting through an entire movie without making a major disruption.
It’s the “but my five-month-old will sleep through the whole thing!” and “but it’s OK for my 14-month-old to jump up and down on his seat the whole time!” people that drive me batty.
My favorite experience was long ago going with a friend. It was an Eddie Murphy movie, back in the 80’s when he wasn’t happy in his personal life and used that energy to be great. To our horror, a couple brought their looked to be 5-6 year old daughter.
Well, it being an Eddie Murphy movie, the word Fuck was said right away and the daughter goes “oooooooo, he said a naughty word!” “He shouldn’t have said that!” “blaa blaaa blaa”. Parents agreed with her then it happened again.
On the third time my friend stood up and, no shit here, YELLED at them saying “IF YOU DON’T WANT YOUR DAUGHTER TO HEAR SWEARING, DON’T TAKE HER TO A FUCKING EDDIE MURPHY MOVIE YOUR STUPID ASSES!”
Loud! The expression on their faces was priceless and they got up and left. I was expecting to get kicked out but nobody came alooking.
Try that next time, guys!
In many ways, I agree with ** MsWhatsit**, and Mayflower.
Our daughter is now going on six months old, and for a long, long time I strenuously objected to taking her with us the the theater. My lovely, darling wife, of course, completely disagreed.
We took the kid twice.
Once when she was about a month, during which time I think she slept for about twelve hours straight, so no worries. About two months later, after still more fruitless arguing, my wife once again talked me into it.
After about 45 minutes, the kid started crying, and it took me all of ten seconds to yell at my wife to get the kid out of there.
I asked her if we should just leave, but she said, she’d take care of it. And she did. After calming down the baby she sat out on the isle near the exit for the rest of the film.
That was it. Now I will no longer put up with any argument, because as Mayflower said, I can barely watch the damn TV on my own time.
I’m all for kids in theaters only at the right age and at the right film.
I don’t know about England but, here in Canada, an R rating means no-one under 18 admitted. Period. No excuses. And that’s the way it should be, IMHO.
I guess I’ve just been lucky, but I’ve rarely seen toddlers in a non-kiddie movie and have never seen anyone bring a baby.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. Have we as a society become so self-absorbed that we cannot stand to be disturbed for so much a 1/2 a minute? No, I hope I would not have a shit-fit if someone’s cell phone rang for 30 seconds–if they were on their way out of the theater while it was ringing. And I certainly hope I’d have compassion on someone who was having a coughing fit, so long as they had not shown up at the theater with pneumonia in the first place. As for a child making a little noise while they eat, well, when you stop crunching your popcorn while you eat and rattling the ice in your cup as you drink, then you can complain about the other. Hell, I can’t see how you could hear a little noise like that over the movie’s excessive volume anyway. I have taken babies in and they have been just fine–I sit in the very back in the aisle seat and almost always go at uncrowded times. I have gone to movies where the kids were a better example of how to behave than some of the adults. It is optimum to go without a baby, but sometimes it is the only thing we moms get to do and we can’t always get a babysitter. If you KNOW that a child tends to be a problem, that is one thing, but banning babies and children as a whole, I don’t agree with. You CAN take them and behave in a considerate manner.
And as for critical moments–check my earlier post again. I find this MUCH more annoying and inconsiderate than soomeone attending a movie with a baby! 
Sorry; this may be true of some older kids (into the toddler age) that you know, but once again, you cannot expect an infant to “behave” himself. Try explaining to a five-month-old baby that he should be quiet because he is in a movie theater and see how far you get.
I’m a mom, and I can list at least a dozen things off the top of my head that I get to do besides going to movies. Besides, if you can’t get a babysitter, it is your responsibility not to go to the movies. Yes, this may mean you can’t go to the movies for awhile. Tough luck. Having kids sure is hard, isn’t it? If you want to see a movie that bad, try leaving the kid home with your husband/partner and going to see it by yourself.
Yeah, so why exactly is it again that you’re taking small infants with delicate hearing to a movie theater?
Infants don’t belong in movie theaters. It may be OK to take certain toddlers to children’s matinees, but that’s about as far as I’ll go. Babies need to stay home. Find some other form of entertainment until the kids are old enough. There’s this really cool invention called a “VCR” that you might want to check into. MrWhatsit and I have been renting a lot of movies since Whatsit, Jr. was born. It’s really not that bad.
Just who is being self-absorbed here? I’m sitting in the theater quietly minding my own business - enjoying the movie, and then I’m snapped back to reality by someone’s electronic device going off - a device that WOULD have been on vibrate if the person hadn’t been so self-absorbed. For the record, I didn’t have a “shit-fit” I was merely irritated - and rightly so. I don’t create unnecessary disturbances when I go to movies - I expect the same from everyone else. I like being totally absorbed into a movie’s world - it doesn’t mean you can’t laugh or scream or cheer - it just means you shouldn’t be a distraction for everybody else.
This is only common courtesy.
Today we went to see Attack of the Clones. Dominic was wonderful through the whole thing. He got a little excited at the light saber battle, ducking and dodging a little in his seat, but that was ok.
The kid behind us and his father talked through the whole damn thing. The kid was older than Dominic, maybe around 8 or 9… At one point his DAD asked him what time it was, and they spent 5 minutes loudly trying to determine the time on the kid’s unlighted watch!
Where has courtesy gone!?
Btw, Dominic at one point took my hand and my husband’s hand and put them together, so we were holding hands. How cute is that?
Opal: Which light-saber battle, of the many?
They were all good, but the one that takes top marks was the one with Yoda! I KNEW that at some point, we’d see what that little guy is made of!
Well, all of them. He just really loves light sabers.