# Taking your small kids to non age appropriate movies **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847 "2012-07-20T13:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/21 "2012-07-20T19:24:55Z")
In the UK, our ratings system is different, and aside from a PG12, where parents can decide to take kids under 12, the age restriction holds whether or not the child is accompanied by an adult. You want your kids to see it- you wait 'til you can get a home copy. There may be a baby exception, as one of my local cinemas has a regular program of daytime screenings of what is, in this country, 18 films, for parents with babies under 1 year old, and they’ve not lost their license yet. They might just be being rebels, again. I did go see a few 15’s with my parents when I was around 13, which I got away with because I looked older; mainly ones with ratings due to nudity, which my parents weren’t very worried about. (they were mostly less graphic than the sex-ed stuff we saw at school anyway). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/22 "2012-07-23T23:12:59Z")
I thought it was strange that such little kids were at a midnight showing too. Not because of the rating, but how late it was. Vynce was almost 16 when The Phantom Menace came out, and had to fight an uphill battle to convince my parents to let him see it at the midnight show given I think he had school the next morning. He won the argument\*, and he was definitely one of the youngest people in the theater. - I now can’t believe he talked me into taking him to that the week I graduated from college, but… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/23 "2012-07-23T23:26:12Z")
I remember seeing **Return of the Living Dead** on home video when I was about 8 or 9. My mother was also watching it with me. The only part she had an issue was Linnea Quigley’s striptease, when she told me it “wasn’t polite to looked at naked people”. That was it. She didn’t turn the tape off or fastforward or anything. She didn’t seem to have any problem with the gore other than thinking it was stupid. I don’t recall my parents ever making anykind of effort to restrict what movies or TV shows (other than a bedtime) I saw or rented. Granted they never caught me with actual pornography. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/24 "2012-07-24T00:11:25Z")
Trashy is what comes to mind for me when I see people taking kids to these movies. I gave up long ago going to movies anywhere near opening night. When I do go to the movies it’s well after release and I’m among the half dozen people tops in the theater. It seems kids being brought into the age inappropriate movies is a thing among the ‘I have to see this new movie right away crowd’ Planning ahead for a babysitter or concern for their children or fellow audience members is secondary to meeting their own emotional needs. I don’t get involved with how people want to raise their kids so they can feel free to bring them wherever they want. I’ll just silently loose respect for them. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/25 "2012-07-24T00:18:32Z")
Who cares what time it is? Small children don’t generally wear watches or have lots of pressing meetings they need to be up for. I’m pretty sure three month olds have a pretty good track record for not caring one bit that it is the middle of the night. I lived next to a very nice single mother who worked it out so that her toddler would sleep through most of the day, wake up (at daycare) soon before mom got off of work, and spend the evening and night with mom… It made a lot more sense for her than picking the kid up from daycare at six, spending a couple hours together, and putting the kid to bed at eight. In any case, both adults and children can be loud and obnoxious in movies, and I’m going to judge people based on what they’ve actually done, not on what class of people they belong to. If you really need that level of control of your movie watching experience, stay home and watch Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/26 "2012-07-24T00:20:19Z")
At very young ages my kids ran around and were loud and distracted easily, EXCEPT at the movies. There they would sit quietly, eat their popcorn and watch the show. I’m sure I took them to inappropriate movies but if there is any trauma we haven’t noticed it. They are huge movie buffs now and all grown. Maybe we are the exception proving the rule. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/27 "2012-07-24T00:25:02Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I thought it was strange that such little kids were at a midnight showing too. Not because of the rating, but how late it was. Vynce was almost 16 when The Phantom Menace came out, and had to fight an uphill battle to convince my parents to let him see it at the midnight show given I think he had school the next morning. He won the argument\*, and he was definitely one of the youngest people in the theater. > > - I now can’t believe he talked me into taking him to that the week I graduated from college, but… Why? It’s summer time – it’s not like they needed to get up early. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > I remember seeing **Return of the Living Dead** on home video when I was about 8 or 9. My mother was also watching it with me. The only part she had an issue was Linnea Quigley’s striptease, when she told me it “wasn’t polite to looked at naked people”. That was it. She didn’t turn the tape off or fastforward or anything. She didn’t seem to have any problem with the gore other than thinking it was stupid. I don’t recall my parents ever making anykind of effort to restrict what movies or TV shows (other than a bedtime) I saw or rented. Granted they never caught me with actual pornography. This is an argument I will never understand. Look at all the gore and blood and violence you want…but oh my god, BOOBS!!! I believe we had a Pit thread where someone complained about his kid having to see nudity in _The Godfather_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/28 "2012-07-24T00:30:47Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > \ If you really need that level of control of your movie watching experience, stay home and watch Netflix. The level of control I would like is for everyone in the movie theatre to not make noise, to not get up and walk around too much while the movie is playing, or to not have some kind of lights going (like cellphone screens or, God help me, flashing lights on your kids’ shoes). I do that for the other people there, and I would like the same courtesy in return. This is what I expect in adult movies (which is mostly what I see). If I go to see a kids’ movie, all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/29 "2012-07-24T00:36:31Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > The level of control I would like is for everyone in the movie theatre to not make noise, to not get up and walk around too much while the movie is playing, or to not have some kind of lights going (like cellphone screens or, God help me, flashing lights on your kids’ shoes). I do that for the other people there, and I would like the same courtesy in return. > > This is what I expect in adult movies (which is mostly what I see). If I go to see a kids’ movie, all bets are off. Look, if you need an opportunity to remind the board how much you dislike children, how’s about doing so in one of the almost weekly threads on the topic. That is clearly not the route the OP wanted to take, and some of us would prefer not to see this turn into yet another “noisy children” trainwreck. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/30 "2012-07-24T01:06:13Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > When I went to see The Avengers, there was a dad in front of us with his four kids who looked to be between 2-7 years old. This is a Parent Fail moment. The only time that one parent should ever consider taking more than two kids under the age of five is for Return Adventures of Barney, Don’t See This Movie Unless You have Kids Along, Part III. This is just stupidity. Anyway, for the OP, I never took our kids anywhere at night when they were less than four, and since they’re still less than four, we haven’t gone. I would consider a three-month-old baby, as she would just sleep or breastfeed and it’s not most tiny babies who can really cry loudly. I don’t like taking the kids out late because they get cranky. Throwing a scary movie in is too much for our kids. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/31 "2012-07-24T03:19:47Z")
I regularly attend ‘babes in arms’ movies, usually around 10am for mums and little babies to attend showings of adult movies. I stopped taking my elder daughter when she was around 1 1/2 - firstly as she was moving around too much, I’d returned to work and I was starting to be aware of her awareness of the film. She only attends kids movies now. (The baby’s only 6 months so has another year or so of coming with me to the cinema). If we want to see a movie as a group, we either go to the drive in, or there is a cinema around us which has a ‘crying room’ - a glassed off room from the main auditorium which means you can watch a film without the baby making noises and bothering other patrons. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/32 "2012-07-24T06:33:22Z")
I think it’s a terrible idea to take very young kids out to midnight screenings, period. Three reasons: the content of the film probably isn’t appropriate; it’s a place where people expect to be able to watch a film undisturbed (not a whole lot of getting up and shushing; and last, it’s freaking late and the odds of bad stuff happening increases. Not nutjobs shooting up the theatre, but more like increased chances to run into drunk drivers on the road, getting your car broken into, etc. Sure the odds are low but why take a chance? I haven’t seen a movie on opening night since I was a teen. And now that I have kids, we might make it to a movie 2x a year. We have satellite and Netflix. I do believe that individual kids can handle different things. I don’t necessarily object to a 6 year old watching Batman in of itself, but I think it’s probably best to watch at home where you can pause, fast forward, or turn it off if it gets too heavy. ---
**Author:** ![DeweyDecibel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DeweyDecibel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeweyDecibel)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/33 "2012-07-24T10:52:50Z")
I have a 2 year old and a 5 year old and I’ve never take them to a movie. I’d take the 5 year old to a kids movie if he were interested, but not a PG-13 action flick. I can kind of understand taking a small baby to a movie, they sleep a lot and if the parents took them out at the first sign of noise, no problem. But not to a midnight opening - that’s for serious fans of the movie being shown and any baby noise would be poorly received. I’d do something like an 11AM matinee where it’s less crowded. As for a 6 year old, that’s where I get judgey. The Christopher Nolan Batman movies are in no way, shape, or form OK for small kids. They are scary and dark and not fun (but excellent films) and even if your kid CAN handle the movie, they shouldn’t be exposed to that. I’m sure there’s a grey area for when it’s OK to see such a movie, I’d wait till 12ish, I can see 9-10 for other parents, but 6 is way out of bounds. These days, featuring a super hero doesn’t make it a kids movie. I wouldn’t take a 6 year old to, say, Thor, but it is most definitely more appropriate than these Batman movies and I wouldn’t be nearly so judgmental about Thor or Iron Man or the old Tobey McGuire Spiderman films. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/34 "2012-07-24T11:37:39Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > The articles about the overnight shooting spree at the midnight showing of the Dark Knight Rises included reports that there was a 3 month old and 6 year old kid in the crowd. Sure it’s a PG-13 rated movie but it was also being shown at midnight and it’s close to 3 hours long. > > I’m fairly big movie buff and go to the movies about 3-4 times a month. I regularly see people bring small kids into R rated movies. I remember seeing Saw III at a 10:00 pm showing and this family strolls in with 4 kids ranging in ages from 3-10. The 5 year old would scream “mommy mommy” everytime anything dark or violent would appear on the screen. > > I also remember when seeing The 40 Year Old Virgin, that a middle aged couple brought their 9 year old daughter and 12 year old son with them. > > I know it’s not illegal for underage kids to see R rated movies with someone over the age of 17 with them, but I seriously question these parent’s judgment. > > I suspect that it’s most likely they couldn’t get a baby sitter or couldn’t afford one and they wanted to see the movie so they just brought them along. They also likely let their kids watch all kinds of stuff at home…so taking them to the theater in their mind is no big deal. > > What do you think? I think your wadded panties make your butt look big. In the '50s I watched _Twilight Zone_ and Alfred Hitchcock unnoticed by adults and that’s exactly what I wanted. To be left in peace to discover the world. “Helecopter parenting” is one of the results of the Disney-fying of our culture. Doesn’t do anybody any good. When it “works” it unleashes virgins scared by anything big. Young, broke parents (they never envisioned themselves that way) want to still occasionally partake of something exciting. Kids usually sleep…and if not, they can eventually be convinced (thru hypnosis or therapy) that nothing really was going on. Nobody expects to get shot for $10.75. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/35 "2012-07-24T11:52:44Z")
There’s a term I think more people should be familiar with: “deferred gratification”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/36 "2012-07-24T12:16:29Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I think your wadded panties make your butt look big. > > In the '50s I watched _Twilight Zone_ and Alfred Hitchcock unnoticed by adults and that’s exactly what I wanted. To be left in peace to discover the world. > > “Helecopter parenting” is one of the results of the Disney-fying of our culture. Doesn’t do anybody any good. When it “works” it unleashes virgins scared by anything big. > > Young, broke parents (they never envisioned themselves that way) want to still occasionally partake of something exciting. Kids usually sleep…and if not, they can eventually be convinced (thru hypnosis or therapy) that nothing really was going on. I almost replied to this, until I realized I was probably being whooshed. Comparing 50s TV to _Saw III_? Saying “Well, if it does bother them, they can always get therapy”? Nice one. > [@](#): > > Nobody expects to get shot for $10.75. Yeah, for that I’d expect to pay at least twenty bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/37 "2012-07-24T13:53:36Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I almost replied to this, until I realized I was probably being whooshed. Comparing 50s TV to _Saw III_? Saying “Well, if it does bother them, they can always get therapy”? Nice one. > > Yeah, for that I’d expect to pay at least twenty bucks. I almost replied to this post. (Oh wait! I did!) Look up “humor.” If you know the price of a life, let us know. P.S. You forgot hyptonism. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/38 "2012-07-24T14:54:27Z")
I’ve only ever been to the US once, working for a couple of months in Atlanta in 1998. One of my most vivid memories from that period is going to the movies, to see Halloween:H20, and there being wee kids in there. Young kids whose parents couldn’t be arsed to get/couldn’t afford a babysitter. It shocked me then and the idea still shocks me now. That and the noise people made. Oh and the people jumping up and down making dagger motions with their arms as people got stabbed on screen. It was all a bit weird. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/39 "2012-07-24T14:58:20Z")
In grade school, I remember kids talking about going to see Friday the 13th, Clan of the Cave Bear, and Full Metal Jacket. No way my parents would let me go. And I think those are probably very inappropriate for grade school kids. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847/40 "2012-07-24T15:23:41Z")
I really don’t care as long as the kids are behaved and don’t cry/talk/scream/roam around [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-your-small-kids-to-non-age-appropriate-movies/628847.md?page=3)