New Law: Children Under 12 Not Allowed in Movie Theaters
 

I just wanted to tell everyone about my awful movie theater experience last night.

I went to see "Jersey Girl" with my friend and roommate. It was a 9:30 showing so you'd expect the majority of the audience to be older. There were a lot of kids in there. No big deal as long as they behaved themselves. The theater was PACKED. We ended up having to sit right behind the front row.

A group of middle school age kids sat in the row in front of us. For the whole beginning of the movie, they kept standing up and sitting down and talking. One of the kids started playing a game on his cell phone. I just prayed that they would stop.

All the sudden, from the other side of the theater, a toddler let a big, "WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The whole theater turned over to see what was happening. The mother just sat there as the kid cried his eyes out. Take the crying kid out of the theater!!!

Finally, the kid calmed down but he started talking really loud. I just ignored it but other movie patrons started leaving the theater. The kids in front of me were throwing popcorn at this point.

Once again, the toddler starts screaming his head off. Everyone in the theater looks at the mom who just sat there. My friend screamed across the theater, "Excuse me, ma'am. Can you take your kid outside?" That's when one of the deliquents in front of us turned around to her and said, "That's my little brother. What the hell is your problem? He's a baby!" Actually, the kid was about 2 or 3...certainly not a baby. My friend said to the kid, "He shouldn't be here unless he can behave" to which the kid just kept saying, "What's your problem?" repeatedly as his other delinquent friend said, "It's a free country!" :rolleyes:

The delinquent then gets up and grabs the toddler from his mother and brings him to the front row with him. The toddler throws popcorn everywhere, starts crawling on the floor, and was screaming his head off. Several more people got up and left. The delinquents kept getting up and bringing the kid back to their mother, then would get up again and bring him to the front row, and then repeat the cycle all over again.

My roommate got annoyed. She told me that she was going to ask management if we left if we could get a refund. The delinquents saw her walk out and immediately started pushing the popcorn they threw under their seat to "hide the evidence". My roomie came back and said that management would refund us if we left. As we were walking out, one of the delinquents turned around and said, "Bye Bitches!" At 12 or 13 years old, I would NEVER have said that to people who were older than me!!!! What the hell is wrong with kids today? My roommate looked at them and said, "Bye assholes." One of the delinquents cursed, "F&cking bitch" to which I laughed and said, "Little 12 year olds." The kid got up and followed us out of theater!!! Are you kidding me?

When I got out of the theater, I saw a bunch of SAEs that I'm friends with and walked over to them. The kid saw them and immediately ran back into the theater. I guess he figured that he didn't want to get in our faces when we were friends with 3 guys that were about "6'1" and 200 pounds. :)

While we were at customer service getting our refund, there must've been 10 other people from our theater standing there also trying to get a refund. Finally, the ushers went over to theater to go say something to the delinquents. I'm not sure if they got thrown out but I doubt it.

What the hell is wrong with parents? Get a babysitter! If you absolutely must bring your kid with you to the theater, take them out as soon as they start crying. People paid $8.50 to see the movie and they don't want to be distracted by your kids screams. I'll never understand it just because my parents would've dragged me out of the theater if I started acting like that. In fact, they would never have brought me to a 9:30 movie....it was past my bedtime.

I really think there should be a law that prohibits anyone under the age of 12 to be in a movie theater!

Damn. That sucks. If I were you and your friends, I would write letters to the execs of that theater and let your voice be heard. It's one thing for kids to be noisy, but the fact that those Maury Povich delinquents had a parent there who did NOTHING to police them is even worse.

Too many parents take their kids to movies with them when they need to stay home or go to the early shows.

there should be a law that if are under 17 and want to go an R rated movie, you still have to be 14 to get in with a guardian.

a month ago, i saw "taking lives" (angelina jolie) and this mother was in there with a 1 year old. i wanted to scream. the baby is yelling her head off. and the mother has the nerve to wait at least 5 min before she gets up to leave. :mad:

in another R rated movie, a mother is trying to feed her crying baby.

BABIES SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED IN THEATER PERIOD!!!!!!:mad:

:D LOL

Ok i am not defending those little punks or the so called parents who brought them but I am sorry the babysitters today cost a lot more then a movie does so i am not go to say leave them home. BUT once a child starts to cry take them out into the lobby uintil the child is calm enough. And as for the lil punks with smart mouths i would of gone to management earlier to have them delt with.


Unless your a parent of a baby (and yes a baby is still a 2 or 3 yr old ) you dont know what your talking about by just leaving them at home.



I am NOT AT ALL DEFENDING their actions , but i am defending the need to bring a baby along. Baby sitters make a lot more then i did at that age and should file taxes for the amt they make off with!

I don't care how much a babysitter costs, if you want to see a 9:30 movie and you have a 2 or 3 year old, you should shell out the big bucks for one.

I completely agree with everything you said, ZTAngel.

I understand what you're saying but I think there is a HUGE difference between a baby and a 2/3 year old. I actually would've been more understanding had it been a 6-month old rather than a toddler. With a toddler, you can tell it to sit down or to stay quiet while you cannot with a baby.

Also, many people go to the movies at night to avoid dealing with screaming children. I can understand bringing a toddler to a matinee but a 9:30 movie?! The kid should've been in bed and, yes, with a babysitter. Just because this woman didn't want to pay for a babysitter does not mean she can let her kid wail in the middle of the theater.

There are many good parents out there. There was a 6 year old girl with her dad sitting behind us and there was a 4 year old with his mom sitting next to us. These kids did not even make a noise. It's the bad parents that ruin it for everyone. They don't teach their children that it is not proper to throw a temper tantrum in a public place. They don't immediately remove their children when they start to act up. The movie theater is not your living room. Just because you're use to your own child crying and throwing fits does not mean everyone else around you can block out the sound. Unfortunately, because of these bad parents, I really think that theaters should have a rule that children cannot be in the theaters past a certain time.

Many theaters have tried to help this problem. There's a theater by my parents' house in Boca Raton that has a babysitting center. Parents can bring there kids there, watch the movie, and then pick up their kids when the movie is over. Many movie theaters have movie showings specifically for parents with young children. That way, parents can see the movie with their children and not have to worry that they're bothering the people around them.

If you absolutely must see the movie and can't leave your kid at home, go to a matinee. It's almost expected that there will be a lot of children during a matinee.

ETA: My parents NEVER took me to the movies at night when I was young. They always took me to matinees. If they wanted to see a PG-13 or R movie, they went at night and got a babysitter. They didn't feel that it was their right to bring me to the theater if I wasn't going to be able to sit quietly just so they didn't have to pay the money to the babysitter. Also, if I acted the way that kid did, my mother would've dragged me out of the theater by my ear and gave me a spanking! Never would she have let me throw a temper tantrum like that in public. I asked my mother one time how I acted in public as a child and if I ever threw temper tantrums. My mother said, "No, you were always good in public because you knew better!" I respected my parents and knew that they were the boss and that I couldn't get away with stuff like that. I think parents today are too afraid to discipline their kids and, unfortunately, we all have to suffer because of it.

a child who's 2 or 3 years old should be home IN BED at 9:30 at night.

I've actually had this discussion with my parents quite a few times.

When my brother and I were young, my parents adjusted their lives and what they wanted to do so that our schedules weren't messed up.

Anymore, it seems that people are too busy with their social lives that their kids "get in the way"

I would have gotten the usher to kick them out. Then they finally might get in trouble because the mom would be foreced to leave to.

KIDs, should not be seen or heard in a Movie Theater no matter what!:mad:

Parents who drop off the kids using a theater as a baby sitting thing should be sterilized!:o

Why were kids there alone at that time of night and some with a baby who is bawling???????

Boot their butts out, no refund! Period!

I'm so sorry you had a rotten experience. I feel your pain!

I've heard of movie theatres having special matinee showings that are specifically designated for parents and little kids (toddler/preschool age). People go to these showings knowing and accepting the fact that there will be kids running around. I've also heard of late-evening showings being restricted to a minimum age, but it's much less common. (Actually, neither setup is particularly common.)

It's expecting a lot to expect a 2-3yo to sit still for 1.5-2 hours, but you're absolutely right that mom should have taken the kid outside when he started acting up. Just a couple of minutes outside might have been enough for him to settle down. Or not, in which case you stay outside a little longer. The best thing to do with a little kid is leave him with a babysitter (which can get expensive) or with family (if you're lucky enough to have someone nearby). Or wait for the movie to come out on DVD.

The older kids' behavior was inexcusable. Kids need to be taught from a young age that certain behavior is unacceptable in public. And part of that is the parents setting a good example themselves. You watch, that 2yo is going to be just like his brother in 10 years.

On a related note, someone mentioned a 1yo at an R-rated movie... I went to see the South Park movie, which is the only time I've actually seen a theatre card for an R-rated movie. You wouldn't believe the number of parents I saw with their 3- and 4yos. I'm sorry, but I would not want my (hypothetical future) 3yo seeing Big Gay Al in his altogether! :p Parents should prescreen the R-rated movies they take their kids to see.

You willfully had the kid, you willfully signed up for 18 years of contract slavery.

Don't make your choice, or inability to instill discipline in kids, an inconvenience to others.

Babysitters are expensive? Guess what, you don't have to go to the movies, stay home and rent.

Same thing with restaurants .. you can always order take out. :)

I agree!

When I lived back in the Northern VA area, the AMC theatres had the "Silence Is Golden" program. After 6 no kids under 12 were allowed in movies rated PG-13 or higher! I loved that. I dunno if they still have it!

At the beginning of movies, there was a sign saying "Crying babies should be taken to the lobby"

I wish the sign would say: "Crying babies need to have their asses at home in bed!" :p

I would think parents would know at least another set of parents where you can trade off movie night so each set of parents can have a night to watch a movie in peace.

I'm also disturbed that people take their kids to movies like Dawn of the Dead. There were 3 kids under the edge of 10 next to me, you can't tell me they didn't have nightmares. I took a 12 year old cousin to what we thought was a sci-fi alien movie opening weekend, the lady at the ticket counter even warned us, we laughed it off because he loves alien movies, unfortunately she should have told us that Event Horizon was a satanic type of movie. It really freaked the poor kid out. :( I felt bad.

thank you, that was beautiful.

i completely agree - going to the movies is a choice, a luxury. It's not a trip to the grocery store or some other necessity. If you children can't behave and be quiet for a 2 hour span, they shouldn't be brought to the movies because other people are spending money and they came to relax and enjoy themselves.

Honestly, if you can't afford a babysitter I highly doubt you can afford going to the movies. The movies are prett expensive these days - $9 tickets, snacks that = $20 - if you have the expendable income to do that, you better have it for the babysitter as well - otherwise rent a movie.

And just because you are a parent doesn't mean you have to justify the actions of every other parent in every other circumstance - especially when they are obviously wrong. Allowing your children to use that kind of language, not taking your screaming baby out of a theater, etc are all wrong. If they can't behave - leave them at home with a babysitter.