Savvy Toddler Mom

STM and I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull over the weekend. We had an encounter with the inconsiderate.

A young woman, seated directly behind me, brought her ~2 year old child along to the theater. Leaving aside the issue of how a child might react to frightening and violent images, I wanted to point out the results of this woman’s decision. As children tend to do, her little angel fidgeted and chatted throughout the two hour film. He kicked my seat repeatedly, he talked and occasionally yelped and whined throughout the film. This was vexing to me. I know it vexed other people around her. Does she realize that she’s detracted from the experience of a dozen people? If she doesn’t realize it, should someone point it out? Will she continue to irk people the next time she goes out?

Would you have said something to the girl? Well, I did. After the movie ended and the house lights brightened I turned around and held out the screen of my phone which shows an image of the toot.

“This is my little boy.” She smiled hesitantly and peered at the image. “He’s three,” I continued, “and we arranged for a sitter so that we wouldn’t bother the people around us. I wish you could have been as considerate.”

“Oh, you…go away! Go away! Go away!”

There was a little more dialog after that, but not much more communication. She only seemed to hear that she wasn’t allowed to bring her kid. I simply said it was inconsiderate, not illegal. She was really in a defensive huff about it.

“I can bring my child anywhere I want!”

Actually, that’s not true. You can’t bring a child anywhere you want. You can’t bring a child onto a casino floor, a strip club, an operating room or roller coasters where you ‘must be this tall.’ There are some places where you really can’t bring a child. But aside from that, there are also places where you shouldn’t bring a child. In some cases it for the kid’s safety: A paint ball arena. A loud rock concert. A wastewater treatment facility. A slaughterhouse. In other cases, it’s for those around you. A symphony, a fine restaurant, a lecture, or a movie not geared for those too young to keep still. (A kids’ movie is different. There, I am the guest to their movie.)

Politeness and courtesy seem to be waning, though, I supposed people have been saying that for hundreds of years. It just bothered me that this woman didn’t have enough consideration to think of anyone else but herself. We got a babysitter so we could have a break. We paid $8 a ticket so that we could escape the everyday and hang out with our adult friends. We manage to get to the movies about twice a year. Who is this woman to risk ruining a stranger’s experience by bringing a child who’s too young to know better? Maybe she is an only parent. Maybe her sitter cancelled at the last minute. But if that’s the case - see a different movie, or simply stay home. We expect people to turn off their phones. We expect people not to talk through a movie. Bringing a child to a movie for adults was selfish, unthinking and rude.