A woman has sparked debate online after calling for parents to stop bringing young children to non-kids movies.
She argues it’s unfair not only to fellow moviegoers, but also to the children themselves.
In a post shared to Threads, user @laurenisaburito wrote: “Can we normalize not taking young children to non-kids movies?”
The comment followed a recent experience she had while attending a Star Wars screening. The movie began at 5:00pm and ran until around 7:30pm.
“Do it at home”
“The dad in the row behind us brought his child who was maybe three years old. The poor kid lasted barely 30 minutes before he got bored,” she explained.
According to the poster, the toddler spent much of the film talking, singing, climbing on chairs, and engaging in other typical toddler behaviors. While the father attempted to quiet him down, nothing seemed to work.
“I get that he probably wanted to bond with his son and introduce him to his favorite movies, but do it at home,” she continued.
She expressed frustration, saying the situation was unfair to both other patrons, but especially to the child.
“He’s bored, he’s frustrated that he can’t entertain himself and enjoy himself. He heard ‘no’ and ‘stop’ probably a hundred times in the remaining 1.5 hours,” she shared.
“Understanding what is age appropriate for your child will help them succeed and I’m not talking about the movie being appropriate. I’m talking about the length of time you expect a tiny child to sit still and be quiet.”
“F–k everyone else”
Reactions to the post were mixed. Many agreed that a cinema was not the right place for such a young child.
“So many mental gymnastics to ignore the fact that THE KID DIDN’T WANT TO BE THERE ANYMORE and that’s the main complaint,” one commenter wrote.
“Nah, f–k everyone else, I’m with you on this,” another added.
Others empathized with the father and felt the criticism was too harsh.
“If you don’t want the public to be in a public space then watch it at home?” one user hit back.
“The guy was out there trying to make a childhood for his boy at a 25-year-old movie. Cut some slack,” another said.
The unhappy cinemagoer ended her post with a final message: “Be respectful to fellow moviegoers, but also respect your child.”
