Retirement is a week filled with Saturdays and Sundays interrupted only occasionally by a holiday.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Not a Kiddie Matinee

Boy...I'm really enjoying this married dating thing. Rick and I decided to spend another day together (not on a golf course) so we went to our second movie in two weeks. Amazing! We saw Prince Caspian yesterday afternoon after I agreed to watch the first Chronicles of Narnia movie on DVD the night before. I'm not much of a fantasy film lover and Rick has been urging me to watch the first film for some time so I finally relented. Surprisingly, I enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe so much that I was actually anxious to see the second in the series.

Now maybe I'm old fashioned and out of touch with current practices but when did it become acceptable to bring a 3-year-old and a baby to the movies? I like going to the early afternoon showings to avoid the noise of a large audience so you can imagine my dismay when we walked into the theater only to find a young couple with two very young children sitting right smack in the middle of the theater. Besides the fact that the movie was wholly inappropriate for a 3-year-old and baby (too violent, too mature, too long), why would adults subject other film viewers to the possibility of a fussy baby and chatty child?

Yes...I know some families can't afford a babysitter or don't have family members available to help out and they did bring the kids to an early afternoon showing when the audience would be much smaller but still...a baby in a movie theater?!?!? The family did eventually move to aisle seats when the baby became fussy and the parents did alternate taking the children out of the theater a number of times when they started to make noise. I actually felt sorry for the parents who each missed a substantial portion of the film. So...do you think, for their own viewing sake, they'll stay home and wait for the next movie they want to see to be released on DVD?

9 comments:

Renee Nefe said...

I agree with you on so many levels. First most movies are played with the volume way too loud for a baby. Second a 3y/o doesn't have the attention span to sit through an entire 20 minute TV show for kids, how are they supposed to sit through 120 min???
Just a waste of their money.

I so think that young families should stick to waiting for he DVD to come out. Course it doesn't help much that for many movies my family STILL waits for the DVD. To me there isn't any better way to see a movie.

I'm glad that you & Rick had some time together, and sad that that family put a damper on your experience.

And I'm very sure that DD is loving camp, even in the rain. A week without me hollering at her to clean her room and playing with one of her bestest buddies? Who wouldn't want that? ;)

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

no babies in movies please!!! gosh, this sounds like a no brainer to me!

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

meno said...

I didn't take my kid to a movie until she was old enough to sit quietly through one. I wish other people would do that too. So annoying. I wonder how much fun they actually had, what with missing half the movie each.

ms chica said...

I agree.

Linda said...

I don't even like taking my teenagers to the movies (but that's because it's too expensive!) so I can't even imagine taking a baby and a toddler - especially to a non-Disney movie!

Susie said...

I would have expected it at a G rated movie, but these days you see kids everywhere. A sitter costs more than the movie per hour (about $10 per hour is the going rate here!)
xo

Ralph said...

But yet, no matter who occupied the theater, you still were on a real date at the movies. How could golfing, a competitive pursuit compare as a 'real' date?

Patti said...

Those people were so inconsiderate. We never brought our babies to a movie.

I'm glad you guys had a fun movie date. Sounds like a plan for Ralph and me someday soon.

sari said...

I have a baby and I can tell you, the movie theater is a place he won't go visit until he is MUCH older and can enjoy the movie with the rest of us.

My husband and I are always surprised when (on the rare occasions) we go to a movie *at night* that is *not* meant for kids, and there are babies and young children there.

What are these people thinking? (I know, they're not at all).