Mumsnet Talk

I understand it is difficult with little ones but I don't think it is right for parents to be having private conversations with other people. so rude. It seems to be a sign of the times and sometimes happens in the cinema and theatre too.

If kids are really loud couldn't they take them out for a few moments.

A work colleague i used to work with said when she worked as a childminder, she wasn't allowed to bring the little ones to her dd's show which was a shame.

Indeed quirrel, it got to the stage where I was waiting for it....she would get in a fluster and apologise loudly. Then do it again the next time.

I struggle with this every week during songtime at toddler group.

And they wonder why their kids won't sit down and join in!

I had my first taste of the iPad waving concert filmer at DD's nursery this week - I had to watch the whole thing through her iPad.
She got a delightful sequence of DD hauling up her dress and readjusting her knickers, I noticed

Why is this making me laugh so much hands! the thought of them inevitably spilling out.....

I have no problem being bossy and had I been at merlots nativity that woman would not have been stood there for long

We need bossier organisers! At merlot's one it would have been good if the head had told the front 3 rows to sit down (or maybe she did and they refused!). At dd's primary the head did on occasion ask/instruct a parent to take a crying baby out (I know it's difficult, because that parent's child also really really wants his parent to be there, but on some occasions it was just so loud you couldn't hear anything. However, a baby can't help it - parents can!)

Blimey merlot you showed self control on that woman! I'd have been tempted to shove her into next week.

It's rude and annoying. The screaming/shouting toddlers get me with their mother continually saying ' shush ' to them. Don't bring them or go outside.

At my DD's nativity this week I saw nothing. It was in a church and the parents in the first three rows all stood up holding iPads, iPhones, Samsungs or whatever filming the whole thing. The 80 or so parents behind saw nothing.

I tapped on the standing woman in front of me and said "can you sit down please, I can't see" and she just glared at me and carried on standing.

Appalling selfish behaviour. Some people utterly disgust me. I took my elderly, ill father and feel so guilty as it's an effort for him to come out and he only saw the backs of other parents.

Quirrel . My Gran (sadly no longer with us) always brought a large bag of mint imperials to my school concerts and dance performances. Usually during a quiet bit, she would decide to open them and offer them round, then would always drop the whole packet and they would roll noisily around the floor. It happened every time.

Ah, my grandma is seriously the worst for talking (hardly bothering to hush a bit) during performances! and pushing in queues, nicking people's programmes while they're gone to have a peruse, making me put them back just in time etc etc. We the grandchildren sit there beet red and embarrassed and she has no idea why we're so silent and unresponsive.
She's Parisian and rich....we love her and forgive her!

lovely

Perhaps it depends on the class of the parents. At our school, no-one can afford ipads, so no waving of those. Unless they managed to nick one on the way to the performance.

Just want to say that we had our Nativity last week, and our Carol concert.
The parents were splendid and lovely and waited for photo opportunities til the end.
There was a bit of rustling and whispering, but very low-level. So it is possible.

Yanbu. The rudeness of some people is astounding.

I feel your pain - One of the ghastly trophy wives at DS's old school droned away so shrilly in the front row at the nativity that her own daughter asked the head mistress to make her be quiet!

handsandknees - we needed your teacher's wise words at our concert. I've honestly never seen such a bunch of badly behaved people. En masse we must have presented ourselves as such a 'do as I say not as I do' bunch to the kids who were so well behaved by comparison.

It's as if people forget how to behave because it's 'just' children performing. Mind you, they're probably the same folks who natter all the way through films or feel they have carte blance to text away at the theatre. They must think they exist in their own little bubble world where only they matter and their actions never affect anyone else. <sigh>

Anyway, the kids were great and despite the stupid adults, their singing made me cry. Christmas is definitely coming!

YANBU.

Same thing at my dcs' show. There was a mum struggling with twin toddlers at the back but even they made less noise than the people next to me who seemed much more interested in gossiping than what their children were doing on stage. At one point the music teacher made an announcement (ostensibly to the children): "This is a concert. During a concert we do not talk. At all." I could have kissed her!

sooty I was actually fantasising about standing up, pointing at her and saying just that to the tune of jingle bells

Seriously though, it's as though herself and her twins were the only people in the world that mattered.

A surreptitious 'shush!!' Usually works. They're not sure who's telling them to be quiet so they shut up out of embarrassment.

After 15 minutes of her singing jingle bells at the top of her voice and shouting 'Peek-a-boo', I said "excuse me do you think you can keep it down a bit please?"

I think at that point I'd have been tempted to tell her to shut the fuck up.

My son's yr5 guitar performance was yesterday...they'd only had 10 music lessons so needed to concentrate hard on performing.

There was a woman sat on the edge of the row with twins aged about 2yrs.

All she did was play with them, laugh loudly with them, encourage them to run around etc. Then she started clapping and singing along to the guitar music (no-one was singing not even the kids...so we could hear the tunes)

After 15 minutes of her singing jingle bells at the top of her voice and shouting 'Peek-a-boo', I said "excuse me do you think you can keep it down a bit please?"

But she just carried on doing the same thing in a loud whisper, with gentle clapping

Some parents only think about them and their own.

They are selfish twats.

Yes, bloody iPads. Just because you can see the picture on them doesn't take them invisible. Twats.

Totally agree, my son's show was yesterday afternoon, nursery to p3- the school had arranged some of the older children to sing a couple of songs at the start to welcome the parents to to the school. They shouldn't have bothered- there were so many parents sitting there chattering away to each other and ignoring the poor kids who had learned these songs over the last couple of weeks. You could hear them over the singing.. I was quite ashamed by association!

I'm feeling very unseasonable indeed. At our Christmas concert tonight the best behaved people in the room were the children. Some of the parents were nightmares. There were those who thought it was perfectly reasonable to hold their stupid ipads up to record the show, blocking the view to anyone behind them. And then there were the parents who kept up a slow murmur of conversation the ENTIRE time. It's just a 45 minute show. I don't expect babies or toddlers to shut the F up, but I do expect parents to. What could be so important it couldn't wait for the end of a short performance?
<feels very much better for venting>