Went with my DD14 to our local theatre on Xmas eve. A yearly tradition since my DD was 4, a lovely Xmas themed play.
This time, behind my seat was sat a mum with her toddler DD2 on her lap. In the few minutes before the play started, the toddler was kicking my seat. My hair is long and she managed to kick and drag my hair with her foot along the back of the seat and I yelped ouch and turned around, which was noted by the mum. I thought with this would be the end of the kicking.
However much of the first half of the show (approx 1 hour), the toddler was kicking the back of my seat. I wasn't able to relax, I tied my hair up, and sat forward a little as I was worried that I'd get kicked on the back of my head. I didn't say anything to the mum as I thought she would stop her DD kicking and also didn't want to create a bad atmosphere.
The toddler was rather unsettled in the second half and began to cry quite loudly, lots of unhappy looks from others in the audience, so her mum took her outside and didn't return. I was able to sit back and relax at this point and this made me think maybe I should have said something earlier, asking the mum to stop her toddler kicking my seat. However, in 10 years of going to family Xmas performances at this theatre, I have never experienced this. I could also see this was a mum trying to do something nice on Xmas eve with her toddler DD.
So my AIBU:
YABU: If you wanted the child not to kick your seat you should have said something to the parent.
YANBU: You shouldn't have to ask a parent to stop their toddler kicking your seat, it's the parent's responsibility and normal theatre etiquette.
Genuinely interested to hear what others would have done!