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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off at the woman in the cinema?

99 replies

Bingdweller · 09/08/2012 22:19

I took my DC (5 & 2.5) to a Kids am film this morning. DS sat beautifully and was really enjoying the film, DD (the youngest) did so well for the first 45 minutes before running out of food getting a bit bored.

The cinema was about 1/3 full so plenty of empty seats. A woman with her 2 DC - I'm guessing about 8 & 10 years old sat behind us then loudly commented to her kids about having chosen "the wrong seats". This was before the film had even started.

Anyhow, 45 minutes in, my LO decided to sit on the step. She just didn't want to be in her seat but was at my feet. She then sat on my knee for a bit, then back on the step after about 20 mins. There was no shouting or loud talking at all from my two.

The woman tapped my shoulder and asked me to take her out as she was ruining her DC enjoyment of the film (one which has been out on DVD for several months). I stayed in my seat with LO on my knee for the remainder of the film.

I totally get that taking a 2.5 year old to the cinema might not end well, had she been shouting etc. I would have taken her out. AIBU to suggest that taking older children to a Kids am viewing then expecting perfect silence/no moving from younger children for the whole 90mins isn't realistic? I wouldnt dream of taking DD to a full price showing waste of money for a start. Is this not the point of Kids am, to expect some disruption hence the low ticket price?

thank goodness horrible woman wasn't sitting at the other side of the cinema next to the unaccompanied popcorn throwing kids!

I glared at the cow on the way out as I think she ruined our enjoyment of the film more than her viewing was disrupted by us......

OP posts:
trixymalixy · 10/08/2012 00:22

Shes probably the type of person who goes to a mother and baby cinema session and complains that the babies are making too much noise.

amck5700 · 10/08/2012 00:25

I probably took my younger son for the first time when he was about 2 and half to 3, he could however happily sit through a full length film at home by that point so that was not an issue - people should know their own child. My eldest would happily have watched two hours worth of tractors at that age given the opportunity! My friend however has a 4 year old that she daren't take to the cinema as she wont sit for longer than 20 minutes - all kids are different.

DappyHays · 10/08/2012 00:30

If someone tapped me on the shoulder to complain about my kid at a kids' screening, I'd tell them to go and take a flying jeff to themselves.

YADNBU

These screenings play the film slightly louder to compensate for chattering littlies.

Original poster
Bingdweller · 10/08/2012 00:30

I agree amck5700. I suppose everybody is reliant on the goodwill of other parents/careers to decide when enough is enough if the kids don't settle.

I do think unless you try it you won't know though, it's just that you have to be prepared to leave if it's really not working. Let's face it, if your LO isn't enjoying it to the point of being majorly disruptive, where is the pleasure in taking them in the first place?

OP posts:
StateofConfusion · 10/08/2012 00:33

YANBU

I often take a 7,5,4 and 3yo to the kids £1 showings. They move seats occasionally, littlest hops on my knee, they may ask a question, but so is every other dc in the cinema, hence why all the parents there only pay £1 each NOT full price.

She was a snotty cow who's obviously forgotten what small children are like. Ignore.

ChippingInNeedsCoffee · 10/08/2012 00:39

Your little one sounds adequately well behaved for 'Kids Cinema' & you definitely shouldn't allow this stupid cow to stop you taking them both again!! She was stupid and snotty and needs telling!!

toomuchmonthatendofthemoney · 10/08/2012 00:45

Yanbu.

Snottypants just wanted to pick on someone that day. She could easily have moved.

VonHerrBurton · 10/08/2012 00:47

I know your circumstances are difficult but I think taking a 2yo to any film in a cinema is just asking for trouble - albeit from miserable bastards. I don't go to the kids am type shows purely because I get wound up by the tightwad, entitled idiots type of people that tend to go, by that I don't mean you, I mean the tutting, huffing people you encountered there.

thatisall · 10/08/2012 01:04

what an absolute arsehole she sounds...

your 2yo sounds really quite well behaved and often i think a little bit of quiet moving around is better than being shouted at for 90 mins which is what some parents choose to do.

I suspect that you are posting here because she unsettled you and made you question yourself...don't let her.

Whereismyfuckingcat · 10/08/2012 01:05

I think it's shocking that you had the temerity to rock up to an early morning kids showing with children

Lots of love

Miss Trunchbull xxx

Inyourhippyhat · 10/08/2012 01:23

Bing, didn't you know that children should be seen and not heard?

HeadfirstOverTheHighJump · 10/08/2012 01:37

The kids am showings always have young children walking about/needing a wee/talking a little too loud sometimes. It's normal and expected for this showing. I would only expect someone to take their child out if they were having a huge tantrum/running full pelt around the cinema/leapfrogging over the seats.

I have to disagree with whoever said children under 4 shouldn't be allowed in! I would only just have been able to take my dc to the cinema as the youngest is 4, dd1 (almost 10) wouldn't have liked that idea! (and no I don't have a sitter).

dc3 and dc4 have been going to kids am showings since birth, as a result they have all behaved exceptionally well at the cinema since a young age.

I wouldn't take a toddler to a full price showing, but the £1.50 showing of old films has been a life saver some wet weekends/school holidays.

Maybe the cinemas could have an over showing as well as the kids am family showings?

Sunnydelight · 10/08/2012 06:50

YANBU. Cheap kids film, it's only to be expected that there will be little ones there - it sounds like she could have moved elsewhere with her children anyway.

BUT, if I am paying the extortionate full price I am hugely intolerant of people who bring children too young to sit quietly and not disturb others which is rarely below the age of 3, and certainly not all 3 year olds.

MrsHelsBels74 · 10/08/2012 07:01

It sounds like she had already decided to be annoyed when she sat down, so why she couldn't just move I don't know. Some people just enjoy being snotty.
It sounds like your daughter was very well behaved, there's no way my son would have been as quiet Grin

KenLeeeeeee · 10/08/2012 07:46

If it was a regular full price screening of a new release, I'd maybe say YA-a bit-U, but a kids cinema morning is meant for littlies who might not sit still/stay quiet for the whole time, so I'm going with YADNBU.

SofaKing · 10/08/2012 07:55

Your dd sounds better behaved than the popcorn rattling chatting women who sat next to me during Ted! I did not ask them to be quiet though as I recognised that I don't have the cinema to myself. Obviously the woman who spoke to you didn't realise that a children's showing meant that other people's children would be there!

TandB · 10/08/2012 07:55

I was talking to someone at a baby group once who had been to a mum and baby screening, and another mum went and complained that her baby was being too noisy! The baby was apparently cooing, not crying, and it was a MUM AND BABY screening FFS!

YANBU, OP.

PooPooInMyToes · 10/08/2012 08:11

Don't stop going just because of one stupid woman!

Your dc sounded well behaved to me, and better then a lot are in those screenings so i wouldn't take any notice of the poster who said she is too young.

adeucalione · 10/08/2012 08:21

YABU. A kids showing means that there will be lots of children there, and that it is at pocket money prices, not that it is acceptable to be noisy, fidgetty and irritating.

If your DC are too young or disinterested in the movie to sit still and be quiet, then leave (or don't go in the first place) otherwise it isn't fair on those children who are trying to watch the movie and do know how to behave in a cinema.

PooPooInMyToes · 10/08/2012 08:24

not that it is acceptable to be noisy, fidgetty and irritating.

Do you know young children at all!? If all the ones who were fidgeting left there would be none in there! That's what they do. That's why its so cheap!

adeucalione · 10/08/2012 08:24

And yes my reply is coloured by bitterness from a recent experience - took DN, age 5,to a kids showing earlier in the week. He sat still, whispered if he needed to talk and was no trouble to anyone, along with the majority of children there, with a few notable exceptions.

adeucalione · 10/08/2012 08:26

No, it's cheap because it's an old movie that most people wouldn't pay to see any more - the Odeon website says 'pocket money prices' - not because you have to put up with children, and parents, who don't know how to behave.

PooPooInMyToes · 10/08/2012 08:26

Ooh but he whispered! Grin

Sounds no worse then what the ops dc did!

pigletmania · 10/08/2012 08:28

Yanbu at all. It's a kids viewing for the very purpose that you will expect a certain amount of low level noise, it goes with the territory I am afraid. What are you to do if you have older dc and haven't got anyone to look after the others, leave them at hon Hmm. The ops children were not doing anything wrong, just fixity, they were not screaming or shouting or talking, op said that she would have taken them out if they had. If you want a silent cinema with no noise dont go to a kids viewing fgs

PooPooInMyToes · 10/08/2012 08:28

No that's not the only reason, the screenings the op is refering to are aimed at young children. THAT'S why its cheap.

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