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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

totally ready to be flamed on this but if you take a toddler/baby to a school performance -take them out if they start carrying on!

90 replies

sausagesandwich34 · 20/12/2012 20:04

the DCs and their friends have worked really hard practising for the christmas play and it was spoilt for them by inconsiderate people staying in the hall while their little ones cried, shouted, ran about etc etc

I have no issue with baby noises that are not crying but when they start shouting, having a tantrum, really tired crying please take them out

yes it's also anoying for audience but it's the dcs who get distracted from their lines or the little ones on stage for the first time who see children not much younger than they are crying, that I get upset for

and yes I do have more than one child and I have taken the younger one out to calm down before now

OP posts:
FutTheShuckUp · 20/12/2012 20:06

YADNBU, really makes my shit itch this does

CabbageLeaves · 20/12/2012 20:07

Agree totally.

kinkyfuckery · 20/12/2012 20:07

No flaming from here, YANBU

SkiBumMum · 20/12/2012 20:08

Our PTA does a crèche. Woe betide you if you don't use it and baby / child plays up - even newborns!

UnexpectedItemInShaggingArea · 20/12/2012 20:08

Interested to see reactions to this one. DDs play was yesterday and the HT made this request before it started, I was surprised as it seemed a little unfriendly but given the kids on stage were only aged 3-5 I think it was probably the right thing to do.

So, YANBU.

freddiefrog · 20/12/2012 20:10

YANBU!

Our school does 2 performances, 1 during the day with a crèche and 1 in the evening that is supposed to be adult only, but school say if you really can't get a baby sitter please be considerate and remove and noisy/crying children.

At the adult performance yesterday I could hardly hear any of it with all the noise, and the worst of it wasn't babies/small toddlers, but older pre-schoolers allowed to shout and run around.

Sirzy · 20/12/2012 20:10

I agree.

I was at DS first play today (he is only 3) and one baby started crying just as the children came in so was taken out until calm and then they came back in again.

poachedeggs · 20/12/2012 20:11

Our school lays on a creche with lovely TAs and lots of fun toys borrowed from the preschool. No excuses, but there were still yelling toddlers through the performance and only 5 children in the creche!

pleasestopcarolling · 20/12/2012 20:11

We had one parent who insisted in keeping her screaming child in the place in spite of drowning out the whole cast until his sister appeared - he drowned her out too , then they left - everyone gave their best Paddington stares as they did so very disruptively without even an apology.

KindleMum · 20/12/2012 20:12

Completely agree with you. I arranged a babysitting swap with another mum for DS's first nativity as neither of us wanted to take babies and end up spending half the performance in the hall.

BridgetBidet · 20/12/2012 20:13

YADNBU at all. Totally right, I would take my baby out and there certainly shouldn't be any running around and misbehaving from older children.

everlong · 20/12/2012 20:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VelvetSpoon · 20/12/2012 20:14

YANBU in the slightest.

This shit drives me mad. Every sodding year DS1 and 2's plays were spoilt by some stupid smug parents and their insufferably noisy children.

It is not rocket science. If you have to take a baby/small child, you sit either near the back or in an aisle seat and if they cry/scream/tantrum then you bloody well take them out.

DS2's leavers show this summer was completely ruined by the ignorant fuckers who let their annoying child shout out throughout half of it, and who deliberately ignored everyone around them asking them to take said child outside.

BridgetBidet · 20/12/2012 20:14

People do this at my local mass, they let their kids walk up and down the aisle pretending to be mummies or chase each other round squealing during the actual mass itself which only lasts 10 mins (they are in Sunday school the rest of the time). I really despair people let their children behave like that.

NilentSight · 20/12/2012 20:14

We had this today as well Sad Why on why do parents with small kids also insist on sitting in the back rows, furthest away from the doors ? I suspect that after the general chaos today, which included one toddler trying to climb onstage during a poem by one of the classes, next time the head WILL make an announcement - the teachers looked fit to burst today and it was so unfair on the kids.

jewelledsky · 20/12/2012 20:16

YADNBU. Children and teachers work extremely hard on Christmas plays etc. It takes a lot for some children to read their lines out in front of so many people. It makes me very cross when their little voices are drowned out by screaming babies/crying toddlers - especially when parents have been asked politely to remove them if they start. This happened in my hall today. I know they can't help it but the thing that makes me cross is that many parents don't remove them and then look around smiling as if to say 'Isn't s/he cute?'. No. Your screaming child is not cute. S/he is a pain in the neck. And laughing about it is disrespectful to the small children - and teachers - who have spent weeks rehearsing. Please remove them from my KS1 play which we have worked so hard on. Rant over. Merry Christmas!

PiccadillyCervix · 20/12/2012 20:17

yanbu

YourHandInMyHand · 20/12/2012 20:20

YANBU!

DioneTheDiabolist · 20/12/2012 20:20

YADNBU.

I have been the mum with the crying baby/tantrum throwing toddler on occassion and I have left the hall. I wasn't able to enjoy the show, but I didn't have to ruin everyone else's enjoyment. I don't really understand why anyone in this situation would stay.

shuffleballchange · 20/12/2012 20:24

Last year one mum let her preschooler run up to her sister who was performing, she made no attempt to stop her or make her sit down. Luckily the headmistress ushered mum and child out of the fire exit! I always whisk dc2 out straightaway at the first sign of a disruption. It's so rude and disrespectful to the children and teachers who have spent weeks practising.

Yawnarama · 20/12/2012 20:24

I spent an hour long performance this week sitting behind a 3 year old girl who stood on her chair for the whole time and kept saying "I need a poo" very loudly to her mother, who did nothing and just let her shout louder and louder! Eventually the head suggested she took the little girl to the loo, which she did, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

YANBU

hippoherostandinghere · 20/12/2012 20:24

YANBU this is the reason why I left DD with SIL while I went to see DS. She for certain would have been the one screaming throughout the whole thing, or trting to join DS on stage. I didn't consider bringing her for one minute.

AnyoneforTurps · 20/12/2012 20:28

YADNBU and can I suggest that the same applies to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve? I love carol and Christmas Day services with excited children - it's part of the fun and the spirit of Christmas. But surely I should be able to go to a church service at midnight and hear the choir without it being drowned out by a screaming baby, as happened last year? The parents could easily have taken the babe to a part of the cathedral not being used for the service - no need to go outside in the cold. Instead they sat there and let the screaming ruin everyone else's service.

CabbageLeaves · 20/12/2012 20:31

Our head is very firm scary, controlling about this. One year a mother turned around and told her to fuck off Lovely at a kids play Xmas Shock

NotGoodNotBad · 20/12/2012 20:49

Totally agree. And the same with the toddlers banging noisy toys incessantly!