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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that the person who took a baby to the cinema is very selfish and inconsiderate

56 replies

ProletarianMum · 04/08/2015 20:33

Went to Cinema today to a 12A movie and a couple took their baby along. It cried reputedly through the film.

Aibu to think this is selfish, unexceptable and inconsiderate.

OP posts:
Original poster
ProletarianMum · 04/08/2015 21:06

It certainly was not a baby screening.

OP posts:
ActiviaYoghurt · 04/08/2015 21:10

I don't get this and had never heard of people taking babies to the cinema until the cinema shooting during the Batman film in the US. Small babies and toddlers were there, I was stunned. Why would you take a baby to an adult film at the cinema. Really don't understand it

HippyChickMama · 04/08/2015 21:11

When dd (dc2) was tiny I would take ds to the cinema and take dd in the sling, she was a sleeper though and if she had started crying I'd have left.

CultureSucksDownWords · 04/08/2015 21:19

I guess they're hoping the baby might sleep/feed throughout in which case most people wouldn't even notice the baby. I would think it reasonable to leave though if the baby is unsettled, as the other paying customers shouldn't have to put up with it.

SweetCharityBeginsAtHome · 04/08/2015 21:22

You can (or used to be able to) work around the licensing rules for Watch With Baby if the babies are under 1 year old and unlikely to be depraved or corrupted, and the parents are all member of a club - it's the fact that it's on a members only basis that gave them the get out clause.

iisme · 04/08/2015 21:24

I used to take mine quite often when they were babies. I'd time it around their nap and feed them if they woke. I don't see any problem with that. Most cinemas around us allowed it. But I would have left instantly they made any noise. I only did it because they were both predictable nappers and I was prepared to gamble the cost of my cinema ticket that they wouldn't wake up. After about 3 months they got too restless to do it. But staying in the screen when your baby is not being quiet, let alone crying, is totally out of order.

As for people not understanding why anyone would do this - um ... it's really not that hard to understand, surely? You like to watch films, you don't get the chance to go out on your own ever, it's more fun to be in the cinema watching something you want to see than stuck at home. What's hard to understand.

And all the cinemas round me would enforce age limits for babies as much as anyone else. So up to 12a was ok, but you couldn't get into a 15 or 18 with a baby. I guess the legistlation doesn't allow for exceptions.

iisme · 04/08/2015 21:25

Oops, sorry, cross-post re babies getting into adult films. Maybe they thought my babies looked likely to be corrupted!

SweetCharityBeginsAtHome · 04/08/2015 21:35

The exceptions were only for specific Watch With Baby screenings, you'd still be chucked out of a normal 15 movie with a 6 week old.

itsmeitscathy · 04/08/2015 21:56

poor kid!

ActiviaYoghurt · 04/08/2015 22:23

I am in the UK and I don't know anyone that takes their babies to a normal showing of a film at the Cinema. In the South East.

lloydlf33 · 04/08/2015 22:32

I think it's perfectly fine that they took the baby to the cinema but it's totally BU by not leaving when baby was crying. My baby was 2 weeks old when he first went to the cinema. He's baby number 5 so he goes where the others go. He fed and then slept through the entire film. He's 7 month now and has been numerous times. He's never been an issue but should be start making a fuss I would obviously leave.

youareallbonkers · 04/08/2015 22:47

Reputedly??

Madeyemoodysmum · 04/08/2015 23:01

I detest 12a certificate. Had too many films ruined by toddlers that are far too young to be there. Worst thing that happened in cinemas!
Now I only go to evening showings.

itsonlysubterfuge · 04/08/2015 23:08

Maybe they thought their baby would be okay? Maybe the baby rarely cries or would be asleep?

Maybe they were embarrassed and that is why they left half way through?

I remember having a young baby cry at awkward times and you do that sort of please stop crying, it's okay, and you are torn in half, do you stay and just try to calm the baby down or walk away compose baby and yourself, then come back.

Maybe the cinema was a rare/expensive treat for them and so they wanted to be able to watch the movie and not miss out and so were reluctant to leave even though the baby started crying.

You just don't know their circumstances.

I do not think it's selfish to bring a baby or child to the cinema. I do think it's unfair on other people to inflict a crying baby when you are trying to listen to the movie.

Enkopkaffetak · 04/08/2015 23:09

I took dd2 ds and dd3 to the cinema as babies in a sling they slept through all the screenings.

Had they ever made a sound I would have gone out.

I don't think taking baby to the cinema is the problem more them not leaving when the baby was not settling.

GarminGirl · 04/08/2015 23:42

Jeez how selfish!

IHavemyownLighthouseyouknow · 05/08/2015 00:49

The baby cried reputedly - did you not witness this yourself then? Wink

Anyway, sorry....but who on earth takes a baby to the cinema anyway? I wouldn't take my 4 yr old in case I pissed off anyone else let alone a younger child.

NobodyLivesHere · 05/08/2015 02:33

I used to take my baby all the time because she had older siblings and babysitters are like hens teeth in my world. The vast majority of the time she slept/fed her way through the film. If she cried I took her out.

happymummyone · 05/08/2015 11:27

Some cinemas have baby screenings where it is slightly less dark, slightly less noisy and full of under twos! Perfect! Otherwise wait until your child can sit through a film quietly with maximum of 1 toilet break for the entire duration. I practiced with my DD at home to see if she could sit through a film and she was 4 before she could. It's annoying enough for adults to make noise through a film, no one should be subjected to crying baby in the cinema.

Needaninsight · 05/08/2015 11:29

Totally unreasonable of them.

I wouldn't dream of taking a baby (or a toddler for that matter) to the cinema.

chemenger · 05/08/2015 11:32

My mother said she regularly took my brother to the cinema in the afternoon when he was a baby and he slept through the films. He's 59 now, so it is not a new thing.

HawkEyeTheNoo · 05/08/2015 11:38

That's awful Hmm going to the cinema is such a treat for us as it's sooooo expensive. We can only goa couple of times a year so you are NBU, I'd be so annoyed about this that I would have demanded my money back! What very inconsiderate people!! Hmm

BlisterFace · 05/08/2015 12:16

Definitely NBU. Baby should have been removed immediately when it cried.
I do worry that this sort of thing is becoming more socially acceptable. Where I live (not inUK), cultural differences mean it is fine to answer your phone and chat in the cinema. The problem is that they turn the volume up uncomfortably loud to drown out the antisocial feckers who do this and for those of us with normal hearing and concentration spans, cinema becomes an ear-melting ordeal. (I literally screamed at the beginning of Fury because it was loud - I thought war had broken out! DH pissed himself laughing )

chemenger · 05/08/2015 12:41

I suspect that my brother was probably drugged with gripe water to ensure he stayed asleep (those were the days, different times Grin). I hasten to add that I never did this and I would be annoyed by a crying baby in the cinema, but I am annoyed by the unwrapping of sweets in the cinema.

MaidOfStars · 05/08/2015 12:55

you are torn in half, do you stay and just try to calm the baby down or walk away compose baby and yourself, then come back

The second one.