So, Chris, Emma and I went to see Sherlock Holmes on Saturday. First of all, just from the previews, it was obvious this movie was dark and intense and probably way too much for anyone under the age of 10.
This, however, did not stop one woman from bringing her infant along for the show. Yes, an infant. Under the age of 1 year. The baby was probably too young to know what was going on, but I’m sure she didn’t miss the energy and darkness coming from the sounds and sights of the movie.
Thoughtfully, the mother sat at the end of a row close to the front in case she needed to leave quickly. That was nice of her. But she didn’t leave quickly when the time came. The baby didn’t cry once. She was very well-behaved. Nope. No crying. Just cooing. Lots of cooing.
We sat in the middle of the very last row of the theater and the baby could have been sitting next to us, the acoustics in the theater were that good. And yet, the woman sat there for several minutes at a time while her infant cooed away while a pretty much full theater of people tried to concentrate on the movie we’d paid $9 apiece to see.
Now, under normal circumstances, a cooing baby is downright sweet. And, as a mother myself, even a crying baby in most situations doesn’t bother me in the slightest. But this was a movie. A movie for adults.
I was a teen mom. I didn’t have a lot of money for a lot of years. That meant babysitters were not in the budget for nights of fun. I hired them only if I had a class or had to work. I’m not even certain I saw a movie in a theater for a good five years, at least.
“Why?” you ask.
Because it’s rude. Find a babysitter or wait for the DVD.
Of course, a cooing baby isn’t quite as bad as the woman sitting next to Chris during a movie once who answered her cell phone no fewer than three times and had entire conversations each time. Or the students sitting next to my friend Jeannie during The Vagina Monologues at Florida State University last year who texted all the way through the production.
I agree. Parents of infants should not bring them to movies for adults. I have to say, though, that one child is better than a theater full of them, which is what you get when you go to the movies on a military installation. Regardless of what you pay for a ticket, it’s still irritating to have to try and concentrate to block out not only screaming babies, but smaller children that get bored and have tantrums.
Oh, I can only imagine! I would think there would be plenty of teenagers running around base needing babysitting jobs.
I feel for you and agree!
I’m always surprised at what parents will bring their kids too!
I would NEVER bring a baby to the movies…I think that’s so rude…movie tickets are so expensive these days!
If it was a Disney movie or something, I would just suck it up. But it was Sherlock Holmes! oy.
I would have never brought my son to the movies when he was an infant. He was fussy and would have disrupted the whole theater!
…stopping by from SITS…
Steph @ Stick It in the Fridge
pleasestickitinthefridge.blogspot.com
Yeah I agree with you!! I never brought my kids to the theater when they were babies and actually come to think of it, I still won’t bring my 2-yr old twins to the movie theater with me!!
Oh and the person constantly answering their cell phone is SOOOO annoying. There’s always at least one in the crowd, isn’t there?
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That drives me crazy! But I will only deal with it so long, then I either complain to management. Or if the people are close enough to me, I ask them to take care of the situation. I agree with you, movies are not for babies…at least not movies that are not cartoons, and rated G! It’s just so rude to the patrons that want an adult movie, with an adult night out. And it’s doubly wrong ( IMHO) to expose a baby to the loud frightening sounds, and language in a movie meant for grown ups.
Arrgh. Totally annoying.
Exactly!
But there were too many people in the theater for me to quietly leave. It wasn’t constantly, either. It would start and stop, but it was enough to be really annoying.
Our neighbors had two little boys and didn’t have a lot of options for sitters, so they would go to movies on Wednesday nights because no one was there.
Ironically, I was always too worried about Julia’s hearing to take her to a movie as an infant. So loud for little ears! They have those “baby day” movies around here when you’re encouraged to take your infant with you. Some moms I know really enjoy that, but I’m with you – babysitter or DVD – take your pick!
OK, so I’m going to be the odd man out here. I actually did take Bella to the movies when she was a baby. When I was on maternity leave and really lonely/bored I took her to see “13 Going On 30.” She sat in the movie either nursing or completely zoned out on the colors (very bright movie w/ colorful clothing). She didn’t make a peep (but I was also the only one in the theater too). A few weeks later, I took her to see “Mean Girls” and it was the same effect. We had success all but once. The attempt at taking her to see “Farenheit 9-11″ failed miserably and I spent almost the entire movie in the lobby with her.
So in that first year, I either took her to movies because she seemed to like them and would be entranced by them (also I always went at off times and preferably to the theater that was $1.50 at the time) or because we were new and overprotective parents who were too worried to leave her with a babysitter.
But, see, those are not dark and scary-type movies, and she was QUIET! That’s the issue more than anything.
Sherlock Holmes was a very dark movie, and the baby wasn’t quiet. She wasn’t crying, but the cooing was incredibly distracting and the mother didn’t take her out until it had been going on for several minutes.