Taking Baby to the Movies
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I’m usually pretty liberal with judgments about how other people raise their kids. Lord knows there have been plenty of times when I’ve had to learn from my mistakes, and I know that sometimes moms and dads have to make decisions for their kids that some people might frown upon. If everyone parented the same, things would be awfully boring, wouldn’t they?
There is one thing that always leaves me scratching my head, though. I cannot understand how parents can take babies and young toddlers to movies that are super violent and/or gory. Just imagine being relatively new to the world, and then all of a sudden your parents haul you into a room where you’re supposed to sit quietly while a huge screen displays monsters, explosions, and all sorts of other frightening things that for all you know are completely real. Really, if you hadn’t experienced anything like this before, how would you know it wasn’t real?
The first movie my husband and I took our baby to was a romantic comedy. We went smack in the middle of the day, right around her naptime so she could lull herself to sleep while nursing on my lap. We chose a time of day when we wouldn’t disturb too many people if our baby freaked out, and we were completely ready to grab our stuff and go if it didn’t work out. Luckily she slept through the whole thing. This is in huge contrast to some other instances I’ve seen…we went and saw an epic war film (without the baby, of course) and there were some parents there who not only brought babies with them, but they also simply shushed their kids when they cried out instead of realizing that the kids were probably scared out of their minds.
I just don’t get it. The kids are frightened, the rest of the audience is annoyed, and I can’t imagine how the parents enjoy the movie to begin with while their kids are freaked out. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this one.
Science-mom says...
I completely agree that taking babies to grown-up movies should be restricted. That`s why films are rated according to age, isn`t it (6+, 10+, PG, etc.)? The question is why the movie houses allow babies in, in the first place.
I want also to add that the same restrictions should apply when watching films at home. Do you ever check the children films yours kids watch? Ice Age 2 is rated PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)and 102 Dalmatians is rated 6 years +)!