Fairly recently my husband and I have been discussing taking
our oldest child to see a movie for the first time. Since she was fresh and new she has been a TV
kid. She loved the colour and movement
as a baby and continues to love shows and movies. She will actually sit through a movie at our
house quietly on the couch.
Now, our next child does not have this same
appreciation. She rarely stops moving
long enough to notice if the television is turned on. The only show she has any interest in is
Bubble Guppies and she can't even sit through a 20 minutes episode of that. So understandably when I mentioned we all go
to the movies together my husband gave me a sideways glance.
The truth is we both wanted to experience going to a movie with
our oldest for the first time and I thought I youngest may enjoy it as the
screen is so large and didn't want her to miss out. Even though I didn't want her to miss out on
the experience I also was prepared. I
said that if it wasn't working out I would just exit the theatre, no big
deal. I mean it's a kid's movie on a
week night, I am sure it won't be busy and should be a fairly kid friendly
place. We had discussed a plan that if
the youngest was not cooperative that I would leave with her.
We arrived at the theatre, got our seats, and sat down to
wait for the movie to begin. Our
youngest did fantastic during the previews and I began to think she might
really be into this. She seemed tired
and cuddly and I dared to think for a moment she might even just go to
sleep. However, as soon as the movie
began it was like her cue to become restless.
We were sitting in the very back row and she began getting in and out of
seat down the aisle. There was no one in
the row and probably around 15 other people in the entire theatre so it wasn't
that big of deal.
This lasted for about 5 minutes or so when she decided she
wanted to move. I picked her up and we
walked down to the very front row. In
front of us was a fairly large open area and she was running in it and dancing
to the movie. After about 10 minutes of
this behaviour she decided to go back up the stairs. I took this as my cue to exit the theatre as
she was being disruptive. I placed her
onto my side part way up the stairs.
My stride was then interrupted by an incredibly boisterous
woman informing me to get control of my child. She then proceeded to engage in an argument with me in
the middle of the theatre. She informed me that my
child was out of control, distracting her, and that she had paid to see this
movie. My response was that it was a children's
movie, she should look at the screen and that yes we all did pay to see this
movie including me and my child. I
reminded myself that my child was with me and told her to try and set an
example for hers, then exited the theatre.
I would have liked to remind that women of instances I am
sure she had in the past in which her children did not act perfectly in public
situations. I would have liked to
express that my child was acting like a child at a children's movie. And I would have liked to publically maim her
using a lot of profanity. However, I did
not do any of these things, instead I practiced self control because I did want
to set an example for my child. I take away
from this a reminder that we has parents are all in this together and to be
more understanding for other parents.
After the movie finished my husband exited the theatre with
my other child. I told him what happened
and he seemed surprised. He then told me
that he was surprised anyone said anything because he moved to the front of the
theatre part way through the movie and there was another family seated beside
him with a child that yelled and carried on through the rest of the movie.
I then smiled to myself, thankful for karma.
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