Bold Kids & Cinemas

Siogfinsceal

Accidentally posted this as a reply to a thread yesterday instead of a thread on its own - doh was wonderign where it went -

headed up to vue in liffey val yesterday with the boyf. Bought my tickets for superman and went in to get seats. Discovered that my seat didnt exist (actually didnt exist there was a gaping hole where this seat once was). Once the usher saw what had happened he was lovely and gave us new seats. Behind us were 2 women with at least 3 kids at the age of 2-3. These kids kicked our chairs, cried, talked at the tops o ftheir voices constantly throughout the whole thing killing any chance we had of enjoying it. The women occasional muttered 'ah now stop kicking the ladies chair' but didnt do anything about her kids behaviour. If it had been a 'G' film I would have thought fair enough but it was 12PG. Who brings a 2 yr old to a film anyway? and if so why not have the decency to take the kids home if they will not behave and are not happy instead of ruining everyone elses evening

brown*eyed*girl

Thats a bit mad bringing kids that young to a 12PG film, absolutely crazy imo. I have a 3 well he will be 4 in September and I'm contemplating bringing him to see Cars or Over The Hedge because I don't know if he'll behave for the whole film and wouldn't want to ruin it for others. I've decided to wait until its been out a while so won't be too packed so at least I can make a quick exit if he gets bored or talks too much. Being a Mam myself its a pet hate of mine when parents continuously let their kids misbehave in public. I've been known to walk out of a supermarket if my son has a tantrum.

Dragan

Just tell her to sort the kids out or your will put them back where they came from!!!:eek:

In all seriousness, while i understand that parents have a hard time of it, you need to be able to control your kids if your going to be bringing them places, especially the cinema.

Simple as.

Ruu_Old

Some parents couldn't be bothered whether their kids are causing trouble or bugging anyone else, its like they don't care anymore and do little to correct their kids.

Adam

Next time complain. That's what the staff are there for.

Da Bounca

You just turn around and tell the woman to shut her children up. If she is incapable of that, tell her to please leave. Use angry words if need be.

Ruu_Old

Da Bounca wrote:

You just turn around and tell the woman to shut her children up. If she is incapable of that, tell her to please leave. Use angry words if need be.

Then you might have a big angry husband to deal with ready to "knock yore bleedin' head off", be careful with that one.

Da Bounca

If the angry husband was there, the kids would not be screaming. Anways, angry husbands are easily dealt with

Rb

Ruu wrote:

Then you might have a big angry husband to deal with ready to "knock yore bleedin' head off", be careful with that one.

Especially if you're in Liffey Valley!

There should be staff around to deal with these kind of things, so if it happens in future just tell them. You should of asked for a refund though, that whole thing is ridiculous.

padi89

In some situations though your fecked.Once i was stuck beside a severly handicapped child and his mother.The kid basically groaned and roared the whole way through the movie from start to finish but i just couldnt bring myself to say anything:o .Everyone around me was pretty pi55ed off too but what can you do in those situations without looking a prick.I ended up going to a late show the following week.

Ruu_Old

rb_ie wrote:

Especially if you're in Liffey Valley!

There should be staff around to deal with these kind of things, so if it happens in future just tell them. You should of asked for a refund though, that whole thing is ridiculous.

Speaking from experience there, rb? I can run fairly fast so thats good I guess. Don't think I've ever come across anything major but a few loud kids that was sorted by someone else promptly going for a manager who tossed them out.

fade_to_grey

fade_to_grey wrote:

Next time complain. That's what the staff are there for.

Unfortunately in these circumstances it can be a bit tough. You have to be careful what you say to the parents, as any attempt at disciplining them or the kids could lead the person into troubled water. It's stupid, I know, but it happens.

Silverfish

padi89 wrote:

In some situations though your fecked.Once i was stuck beside a severly handicapped child and his mother.The kid basically groaned and roared the whole way through the movie from start to finish but i just couldnt bring myself to say anything:o .Everyone around me was pretty pi55ed off too but what can you do in those situations without looking a prick.I ended up going to a late show the following week.

There's an excuse for that particular child. Its regular children who haven't been taught any manners and have no idea how to behave in public that bother me, because where do you think they learned it from? Their despicable parents.

When I was younger, if you didn't behave, you better be damn sorry by the time you were dragged out to the car. After the first few times you started to see the pattern, and you didn't do it again. Or you got The Look.

My kids will fear The Look.

Nightwish

A similar thing happened me when myself and my bf went to see the Phantom of the Opera. There were kids there who were bored to tears and dragged there by their parents. They talked and threw popcorn throughout the first half of the movie. My bf stood up and said to the parents something to the effect of "If you dont put some manners on them, I will" and they shut up then.

To the OP, you should have gone out to the lobby and told a member of staff what happened. What kind of parent brings a toddler to the cinema anyway.

Kernel

I haven't read up on the Parenting forum much, but pepper spray maybe?

mikedragon32

Best course of action is:

1) Ask parent to control kids
2) If that doesn't work complain to staff who should remove the offending parties.
3) Ask for a manager, complain that you have failed to enjoy the movie due to unruly kids and missed part of it because you've had to complain. Ask for a refund or comps for another viewing/movie.

This actually works. A friend complained when someone was using a mobile phone during a movie (which was terrible, she told me) and got comps which she used to see something else.

mikedragon32

IIRC, Dundrum sometimes shows movies with PG ratings for adult only viewings. Very handy when you want to see a Harry Potter movie or similar.

Belle_Morte

Adult only viewings are a great idea! That would stop me wanting to strangle the noisy little bastards. The pepper spray suggestion is also not without its merits.

padi89

Silverfish wrote:

There's an excuse for that particular child. Its regular children who haven't been taught any manners and have no idea how to behave in public that bother me, because where do you think they learned it from? Their despicable parents.

When I was younger, if you didn't behave, you better be damn sorry by the time you were dragged out to the car. After the first few times you started to see the pattern, and you didn't do it again. Or you got The Look.

My kids will fear The Look.

Dont get me wrong i know there is an excuse for the kid.However,im trying to word this carefully so as not to offend, if you are going to bring someone to the cinema that is going to make noise all the way through then you shouldnt be bringing that individual to the cinema.Personally i wouldnt bring a young child that is likely to cry,scream etc because i would feel its completly unfair on those around me that have paid in to sit and relax to a movie in quiet.

bounty_hunter

You must have the absolute patience of a saint to have put up with that.
I would have told the little bastards to stop kicking my chair at the very least.
Directly to them, not their parents. Any child with a notion of common sense would be terrified by an angry stranger giving them "The Look".

monkeyfudge

Argh... I had a kid next to me at Superman last week and whenever Superman wasn't on screen and sometimes oddly enough when he was all you'd hear was "Where's Superman, mammy? Where's Superman, mammy?" and the top of his little f*cking voice!!!!

And I'd paid extra for the UCI's fancy new deluxe seats... They really shouldn't allow children into those seats, then they'd actually be worth the extra few quid.

I've been bringing my nephew to the cinema almost every week since he was very young, and there's no way I'd allow him to behave in such a disrespectful manner.

bounty_hunter

monkeyfudge wrote:

Argh... I had a kid next to me at Superman last week and whenever Superman wasn't on screen and sometimes oddly enough when he was all you'd hear was "Where's Superman, mammy? Where's Superman, mammy?" and the top of his little f*cking voice!!!!

And I'd paid extra for the UCI's fancy new deluxe seats... They really shouldn't allow children into those seats, then they'd actually be worth the extra few quid.

I've been bringing my nephew to the cinema almost every week since he was very young, and there's no way I'd allow him to behave in such a disrespectful manner.

Were you in Dundalk IMC by any chance? The exact same thing happened to me last week.
Edit: Nevermind, just read the rest of the post

monkeyfudge

bounty_hunter wrote:

Were you in Dundalk IMC by any chance? The exact same thing happened to me last week.

Ha... no... I was in the Coolock UCI.

It's probably common enough, as I didn't mention there was another kid sitting behind be who was doing almost exactly the same thing... between them they had a whole Dolby Surround Sound thing going on.

Silverfish

padi89 wrote:

Dont get me wrong i know there is an excuse for the kid.However,im trying to word this carefully so as not to offend, if you are going to bring someone to the cinema that is going to make noise all the way through then you shouldnt be bringing that individual to the cinema.Personally i wouldnt bring a young child that is likely to cry,scream etc because i would feel its completly unfair on those around me that have paid in to sit and relax to a movie in quiet.

That's fair enough, and totally understandable. But I'm sure the parent of that child wants to do right by their child, and unfortunately its not like she/he can 'put manners on them' or force them to be quiet. Parents of normal children have that option, parents of handicapped children do not.

bounty_hunter

monkeyfudge wrote:

Ha... no... I was in the Coolock UCI.

It's probably common enough, as I didn't mention there was another kid sitting behind be who was doing almost exactly the same thing... between them they had a whole Dolby Surround Sound thing going on.

Aye, missed my edit I'm assuming.

This particular kid was being allowed to clamber up and down the aisle as well as talk, I really had to restrain myself. Nobody else seemed overly bothered though and it wasn't quite bad enough to start an argument over so I decided not to say anything just to avoid any hassle.

Kernel

Silverfish wrote:

Parents of normal children have that option, parents of handicapped children do not.

Then drug them. Jesus.
:rolleyes:

Silverfish

Kernel wrote:

Then drug them. Jesus.
:rolleyes:

That's what your mum did, yeah?

monkeyfudge

When I went to see Spider-man 2 I had a kid with down syndrome sitting next to me... he really wasn't any trouble but it was really funny because when ever Spider-man was swinging through the city the kid would mimic the whole web shooting action while swinging his arms backwards and forwards... oh man... it was very funny.

irlrobins

mikedragon32 wrote:

2) If that doesn't work complain to staff who should remove the offending parties.
3) Ask for a manager, complain that you have failed to enjoy the movie due to unruly kids and missed part of it because you've had to complain. Ask for a refund or comps for another viewing/movie.

This actually works.

It does. Was at a film (15s rating) in Stillorgan and didn't enjoy it as bunch of kids about 12-13 were in our row and kept talking and coming in and out during the movie. Seat aisles are quite narrow so everyone had to stand up each time this happened.

Anyway I emailed the cinema when I got home. And in fairness to the manager, instead of just emailing me back, he went to the trouble of looking up my phone from my online booking account and rang me to apolgise. Also gave free tickets for any film I wanted to see and said that they'd be valid even when free list was suspended.

So kudos to Ormonde in Stillorgan. Not often you get customer service like that.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

The Song Thrush

This is loosely related, but it just reminded me of one time when me and a friend went to see a scary movie in the cinema. There were three 8 year old girls in front of us, and fifteen minutes into the movie, one of them says in a worried voice "This isn't Garfield!" and they all ran out of the screen. Hilarity ensued.

Our man in Havana

Your basic problem is that the film is rated 12A or 15A which means that younger children may attend with an adult over the age of 18. So there is nothing legally wrong with someone bringing 2 and 3 year olds to a film. Morally and ethically wrong yes but not legally.

The only 2 catagories that are children free are 16 and 18.

justfortherecor

Just employ the one-arm-chauffeur-reach-around method to give them a good slap while continuing to enjoy the film.

Jazzy

Da Bounca wrote:

You just turn around and tell the woman to shut her children up. If she is incapable of that, tell her to please leave. Use angry words if need be.

very true. but dont do what da bounca would normally do and order a pizza in between...

spurious

You are all doomed for daring to criticise the little demi-gods that are children.

Excited kids at a kids' film, that's to be expected and par for the course if you go to a 12PG film, but for little wretches who kick seats there is no excuse. These are the same sort scream and roar on airplanes.

I'm sorry, I didn't make you have your brats, if you are too mean to get a babysitter to mind them, or too stupid to realise you've taken them to an inappropriate film, or so ignorant to not care that they are disturbing other people, the least you can do is make sure the little beasts behave themselves, or go to a children and parents show where you can all scream together and ruin it for everyone.

I do not take my pissy little old incontinent dog to the cinema with me because I have some respect for the other cinema goers, the same thing should apply for screaming out of control brats.

DBK

Happened to me when my girlfriend forced me to go see Scary Movie. It was during the day and during the week so the cinema was empty. A bunch of schoolkids came in and they could seat anywhere in the whole cinema but chose to sit in front of us and then started throwing popcorn and one of them was talking on his phone. Apparently I lost the plot and threatened them. I don't remember it as I was having mental problems at the time and was suffering one of my rage fits (the reason my girlfriend brought me to the flick in the first place). They quickly left. Man, I hate Scary Movie.

Ph3n0m

Nightwish wrote:

A similar thing happened me when myself and my bf went to see the Phantom of the Opera. There were kids there who were bored to tears and dragged there by their parents. They talked and threw popcorn throughout the first half of the movie. My bf stood up and said to the parents something to the effect of "If you dont put some manners on them, I will" and they shut up then.

To the OP, you should have gone out to the lobby and told a member of staff what happened. What kind of parent brings a toddler to the cinema anyway.

I say something similiar when it happens - and it only ever seems to happen in Vue and always to my little girl - she always seems to get the brat behind her who keeps kicking her seat.

Its also a reason I now insist on sitting in the very back row of any cinema - anywhere else just raises the possibility of me going through the roof if anyone cheeses me off

Just dont start me on people with mobile phones

SteamTrean

Siogfinsceal wrote:

Accidentally posted this as a reply to a thread yesterday instead of a thread on its own - doh was wonderign where it went -

headed up to vue in liffey val yesterday with the boyf. Bought my tickets for superman and went in to get seats. Discovered that my seat didnt exist (actually didnt exist there was a gaping hole where this seat once was). Once the usher saw what had happened he was lovely and gave us new seats. Behind us were 2 women with at least 3 kids at the age of 2-3. These kids kicked our chairs, cried, talked at the tops o ftheir voices constantly throughout the whole thing killing any chance we had of enjoying it. The women occasional muttered 'ah now stop kicking the ladies chair' but didnt do anything about her kids behaviour. If it had been a 'G' film I would have thought fair enough but it was 12PG. Who brings a 2 yr old to a film anyway? and if so why not have the decency to take the kids home if they will not behave and are not happy instead of ruining everyone elses evening

Couldn't agree more. Very poor parenting. Ignorance is rife in cinemas no doubt about it. You've just paid a tenner in to see a flick, you shouldn't be subjected to that torture. When that happens to me, often it's just teenagers laughing during the film or putting their feet up.. I get a rush of anxiety, it's almost a pain in my stomach. The cinema should be held accountable for their patron's behaviour.

I propose a points system. or maybe black card - yellow card - red card.. Then your out for a year. When I was at college in Letterkenny it was terrible, especially on friday nights. Livin in Dundrum now and it's not nearly as bad.. It should be stamped out completely.

iremex

ppl with mobile phones and their NEED to have to look at it every 5mins to see if they got a message??? nothing more annoying in a dark cinema..

went to liffey valley a few months back with some mates and had the luck to sit behind a row of 7 10-15year olds who acted the b****x the whole way through the first half. i asked them nicely and then 5mins later not so nicely to keep it down. my requests landed on deaf ears so i went out and got the security guy (who looked like the big guy in the long mile) to remove them..

^CwAzY^

uci in blanch is always grand

raheny red

Siogfinsceal wrote:

headed up to vue in liffey val yesterday with the boyf. Bought my tickets for superman and went in to get seats. Discovered that my seat didnt exist (actually didnt exist there was a gaping hole where this seat once was). Once the usher saw what had happened he was lovely and gave us new seats. Behind us were 2 women with at least 3 kids at the age of 2-3. These kids kicked our chairs, cried, talked at the tops o ftheir voices constantly throughout the whole thing killing any chance we had of enjoying it. The women occasional muttered 'ah now stop kicking the ladies chair' but didnt do anything about her kids behaviour. If it had been a 'G' film I would have thought fair enough but it was 12PG. Who brings a 2 yr old to a film anyway? and if so why not have the decency to take the kids home if they will not behave and are not happy instead of ruining everyone elses evening

No wonder you are annoyed :rolleyes: scabby boyfriend

NADA

Anyone ever come across two teengaers having a 200 min long snog in the Cinema? I particualrly see it in Parnell street and the cinema in Santry.

layke

Nightwish's better half did it propper. Make an absolute fool out of the parent and your problems dissapear.

If not i'd get the management involved. Once or twice i've had skanger teenagers in UCI cinema, throwing popcorn and have had to inform management who promptly removed them. Was satisfying to say the least.

Nada, next time that happens grab your cheek and make the fap* fap* fap* noise. When they stop and turn arround just look at them with a grin and say "Please, continue". Grunting is also optional.

deisemum

It's not the childrens fault, it's the parents. The thing is it can be avoided. Most cinemas have a cineclub on Saturday and Sunday mornings that cater for those with children. The film may be out a few weeks before it's available in the cineclubs and it's cheaper as well.

Whenever it's a film that children want to watch most of them are well behaved and sit quietly watching it but there are always the more "vocal" ones who's parents let them do what they like.

Mobile phones and those rummaging in a bag of sweets annoy me when I'm trying to watch a film

Siogfinsceal

I did look over the chair and give them a look and made a few commenst but didnt go any further than that as these women looked like the type you dont cross if you know what I mean!
The only reason I didnt go and complain was because I didnt want to go making more interruptions myself and also because I blame liffey valley for allowing children this age in!- I wrote a strongly worded email to vue yesterday but have yet to recieve a reply even though one was promised within 24 hours.

Ruu_Old

iremex wrote:

ppl with mobile phones and their NEED to have to look at it every 5mins to see if they got a message??? nothing more annoying in a dark cinema..

went to liffey valley a few months back with some mates and had the luck to sit behind a row of 7 10-15year olds who acted the b****x the whole way through the first half. i asked them nicely and then 5mins later not so nicely to keep it down. my requests landed on deaf ears so i went out and got the security guy (who looked like the big guy in the long mile) to remove them..

Will you ever turn off your phone? I can't see the film with that bright screen of yours!

Yes people with mobile phones on (whether the need it for emergencies or not) need to be thumped. 99% of people I have seen have been teenagers, normally in a gang of 5-10 people and really couldn't be bothered looking at the film. I think they just went in there to have a chat or something.

dbnavan

I have worked in a cinema, have no problem throwing out loud kids or teens, one warning is all you get

Silverfish wrote:

That's fair enough, and totally understandable. But I'm sure the parent of that child wants to do right by their child, and unfortunately its not like she/he can 'put manners on them' or force them to be quiet. Parents of normal children have that option, parents of handicapped children do not.

I am disabled and I am 'normal', and it never stopped me getting a clout if I misbehaved.

Belle_Morte wrote:

Adult only viewings are a great idea! That would stop me wanting to strangle the noisy little bastards. The pepper spray suggestion is also not without its merits.

Would you have to think like an adult to get into these shows to??

Siogfinsceal wrote:

Who brings a 2 yr old to a film anyway?

I can go one better, I went to see the wind that shakes the barley last week and there was a woman pacing the cinema with a baby, no more the 3/4 months old, to stop it crying

SteamTrean

Ruu wrote:

Will you ever turn off your phone? I can't see the film with that bright screen of yours!

Yes people with mobile phones on (whether the need it for emergencies or not) need to be thumped. 99% of people I have seen have been teenagers, normally in a gang of 5-10 people and really couldn't be bothered looking at the film. I think they just went in there to have a chat or something.

The Ba5tard5!!!!

Ruu_Old

SteamTrean wrote:

The Ba5tard5!!!!

Too right! I wonder how some people can yap, yap, yap for 1 1/2+ hours but they sure proved me wrong.

Belle_Morte

dbnavan wrote:

Would you have to think like an adult to get into these shows to??

You'd have to be able to behave like one certainly. If not you should be ejected, preferably by cannon.

TomCo

They should get some 'propper' bouncers, you misbehave - boot in the face.