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Some people are disturbed by just the sight of a special needs child, it wasn't that long ago when those kids were relegated to basement classrooms because their existence was considered disruptive to the rest of the children.
And for all those pretending this is about common courtesy, someone YELLING at a parent during a children's movie is somehow acceptable while a child laughing (albeit strangely) is not? If the person had gone to the management and made his complaints, than the arguments about "his good money" would hold a lot more weight, but what he did was YELL in a movie. I know I would have been "disturbed" by his yelling. Should I have had him thrown out? Why was his disruption warranted, a grown man who actually knows better, and a child's not?
People do not have the right to live live's free from disruption. Living in society is messy, annoying, complicated and a whole list of positives adjectives as well. But this notion that we have some sort of right to not be bothered is ridiculous. If the person was so bothered by a child's laughing at a children's movie that they felt the need to lash out publicly they should have gotten up, gone to management and exchanged their tickets for a different time.
I went to go see pitch perfect 2 last weekend. Decidedly not a children's movie, and yet there were twenty plus 10-12 yos in the movie singing along loudly to some of the songs. It was vaguely annoying, but so what? They were kids, a necessary part of any society, that we're having fun! Even if that fun was louder than I would have liked. If it really bothered me I could have switched to another showing because there is going to be another one again soon.
So yes, people should be considerate of others, but those others should be considerate as well. Not yelling at a laughing toddler at a children's movie is just plain considerate.
There is a time and a place for everything and being in a civilized society means that there are generally acceptable behaviors and one of these in our society is that you are quiet when you go to a movie so other people may enjoy the movie for which they paid to see. Those causing a disturbance should be the ones to leave, not those that are bothered by the disturbance. To think otherwise is just kind of silly. How would you have felt if those kids were talking and being rowdy during the movie so you could not hear what was going on in the movie vs signing along with songs being sung in the movie? It's a much different scenario.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkb0714
Yes, and this was a toddler in a children's movie who had also paid to be there.
Context is everything, so if your going to a children's movie expect to hear children. Laughing, maybe even crying, but yelling at the parent is not the appropriate recourse regardless of the context.
This is a PG movie, not a "kids" movie and not an appropriate place for a 2 year old.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkb0714
Some people are disturbed by just the sight of a special needs child, it wasn't that long ago when those kids were relegated to basement classrooms because their existence was considered disruptive to the rest of the children.
And for all those pretending this is about common courtesy, someone YELLING at a parent during a children's movie is somehow acceptable while a child laughing (albeit strangely) is not? If the person had gone to the management and made his complaints, than the arguments about "his good money" would hold a lot more weight, but what he did was YELL in a movie. I know I would have been "disturbed" by his yelling. Should I have had him thrown out? Why was his disruption warranted, a grown man who actually knows better, and a child's not?
I highly doubt that the person that yelled had any idea that the child was handicapped given that movie theaters are dark and hard to see other patrons. As for the guy yelling, people have stated it probably wasn't the best way to handle it, but like you said, a child doesn't know better, thus, should not be in that situation to begin with.
Some people are disturbed by just the sight of a special needs child, it wasn't that long ago when those kids were relegated to basement classrooms because their existence was considered disruptive to the rest of the children.
And for all those pretending this is about common courtesy, someone YELLING at a parent during a children's movie is somehow acceptable while a child laughing (albeit strangely) is not? If the person had gone to the management and made his complaints, than the arguments about "his good money" would hold a lot more weight, but what he did was YELL in a movie. I know I would have been "disturbed" by his yelling. Should I have had him thrown out? Why was his disruption warranted, a grown man who actually knows better, and a child's not?
I see your point. He probably should've handled it more diplomatically. At the same time, he really shouldn't have had to say anything. I'm so sick of parents like this who think that because their child is "special" in some way that everyone else should just tolerate their disruptive behavior. I suspect the guy at the theatre was just fed up. To me, the child's condition, his age, or the movie have nothing to do with it at all.
I don't know when this idea came about that the rest of society has to accept the burden of someone else's problems. It reminds me of when my son's elementary school sent home a letter asking everyone not to pack anything with peanut-derived products in their lunches because one student in a school of 900 had a peanut allergy. What? Why should the entire student body have to accommodate his allergy?
I see your point. He probably should've handled it more diplomatically. At the same time, he really shouldn't have had to say anything. I'm so sick of parents like this who think that because their child is "special" in some way that everyone else should just tolerate their disruptive behavior. I suspect the guy at the theatre was just fed up. To me, the child's condition, his age, or the movie have nothing to do with it at all.
I don't know when this idea came about that the rest of society has to accept the burden of someone else's problems. It reminds me of when my son's elementary school sent home a letter asking everyone not to pack anything with peanut-derived products in their lunches because one student in a school of 900 had a peanut allergy. What? Why should the entire student body have to accommodate his allergy?
We are slowly becoming a nation that caters to the lowest common denominator and that is just going to crumble our society. Personal responsibility has gone by the wayside and it's everyone out for themselves. It's like schools can no longer have Halloween Parties and they have to be "Fall Festivals" because a family might object. How about the 900 other families objecting to having a "Fall Festival"....
It used to be that if your child needed something out of the ordinary, you took care of that without disrupting the lives of the other 900 children, but now it's not "fair" if that child has to sit somewhere else in the lunch room...because it's so fair that 900 other kids have to have a peanut free house....
Unless it was really that disruptive and excessively loud, I would be a lot more lenient since it's a Disney movie. Others should be too. If your kid was enjoying the movie despite Vito, just let it be.
I feel very sorry for the mom, and I disagree with those who think 20-month olds should not be brought to G-Rated Disney cartoons (or animated features) although I would hope these very young toddlers would only attend matinees.
(If this WAS a PG feature, as others have said, then I do agree that children under the age of six or so should be left at home.)
Finally, to many of the posters on this thread, I truly hope that you are not as hard-hearted as you seem to be.
Hard-hearted? Because they feel if they pay to see and hear a movie that it should happen? I would say though that it depends on the maturity and not the age across the board.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkb0714
Yes, and this was a toddler in a children's movie who had also paid to be there.
Context is everything, so if your going to a children's movie expect to hear children. Laughing, maybe even crying, but yelling at the parent is not the appropriate recourse regardless of the context.
The article stated that the child giggled through the entire movie. That is more making sounds rather than the common laughter at funny parts where everyone is laughing therefore masking the entire movie with the sound of "giggling", big difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkb0714
Some people are disturbed by just the sight of a special needs child, it wasn't that long ago when those kids were relegated to basement classrooms because their existence was considered disruptive to the rest of the children.
And for all those pretending this is about common courtesy, someone YELLING at a parent during a children's movie is somehow acceptable while a child laughing (albeit strangely) is not? If the person had gone to the management and made his complaints, than the arguments about "his good money" would hold a lot more weight, but what he did was YELL in a movie. I know I would have been "disturbed" by his yelling. Should I have had him thrown out? Why was his disruption warranted, a grown man who actually knows better, and a child's not?
I am sorry, don't even go there with the "sight of a special needs child" because that just isn't the reality anymore. I have a son who is 28 years old and has Down syndrome. We have moved and traveled across the country and have not seen issues. Many actually make a special effort to speak to our son, smile or maybe compliment him on his hat, etc. Still at age 28, our son functions at the level of a pre-schooler but I can assure you that he will not be disturbing anyone and never has. We exercise personal responsibility. We don't take him into situations where he would have issues and, frankly, we don't go into those situations either.
We don't use our son's disability to ask for special treatment and we, and other good parents, don't ask either. Some may have to ask for special accommodation but it should never be special treatment as in taking away from everyone else. Parents that do that are resented by everyone and just make it harder for others with children with special needs.
Yes, the man should not have yelled but two wrongs don't make a right, not even today when personal responsibility is at a all time low.
I dunno, I can't say I blame the man. If your child is going to be more disruptive than other children...and you know that in advance...maybe you shouldn't bring that child to the movies.
A good friend of mine has an autistic son; she would never take him to the movies or a fancy restaurant because she knows what the end result would be.
I don't care what the issue is, if your kid can't keep quiet in a theater, then you wait til it comes out on DVD and watch it at home. This goes for any parent, especially ones who bring infants to the midnight shows. You decided to get pregnant, well, your life is pretty much over.
Some people are disturbed by just the sight of a special needs child, it wasn't that long ago when those kids were relegated to basement classrooms because their existence was considered disruptive to the rest of the children.
And for all those pretending this is about common courtesy, someone YELLING at a parent during a children's movie is somehow acceptable while a child laughing (albeit strangely) is not? If the person had gone to the management and made his complaints, than the arguments about "his good money" would hold a lot more weight, but what he did was YELL in a movie. I know I would have been "disturbed" by his yelling. Should I have had him thrown out? Why was his disruption warranted, a grown man who actually knows better, and a child's not?
Oh, please, give it up.
No one here has said the guy was right to yell, and certainly no one is advocating to keep special needs kids in the basement.
But stop trying to make this about Vito's "needs." It was dark. The kid was loud. That's all.
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