<p>I really, really try not dwell on some of the decisions that I strongly disagree with when it comes to parenting, but I am at a total loss tonight.</p>
<p>I’m going solo this week, and decided a dumb, meaningless comedy was in order, so I went to see Hangover. I was absolutely appalled when early in the movie, I heard laughter behind me that sounded like a young child, but convinced myself it must at least be a 10-11 year old that just sounded young.</p>
<p>When the movie was over, I saw the two sisters, there with their mom and dad (and I think grandparents); they could not have been more than 5 or 7-years old… could tell from the missing baby front teeth. I even heard the dad joking, as they were exiting their row (perhaps someone said something, or stared at them), “Yea, we’re terrible parents.”</p>
<p>I racked my brain the whole way home, trying to come up with some reason that would make it OK to take my 5 and 7 year-old daughters to this kind of movie… it was crude in every traditional manner of crude, that crude comes.</p>
<p>I’m not talking about a pre-teen, but early elementary age. Interestingly, just before the movie began, one of the theater employees came in and removed two boys, who looked like they were about 12 or 13, but were there without any adults. </p>
<p>I’ll never forget seeing “Saving Private Ryan” and seeing a 5 year-old child in the row in front of us. Don’t know what some parents are thinking!</p>
<p>The thing is… Up was playing in the theater across the hall! That would totally be an appropriate movie for the whole family, not just the adults.</p>
<p>I have not seen The Hangover so cannot comment to this one specifically, but the whole rating system in the US is bizzare, to say the least.
Look at the Batman movies and how violent they are. Still, they are rated PG 13.
Then the movie that says f*** more than 3 times, or shows a woman’s breast will be rated R.
I do not agree with the system.
I do hope than my son will one day see a naked woman and that he will say f*** whan he nails his finger. But I certailny do hope that he won’t be knocking anyone unconcious using his boots!!!
Again, this is a generic comment. Each parent should use his/her own discretion.</p>
<p>Ehhhh, yeah, I’ve seen this at so many movies. It bothers me most at the frightening violent ones. </p>
<p>When our kids were littler, my best friend didn’t think twice about letting her son watch the “Chuckie” movies–you know, the slasher movies with the killer doll, huge bodycount and graphic on-screen violence–but wouldn’t let him watch “Titanic” because it had one sex scene. Um, yeah. Because we all know that consensual sex is so much worse than disembowelment and beheadings.</p>
<p>For certain movies, I think the theaters should refuse to admit kids below a certain age even with a parent. 5-year-olds shouldn’t be watching bloodbath movies just because their moron parents are too cheap to get a babysitter. By what logic is a 16-year-old not allowed to get into an R-rated movie but a parent can bring a preschooler to it??</p>
<p>When we saw Batman,the Dark Knight, a mother and son sat right behind us. The child could not have been more than five. I felt so bad for him during the violent scenes, wondering if his Mom thought that because it was Batman, it would be fine. </p>
<p>Besides the damage it’s doing to the child, we have found that when children are brought to inappropriate movies, the rest of the adult audience can’t enjoy the movie because the child quickly loses interest in a show he doesn’t understand/has no interest in so spends a great deal of the movie talking loudly to parents who are continually shushing/berating them to be quiet. In the end, nobody enjoys the movie.</p>
<p>When S2 was in h.s., they circumvented the “no one under 17” for R rated movies rule by sending whoever among them was 17 up to buy a couple of tickets each so the still 16 yr. olds in their group could get in. The kids taking the tickets inside the theaters never ask for ID.</p>
<p>lunitari wrote: Because we all know that consensual sex is so much worse than disembowelment and beheadings.</p>
<p>I think it’s because the parents suspect that the actors having ‘sex’ might actually enjoy themselves somehow (though doing a passionate love scene in front of a crew is not fun at all) whereas the violent scenes are completely fake. That is the only reason I’ve ever been able to come up with for why it’s okay to let small children watch violence but not love scenes. Needless to say, I don’t agree with it. </p>
<p>I remember going to see Gladiator at 9:30 one night and there was a 5 yr old in there. I couldn’t enjoy the movie much knowing that some small child was being subjected to it.</p>
<p>my 17-year old and I recently had a discussion regarding the trauma of her Kindergarten year – which is that I would not let her see Titanic, which all of her classmates were seeing. She grew incredibly obsessed with the notion of a sinking ocean liner, but still I said no – an hour of watching people die didn’t seem appropriate to me at that time. So what did she say 12 years later? “Thank you.” Her sense now is she would have been scarred and she can’t imagine parents letting their kids go through that experience. It does sometimes get easier as they get older!</p>
<p>I recall seeing “Apocalypse Now” and “Total Recall” when I was in elementary school… I think my parents were alright. Disclaimer- they did make very clear to me afterward that movies are not the same thing as real life. Maybe these parents the OP is complaining about are doing the same thing away from the theater.</p>
<p>However, “Ernest Scared Stupid” upset me so badly that my dad and I had to leave the theater to preserve the enjoyment of the other patrons.</p>
<p>Many years ago S1 was traumatized (I’m only partly kidding) by Home Alone, which he had begged us to see. He didn’t act upset, but he just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) speak for hours and hours afterwards. FWIW I absolutely hated it, and still don’t understand what’s funny about violent or mean-spirited humor (especially when it involves animals-- Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller take note). Also, there’s a scene in the commercial for The Hangover where someone slams open a car door while wearing a baby in a carrier, followed by the sound of a baby crying. Of course it’s not real, but who thinks up this garbage in the first place? I don’t mind crude humor, but I hate the cruel stuff, and think it sets a horrible example for kids.</p>
<p>ivoryk, we also wouldn’t allow D to see Titanic when she was in elementary school…and she thanked us later as well. This had nothing to do with the sex, but everything to do with all those floating dead bodies. At age 21 she is now a big film buff (and thinks Titanic is a really bad movie!)</p>
<p>I wasn’t allowed to see PG-13 movies until I was 13, and I wasn’t allowed to see R-rated movies until I was 17. It cramped my social style occasionally as a teenager, but despite my cinemagraphic shortcomings, I’ve somehow become a functional adult.</p>
<p>I did see one R-rated movie when I was in 7th grade, and was writing a report on the use of radio propaganda during World War II. I really got into the history of wartime radio in general, so after my parents discussed it, my mom rented “Good Morning Vietnam” for me and told me when the violent parts were coming up so I could fast forward through them.</p>
<p>Movie ratings were not to be trifled with in my family, though. I plan to continue the policy with my own kids.</p>
<p>In 6th grade my D told us we were the only parents who would not let our child see Titanic. Like Booklady it also had nothing to do with the sex scene but everything to do with dead bodies in the water and the thought that a ship could sink. I made a similar call when someone wanted to take my son to see The Perfect Storm. My son was very sensitive to any death in movies. Our family sails and I did not want him to develop a fear of the ocean.
Once my kids reached a certain age I pretty much let them make the call whether they wanted to see a movie or not. Figured there was not much they were not already being exposed to on MTV. For R rated movies I let the theater be the bad guy. For the really violent movies the theater does a pretty good job not letting the teenagers in.
Admitting my 15 yr did see Hangover with friends. I was surprised they got in. Bad mother that I am I have no clue what the movie is about. I figured it was probably something stupid.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, all too often I see very young children at very violent and very sexually oriented R-rated films with their parents. I am particularly apalled when these movies start at 10 p.m. or later! Do these parents need to see these inappropriate, and often late-starting, movies so desperately that, instead of hiring a babysitter, they take their young children with them? </p>
<p>I’ve actually seen some of these parents become verbally abusive to other movie-goers when the others have the gall to complain about their children running up and down the aisles, talking non-stop or crying during the movie.</p>
<p>I understand that babysitters can be quite expensive, but now that movies all seem to come out on DVD just months after their theater run, I can’t imagine how there is any excuse for this parenting behavior. Just wait and see the movie after the children’s bedtime at home!</p>