OK - I know that everyone is going to be seeing this on the news soon enough...

[witzend]

...and that the primary story is the shootings. But is anyone else bothered that there were 3 month olds and 6 year olds at the Batman TDKR movie?

I can't stand going into a theater and seeing young children in these types of shows. You might say that the 3 month old won't understand it, but it is certainly loud enough to damage their hearing. Not to mention that the movie is meant to terrify and shock, and that means that the baby is in a VERY loud place with parents who are on edge, and at times shocked and terrified.

Even worse is the six year old. This is not a movie for a six year old! "Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action." Why take a six year old? BS that people can't afford a sitter. If they can pay $20+ for a theater ticket plus snacks for a kid, they can afford a sitter. If they can't afford a sitter they should stay at home or find something cheaper and more age appropriate to do with their kid.

I apologize if I have offended anyone. This just bothers the heck out of me. I would never have taken my kids to this type of movie at those ages, and I was 13 before I saw a PG movie - "The Sting".

 

[hearts and roses]

I agree!!! Drives me NUTS when I see little kids at movies like that. Infants...why aren't they home in bed???

 

[CrazyinVA]

I run a movie group .. and I see this all the time (luckily, not with my members who attend). I was in the "Avengers" movie a couple months ago and people had toddlers there ... one began to cry at a scene when Hulk did something loud and scary. I get people not being able to afford a sitter, but bringing your young child with you to an adult movie (PG-13, even) is selfish and rude, in my opinion. If you can't afford a sitter, stay home and wait for the DVD.

It's funny how after raising two difficult children I've almost become anti-kid in some scenarios LOL.

That being said, the Colorado shooting is a tragedy, regardless of who was shot. Keeping the victims and familieis in my prayers.

 

[donna723]

Witz, I agree with you 100%! I was wondering the same thing myself. I have a three year old grandson and I can't even imagine taking him to see something like this at all, much less a late night showing of the movie!

 

[Kathy813]

I agree with you completely, Witz. I remember fighting this battle when my girls were young. I was always the mean mom who wouldn't let them see PG-13 movies when the other parents let their kids go see them.

I was just watching the news coverage of the shooting and they are reporting that the 6-year-old is one of the ones that died.

~Kathy

 

[1905]

I agree, I've seen kids cry at Disneyland. There was a 3-D theater and it felt like the seat had bugs crawling in them and they were in front of your eyes. It was so cool, but little kids were crying and scared.

On another note husband took my 2 year old to see Pulp Fiction. I had to come and pick him up in the middle of the movie. husband was hearing "Someone brought a kid in here" at every scene. Once I saw the movie......I was ready to kill the man. For us, Jaws was the big bad scary movie- now prime time shows reference oral whatever like it's nothing, drinking, cheating and the list goes on. Seriously, these themes are on Nickelodeon.

 

[Hound dog]

Well, in my hometown back in the day............and I'm talking really back in the day here, like long before tv was even in homes, folks often took the whole family to the movies. (now keep in mind, movies were geared for this as well, which is why Looney Tunes and such was aired in theaters) Children were taught to be quiet, and babies that fussed were taken to the lobby until they calmed down, same with little ones. However, movies didn't air late at night either.

These days............I don't mind so much I suppose, but children aren't for the most part taught to behave like they used to be. easy child has done it with her boys, does it much of the time but it's mostly children's movies where people don't expect perfect behavior. And I don't recall her letting them view a movie that would last past say 9pm either.

I feel for the victims of this shooting. (I've decided the world has completely gone insane) But my first thought was wth were small children doing in a move at midnight? Why on earth weren't they home in BED???!!! And no, I won't hop on my soapbox about parents who complain non stop about a child's behavior when they *might* collapse asleep at 11pm or later finally (because no real bedtime) and the child is acting like a monster from exhaustion. omg I'll leave that for another day. LOL

 

[DDD]

The very few parents who take their kids "everywhere" are often sanctamonious about it. "We never let strangers take care of OUR chldren. They are with us 24/7!" GFGmom had a pattern of taking "her" children to matinees that were usually very scarey although sometimes very sexy. I couldn't stop her from doing it. Her response was "they don't understand that stuff" and I cover their eyes if it is too much for them". Yeah, right! So sad. DDD

 

[AnnieO]

Witz, because of my labs this morning I didn't see the news early - I checked my phone and I kepts seeing fb posts about "the tragedy in CO" and I finally Googled it.

It's horrible, horrifying.

But I was sitting there with my Mom and read that a 3-month-old was taken to the hospital - not a shooting victim - but I wanted to KILL that child's parents. A 3-month-old?! To a midnight showing? WTH is WRONG with those parents?!

I understand not wanting to leave your child alone with a sitter at 3 months, especially very late at night. But - and I AM on a soapbox here because I am in Mama Bear mode as it is - you have a 3-month-old child, svck it up and wait till you can go at a reasonable hour, or take turns with the kid's other parent, or - ***GASP*** wait for the flipping DVD.

Yeah, I'm pretty upset too. Praying for the victims and their families, and hoping the kids who were there have parents capable of learning a lesson.

 

[DammitJanet]

Oh this is horrible! Now I will be jumped on again. If Billy were 6, we would have probably taken him to this movie because he was just that type of kid who loved anything having to do with Batman, Superman, Spiderman, etc. We did take him to the first Batman movie when it came out. I guess all the other ones. I didnt go, Tony did. Billy has been watching scary movies since he could beg to watch them. "Scare me more!"

We never took infants because they wouldnt stay quiet.

Now I will say we intend to take McKenzie to a concert on August 11th and that should be interesting but it isnt a really loud one or a big on. Its a singer/songwriters symposium and the theater only holds about 300 people. The songwriters just play guitars and sing and talk to the audience. Its one of the most enjoyable things we have here. Tony and I have been going for years and we introduced it to Cory and now he likes it. Its country music and he now loves it so he has taken Keyana and this year McKenzie is going. Obviously she will most likely fall asleep. They have an upper level where he can sit or rock her.

 

[witzend]

Janet, that sounds like a nice concert to bring McK to. Allan and I always bring earplugs if instruments are going to be plugged in, and sometimes to movies too.

I think we let M see Batman at home. He was about 4 when the first one came out. UAN - Pulp Fiction? OMG! I could barely handle Pulp Fiction! Once was definitely enough for that movie! I remember being really angry that L's dad took her & his girlfriend to see "There's Something About Mary" when she was about 11 and getting into trouble for being too - outgoing. The first thing she did was come to my house and tell me about the "hair gel" scene. OMG, no WAY! She didn't appreciate at ALL that I didn't think that a 40 year old man and his date should take an 11 year old girl with no mother figure in the house out to see that movie.

Honestly, I think that the movie makers push the envelope with these things. I don't think that the story could NOT be told without the graphic stuff that makes it PG-13. They just worry that adults won't go see it if it's not PG-13. Absurd. If you make a good movie, people will go see it.

The shooting is a tragedy that is completely outside of what I am talking about here. I felt so badly for his mother, it sounds as though she knew something like this was likely to happen and had tried to get help for him. There but for the Grace of God...

 

[MyFriendKita]

The first movie we took difficult child to see was "Terminator 2." He was three years old. I did try and keep him from seeing the gorier parts of the movie, but he kept telling me to stop trying to cover his eyes because he couldn't see, lol. He didn't seem to be any worse for wear from seeing that movie (he was quiet during the movie, by the way, or one of us would have taken him outside). Honestly, I think he was more traumatized from seeing "Home Alone," because he went through a phase where he was afraid we were going to leave him alone somewhere. As long as those kids weren't disturbing anyone (in other words, as long as they were being quiet), and didn't have to get up the next morning to go to school, I don't see an issue with it.

As for what happened, I'm horrified. This kind of thing is happening way too often.

 

[Kathy813]

Witz, I feel bad for the parents of the shooter, too. We all know it could be any of us. They just showed the poor father at the airport heading to Colorado. Can you imagine having your child do something like that and then being hounded by cameras everywhere you go?

Of course, there will be people blaming the parents for what the shooter did. They will blame poor parenting rather than mental illness. His mother made the comment that they had the right suspect which implies she knew that he was mentally unstable and could do something like this. I bet as time goes by we will hear the usual story of parents that have dealt with this for years and tried to get help unsuccessfully.

~Kathy

 

[Hound dog]

Not having a whole lot of facts, sounds like schizo behavior gone full tilt (there is a range of schizo disorders) I did catch on the news something about the parents worried he might be unstable......but honestly, we all know what it's like with a kid over 18. If you can't get them to cooperate it's next to impossible to get them any help.

I sat and watched the news with the grandsons. Of course Darrin was the only one old enough to "get it" and then only when I explained what happened so he could understand. Then, like I always did with my own kids, we did a What If chat........where he is the one in the hot seat, what would he do, what would his choices be, what would increase his odds of survival? Oddly enough, I hate that easy child and sister in law let the boys play Call of Duty, but when I asked Darrin what would happen if he got up and tried to run for it........he said Nana, he'd shoot me, just like in the game. So together we worked out it would be best to find cover (the seats, behind or under) and stay put until you knew it was safe to move, then keep behind things and crawl to the safest exit.

Yeah. I did this stuff with my kids their whole lives. They knew to duck and cover at the sound of gun fire before preschool......a car backfires and they still tend to duck and cover. (we'll just say they're not standing in the open wondering where the sound came from) Now drive by shootings made that necessary. But I was constantly teaching them things such as that. No it didn't make them paranoid or anxious, it armed them with real information in an emergency Nichole heard about the shootings and she was amazed people got up and tried to make a run for it. I did see where some crawled out and made it safely.

I am someone who did take my kids everywhere I went. difficult child or easy child, they were all well behaved. But they never saw any movie in a theater that wasn't literally for a child, and usually disney or some such. And they just plain never went anywhere after bedtime, which was 7pm. If husband and I wanted to see a movie not suitable for them, we waited until we could rent it and watch it after they went to bed. Babysitters were a luxury I didn't have.

 

[DammitJanet]

Honestly parents do take small children places one wouldnt they would do so. Step before you say you wont, just wait until bean is here. You will find out soon enough that you will. Babies sleep through most everything. As far as the younger school-aged kids, Batman has been such a part of their lives for so long that this movie was the last in a series that you couldnt beat them off with a stick. Im sure they have heard much worse language either at home or at school and the violence either on TV or in video games. Heck 2 out of 3 TV shows have at least 6 episodes of violence in them.

While this is the worse massacre in US history, it is completely random and extremely. I am absolutely sure we will find out this suspect had slid into schizophrenia. He is at the age when that is the prime time when it begins to show its ugly head. He had been a brilliant young man all through childhood, HS and even into early college. Something caused him to snap. He didnt decide to just go off on a shooting spree because he was perfectly sane. If you notice, he actually looked like a young Adam West in his HS yearbook photo. I sort of wonder if that had something to with it.

As far as the parents, I feel so sorry for them but as Dr. Drew pointed out tonight, there really was nothing much they could do other than try to talk to him and ask him to get help. The mental health system ties parents hands where it comes to forcing adult kids to get help without their consent. These parents may not have even known he had withdrawn from school. He was living in a different state. I hope the public doesnt blame them. They are completely normal parents and they gave him a completely normal life, sending him to excellent schools to prepare him for life. He was such a gifted man. He was a very gifted man. It is a complete shame all around.

 

[AnnieO]

Janet, I'm pretty sure. Mostly because I wouldn't do that to JETT. Heck, when Twilight came out we didn't take ONYXX to the midnight showings because the next day was a school day and it was more important... And she was, what, 13?

Taking Bean "everywhere", yes but there are limits.

 

[TerryJ2]

Yes, Witz, I noticed that right away. I read it aloud to difficult child this a.m. at breakfast. I said, "For the first two yrs at least, you either stay home or get a sitter. Period. And NOT that kind of a movie!"
Idiots. Total, illogical selfishness.

 

[witzend]

I am absolutely sure we will find out this suspect had slid into schizophrenia.

I was out at the neighbor's last night and they were talking about this. They came right out of the gate with "Did you see what his mother said? She said 'you've got the right person.' What kind of a mother knows that their kid can do that and just let him be. She shouldn't have let him have guns!" These are gun people, too. I just looked at her and said, "No way. She said that because he's 24 years old and she knew something was wrong and he's an adult and she couldn't get him the help he needed. He's most likely schizophrenic and she couldn't do a thing to help him because the law prevents it - especially out of state." She asked "Well, why'd she let him move out of state then?" I told her, "How are you going to stop a grown man from moving out of state?" Then it was "Why'd they give him college money?" Probably because he was intelligent enough for college, and he got grants and loans and while he was out of state they couldn't really see how bad it was." "I guess...", she said.

Taking Bean "everywhere", yes but there are limits.

Good for you, Step. When we have kids, we should know that there are certain adult activities that we shouldn't take them to. I'm sure that a lot of kids love violent movies when they're little, but is that really what we want their entertainment to be? For crying out loud, we watched "The Simpsons" twice in our home because that's all it took for M to start acting exactly like Bart Simpson but without the lesson that Bart learns at the end of every episode. Bart Simpson may be funny but he's not fun to live with. It was "Mr. Rogers", "Reading Rainbow", "3, 2, 1, Contact" for us. You can bet your sweet bippy I wasn't into those programs and I would have rather have watched "The Simpsons", but "The Simpsons" made M a jerk and I wasn't going to have ANY of that.

 

[TerryJ2]

Geez.

 

[MyFriendKita]

Some of you people are just as bad as those who are judging the shooter's parents. You hope the parents of the kids at this movie are capable of learning a lesson? What lesson? That if you take your kids to a movie late at night, they might get shot? They could just as easily have been shot at 6:00 p.m.