Here's why babies don't belong in movie theatres.

We have all seen or heard about the article that was picked up by pretty much every major parenting outlet, highlighting how Juliana Valverde and Brooklyn Cahill got kicked out of a Bad Moms movie screening, by this point in time. No, it’s not okay under any circumstances that these women got the backlash that they did, and as a whole society – we do need to treat moms better who are making big decisions every single day for their babies.

But, I still don’t believe that babies belong in movie theaters.

Many years ago (almost eight at this point), when we had our son, my husband and I were living off-post. He was a soldier in the army full-time and we definitely struggled to make ends meet. He worked many, many gruelling hours while I stayed home with our young son and worked to finish my marketing degree online.

We barely had time for each other, let alone a date night.

Living in a rather expensive city at the time, and being away from friends and family who would have offered us all the free babysitting that we wanted, was hard. But determined to have a date night at one point, we saved for a babysitter so we could have a traditional dinner and a movie out – just the two of us.

We had a great dinner and then headed to the movie – with a PG-13 or R rating, certainly not a place that we would expect to encounter a baby. But alas, we found our seats and as soon as the movie started, so did the crying – the same crying we had saved for a month to escape for a night.

This is why babies don’t belong in movie theatres. I get that the Bad Moms situation was a bit different as it was a closed theatre just for this specific group of ladies, but still. People come to movie theatres to escape a little and let’s face it – a night out at any movie theatre in the evening costs a pretty penny these days.

Yes, it’s a public place, but neither myself or any movie-going patron should have to worry that they might not be able to hear what’s being said on the big screen because a baby is crying. End of story.

Watch the Mamamia team confess to the time they felt like bad mums.

It’s not fair, it’s not courteous, and I’ve definitely noticed it becoming more of a trend – which is why I opt out of going to movie theaters in general at this point. And beyond that, how can it even be a fun experience for the parent bringing the baby? You just end up paying for a ticket and then escorting the child in and out of the theater (hopefully) whenever they start to act up – because we all know that it takes a good handful of years before a child actually sits still through an entire movie.

It’s just bad form, and parents should be more reasonable when it comes to this subject.

I would never bring my baby to a movie theatre, because it’s simply not a place that they belong. It would be nice if other parents could be considerate and follow suit.

This article by Allison Cooper first appeared on Ravishly.com, your first stop for feminist hugs. 

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