The Dark Knight Rises: Toddler edition?

***I would like to preface this blog by saying my thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in the Aurora, Colorado shooting. This was a senseless tragedy and my heart goes out to them all. This blog is in NO way placing blame on anyone or pointing fingers. It is simply an account of my experience at the movies.***

Scott and I went to The Rave yesterday and saw "The Dark Knight Rises." We've been so excited about it's release and couldn't wait to go see it. We bought our tickets early, went to lunch, grabbed 2 coffees, and headed to the movies.

The theater obviously had multiple screens showing the film, so we had hope that ours wouldn't be too crowded. And if you read the blog post Dinner and a Movie...for 20?, you'll know Scott and I had a horrible time at our last movie because there was a group from a birthday party with 20 or so VERY young kids behind us at the showing of "The Avengers." Thankfully, our theater had no space reserved for a party this time so we were quite relieved.

The lights lowered and in walked a man around my age with...




Ready for this...




I couldn't believe my eyes...




A child who couldn't have been more than 3-4 years old. And where did they sit? Right in front of us. Oh boy.

The movie starts and I'm trying my best to ignore the kid. But as soon as the dialogue started, it became a chorus of:

"Huh?"
"What did he say?"
"Daddy what's that?"
"What are they doing?"
*Giggle, giggle, giggle*

Verse, chorus, second verse, chorus, bridge, and chorus again. No fade out. *SMH*

In the middle of this 2 hour 44 minute movie, they get up and leave. "YES!" I thought to myself. Finally some peace and quiet! But no, they returned a few minutes later, fresh from a potty break, I assumed. I forgot to add that in addition to this loud toddler, dad spent every 5 minutes texting. So not only did I get a treat for my ears, I got one for my eyes, too.

*A little rant about texting in the movies.*
I am not easily distracted, but when there is a bright phone light waving around in my peripheral vision, I lose my focus. I don't know why people insist on texting in the middle of movies, but I sure do wish they would do it in their lap instead of right in front of their face. UGH! Rant over.

Anyway, after the bathroom break, the kid decides he doesn't want to sit anymore and begins running up and down the seat isles. Once he tired of that, he stands up on the seats in facing his dad and does a "look at me!!!" dance. Do I simply ignore this? I promise I tried, but therein lies the problem of movement in my peripheral vision again.

Did I mention I had already given this dad a Crappy Parent Award for bringing him to this movie in the first place? It was incredibly violent, even with a PG-13 rating. I thought it was really pushing it with a PG-13 rating with the level of violence/torture/intensity. But to bring a child that young to watch it? Uh, no. Here's your Crappy Parent Award. Make your acceptance speech short, please.

So the movie ends and to be very frank, I was going to have a word or two with Dad. But the second the screen went dark, he grabbed Junior and high-tailed it out of their like he was being chased. I couldn't help but laugh. Scott and I stayed until the very end to see if there was anything after the credits. All that was left in the theater was the two of us and the crew behind us, including the guy who shook his Milk Duds box loudly every 5 minutes, lol.

Ok, that's the tale of my viewing of The Dark Knight Rises. Absolutely awesome movie!!! It was the most fun I have had at the movie in a long time and we plan on going to see it again next weekend, hopefully in IMAX.

This is going to be very unpopular and I'm ok with that, but I have a few questions to ask. Why, why, why are people doing this? Why? Why on earth are parents in such a rush to have kids grow up? Why are they exposing such young children to this level of violence so early in their lives? Why are they bringing small children into very long movies, knowing they are going to get bored and start misbehaving? And then they LET them misbehave! Why? Are some parents so set on seeing a movie that they must see it no matter what? Forget the rest of the moviegoers, only their wants matter? "The kids wants to see it." Um, ok. Let me introduce a lovely little two-letter word to you that every parent should know. Here it is: NO.

NO- you are too young.
NO- it is too violent.
NO- it is not for kids.
NO- BECAUSE I SAID SO

How different life would be if some parents would practice using this simple little word, wouldn't it?

My movie experience was not ruined by this kid, but it was something I just had to get off my chest. This is one of the gazillion reasons Scott and I don't want kids. Parents like this.