Mom refuses to control her 8 and 5-year-old children in a movie theater, ignoring other theater-goers' protests: 'They’re kids. I can’t keep them still. If you don’t like it, you can leave'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
May 4, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

Really, the worst thing about enjoying entertainment in a shared space is the other people, and it doesn't have to be something like the complete mayhem of the "Chicken Jockey" Minecraft Movie scenario to be a disturbance. Even if you're going to watch a horror movie, the real horror will be other people's behavior. People on their phones with the brightness turned up to 200%, others having full-blown conversations with the people next to them, and uncontrolled kids running around in the theater while their lackadaisical parents loudly unwrap candy are each enough to make you wish that you had just stayed home. 

The worst part of all of this is that there's nothing you can really do about it. The underpaid, often minimum-wage, workers aren't paid nearly enough to take on the risk of confronting people who have already proven to be feral and antisocial and will rightfully be hesitant to handle the issue. There's no point in confronting them yourself either, if this person hasn't learned how to behave properly in all their time on this earth, they're not going to change in an instant just because some stranger told them to. And there's no point in shaming them because they haven't got any. 

This was the challenging scenario that faced this theater goer when they were faced with a mother and her unruly children.

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  • 01

    "AITA for asking a mom in a theater to watch her kids?"

    i was at the movie theater and from the second i sat down there were 2 kids (maybe between 5- 8yrs old) running up and down the aisle, even going all the way to the back of the theater. they were not watching the movie at all, going up to strangers in the aisles, and playing with each other. halfway into the movie, the
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  • 02
    littlest one grabbed my foot and tried to jump into my seat with me. that was the final straw for me. i got up from my seat and went to their mom and said, "can you please get your kids? they keep coming up to me and other people."
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  • 03
    i went back to my seat before she responded. she then got up and did grab her kids, but stopped by me and angrily told me, "they're kids. i can't keep them still. if you don't like it you can leave." the kids kept running around the theater for the rest of the movie, but they didn't come to me again so i didn't bother going up to her a second time. she obviously didn't care. and genuinely, she seemed like she would start a genuine fight over this.
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  • 04
    could i have handled this better?? edit: i agree i should've gotten an employee for sure. i just have social anxiety and hate bothering employees
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  • 05
    OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the a hole: I feel like the mom in my post got very angry when I asked her to watch her kids. Her tone suggested that I was in the wrong. Though, I felt that she was in the wrong for not respecting theater etiquette.
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  • 06
    Cheezburger Image 10500973312
    via Getty Images

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 07
    Ytmedxdr 5h ago Definitely NTA I guess you could have predicted what her response would be by what was going on. But still, I'm sure everyone else there was proud of you for at least trying. You did the right thing by not turning it into an argument, right there in the theater. I can
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  • 08
    think of a couple of responses: "If you can't keep them still, then why did you bring them?" "Lady, the rest of the people in this theater did not sign up to be your baby sitters." You could have tried to get theater management involved. If that didn't work, you should then have asked for your money back and simply left.
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  • 09
    You could then have tried again some other time, if the movie actually seemed worthwhile. Otherwise, they actually did you a favor by getting you a free preview of a stinker.
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  • 10
    CrimsonKnight_004. 5h ago NTA - Next time, get an employee. They would them out. You paid to watch a movie, so did everyone else in the theater. She should've taken them to a park if she wanted them too run around and get their energy out, not the movie theater.
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  • 11
    Many_Worlds_Media 5h ago NTA. Unfortunately having kids that act like that is so exhausting that you're only ever going to be dealing with a person at their wits end when you go speak to them about it. And folks at their wits end tend to be a h les. So, she was being an a h le.
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  • 12
    Next time, go talk to someone who works at the theater. They can ask mom & kids to leave, and if not - they can refund your ticket. It may seem nicer to talk rather than tell on her, but coming from you it probably just sounded like you were criticizing her parenting, not enforcing the rules - because that isn't your job. Still NTA, tho.
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  • 13
    YourObsessionn⚫ 3h ago Asking a parent to patent their kids in public isn't r de it's community service. You paid for a movie, no a live action. jungle gym☺
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  • 14
    Ok-Image-5514 • 5h ago Ah, NO ! "Lady, this is a movie theater, NOT A PLAYGROUND. If you can't control your children, YOU need to leave !
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  • 15
    Usual_Bumblebee_8... I would have went to • 4h ago management & asked to have her removed. Had it an excited kid talking/babbling about the movie- totally get it. But it's. annoying when someone acts like everyone else's comfort is expendable so they don't have to parent. You don't say if it was an age appropriate movie but 5 & 8 are way too old to behave like that. They are school aged, they know better
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  • 16
    . dstarpro 5h ago NTA. I would have said "If you can't control your kids, then it's you who should leave.
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  • 17
    Impossible_Rain_4727 5h ago • NTA: This happened to me when I went to go and see one of the latest Scream movies. I couldn't understand what type of parent: Brings a young child to a gruesome horror movie. • Let's lets run up and down the isle. Play on the safty railings like they were jungle gyms.
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