Parents Who Take Kids to See Jack Nicholson Deserve a Spanking
Thanks to PBB reader Jada Roche for sending along this ditty from the Huffington Post about parents who take their kids to R-rated flicks. HP contributor Romi Lassally provoked a firestorm of discussion when she blogged about watching two parents bring their young daughters - no older than seven, by her guess - to a screening of the new Martin Scorcese flick The Departed. Lassally watched, horrified, as the whole family sat through the entire violence- and profanity-soaked escapade.
Lassally decided that she couldn’t leave the theater without speaking her mind. The confrontation sooned turned ugly, and theater security had to prevent the kids’ father from taking off Lassally’s head with his corrosive spittle. Good job, sir. Not only did you take little kids to a movie they had no business seeing, but you demonstrated to your little ones that being a belligerent asshole and threatening violence beats rational discussion any day.
(Mind you, my mom took me to see Breathless when I was 10, and told me bury my head in the popcorn box when the naughty bits came on. Which I did…except that I peeked through the bottom of the box to ogle Valerie Kaprisky’s tits. But I consider that a positive experience in my early development)
Obviously, the issue is not violence and profanity as such; it’s age-appropriateness. I’m actually hoping that the wife and I can catch The Departed sometime in the next week. Without our kids in tow.
Tags: father, martin-scorcese, movies, the-departed, theaterRelated Stories
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7 opinions for Parents Who Take Kids to See Jack Nicholson Deserve a Spanking
Heidi
Oct 13, 2006 at 3:26 pm
This is HUGE pet peeve of mine, and I’m still a parent in waiting. I was horrified when a couple of toddlers were forced to sit through Kung Fu Hustle, even when they cried to their parents that the scenes were too scary! I wanted to offer to go sit with them in the lobby. Sigh.
Ann
Oct 16, 2006 at 10:41 am
This is also one of my enormous pet peeves. Seriously, the choices are A.) See an age-appropriate movie B.) Pay for a babysitter or C.) Wait for the DVD.
On the innocuous end of the scale, there are the movies that are just boring. I was bored by “You’ve Got Mail” but not nearly half as bored as the four-year-old who kicked the back of my seat for the length of the film. Then, there is the negligent/abusive end of the scale - like the several 4 or 5 year old kids that we saw at a showing of “Hannibal”.
Yesterday, we had the distinct displeasure of sitting through “Barnyard” with our nieces (6 and 3). The way they reacted to the death of a major character was difficult enough to deal with - I couldn’t imagine trying to deal with a brain-eating scene with them.
flathedd
Oct 16, 2006 at 10:42 am
A few years ago we saw this “dad” (obviousle his visitation weekend) with about a 7 year old boy and a 3 or 4 year old girl at the first Jackass movie- very inappropriate imo
Lisa
Feb 1, 2007 at 12:45 pm
First of all, my two year old is limited to two hours of tv or movies per day(shows and pictures that we watch together or that I have previewed and found appropriate). Still, I realy don’t think anyone has the right to tell me what I can and can’t allow my children to watch. Even if a parent is being totaly irresponsible and stupid with his or her viewing choices (short of letting your kids watch porn), I don’t see how it’s anyones business but their own. I will not have to wake up with their toddlers for the next months or years with the nightmares that scary scenes cause, nor will I be the one rushing their 6 year old to the hospital when they try to act out some stupid stunt they saw on a retarded movie. This is still America and, on last check, the land of the free. If we can force folks to only allow their children to watch what we deem appropriate, then who is to say that we can’t force them to raise their children in the religion we think is right. Or only allow them to read books we find age appropriate. Heck, why not just burn the books we don’t think people should see? Because then we would be Nazis. Sorry to go off on a tangent, but I still think I should be in control of my childs well being (not everyone who thinks they know better).
april
Jul 8, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Get over yourselves. With all of the REAL child abuse and neglect reported on this site, you have the nerve to be high and mighty about a movie?
I don’t take my children to inappropriate movies, and I only watch them if the kids are sleeping, but I don’t consider myself better than any parent who does take their kids to see an R rated movie. And that holier-than-thou woman who had the nerve to approach another parent…sheesh! Should the parents have allowed themselves to be disrespected in front of the children? You should NEVER criticize someone’s parenting in front of the children. If children are truly in danger, pull the parents aside!
This is why kids are dying of child abuse…because people are so concerned with trivial matters that the larger ones get overlooked.
Less activism on profanity, more activism on getting laws passed to make for harsher punishment of child molesters, rapists, and other severe abuse…
amoania
Jul 12, 2007 at 2:13 pm
It wasnt the ladys right in the first place to say something. If a parent wants to take a 7 yr old to a movie with profanity and violence, that is their right. That lady should have kept her mouth shut.
rockdoll_71
Nov 27, 2007 at 12:20 am
I’m going to disagree with amonania. I don’t think that the parents have the “right” to corrupt their little ones. Always I mind my own business. However, I am glad that this lady had the guts to say something. The father acted very irresponsibly.
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