Woman Asks Kids Running Around Theater, Hitting the Movie Screen to Sit Down, Then Gets Yelled at by Their Mom

A woman took to Reddit to ask whether she’d crossed a line after getting a theater employee involved when two very young kids repeatedly disrupted a children’s movie she was attending with her daughter.

In her post, she said she’d brought her 5-year-old to a 5 p.m. showing of a popular kids’ film. The theater was packed, and while she expected a normal amount of noise in a child-filled auditorium, she explained that she and her daughter are both autistic and generally find it difficult to focus when there’s constant chatter.

At first, everything was going smoothly. But about an hour into the movie, two small children — she estimated they were around 3 or 4 — began running up and down the aisles, “leaping” past families multiple times. She wrote that the behavior continued several rounds, drawing annoyed reactions from other audience members. Her daughter also noticed and said the kids were ruining the movie for her.

After watching other parents try to address the situation, the woman said she also spoke up. When the children passed her, she asked politely if they could return to their seats. They ignored her and instead ran toward the front.

She then noticed an adult from the front rows stand up and sit on the bottom step, seemingly trying to keep an eye on the kids as they ran in circles, shouted, and even hit the movie screen.

That was when the poster decided to step out and find an attendant. According to her, the employee returned and asked the parents to have the children sit down.

But when the kids’ mother finally came to collect them, the woman said she was met with anger. The mother allegedly yelled at her for involving staff, brushing off the behavior by insisting the children were “just babies.”

The woman wrote that she didn’t argue back because she didn’t want to create a bigger disturbance for everyone else. Still, she felt her decision was reasonable. She pointed out that plenty of other parents in the theater also had small children — but none were running, screaming, or striking the screen.

She also suggested that if a parent expects their kids to move around freely, a later, busier screening may not be the right choice. In her view, an earlier show designed with very young children in mind would have made more sense.

By the end of the film, she said the mother forced one child back into a seat for the remainder of the movie. But as she left, she didn’t hear anyone else confront the parent directly — which made her wonder if others had stayed silent simply because the kids were so young.

“I know as parents we all dread the first cinema trip in case our children are silly,” she wrote, asking readers whether she’d handled it appropriately.

In the comments, many sided with her, saying she’d responded calmly and appropriately.

“The children’s parents are irresponsible for allowing this behavior in the theater. You did the right thing by getting an attendant,” one commenter wrote.

Another added that the children were not “babies,” and that a movie theater isn’t a playground — especially if a child can’t sit through the film without disrupting others.