A Quick and Dirty Guide to Movie Theater Etiquette

As a new dad who used to see one movie in the theater every week, and now hasn't been to a movie in two months, I'll agree with Jennifer that you aren't being fair to the moms and dads with infants. It's easy to say "get a sitter [or] wait til it comes out on video" when you have the freedom and luxury of going to the movies whenever you want. But guess what...whether you all like it or not, moms, dads, AND babies do have the right to leave their homes. And if those infants need feeding every 2-3 hours, and that falls in the middle of a movie, then others in the theatre will just have to DEAL with it. If more movie theatres had special showtimes for parent with infants, then we wouldn't need to bother you poor, put-upon people without young kids or who have the money and resources to get sitters. Until then, if I want to go to a weekday matinee with my wife and son, maybe those of you disturbed when my wife might need to discretly breastfeed should choose to wait until the movie i

one more thing...baby diapers don't need to be changed every 15 minutes, and how long do movies normally last these days anyway?

wait to you possibly have kids, no babysitter, maybe you if ur a lady or your wife if a man breastfeeds and you've been cooped up in the house for 2 months,,,,watch how quick your attitude will change. yea, if u do breastfeed u don't normally want to whip out ur breast in front of people let a lone on a Friday or Saturday night with a bunch of people around, but if you do it in the back of the theater on a tuesday afternoon...who the hell is really going to care? give it a rest. just something else for people to gripe over.

Oh- just realized how old this article was... I am sure you know now about the paragraph thing-- sorry. And as for Jennifer's comment, ugh. Of course breast feeding is legal, but come on. Don't bring an infant to a movie. If you can't get a sitter, wait til it comes out on video. You mentioned it's better than a screaming baby. Babies scream because their diapers are dirty and many other reasons. I love children, but there are some places they just don't mix. Breastfeeding or bottlefeeding.

I personally hate when people say stupid things. I was watching the #23 last week and this woman kept making comments. My favorite, which she said several times was "Yeah right." Uh, duh. It IS a movie. It really didn't happen. The texting and phone thing bothers me too. I know we are in the connected age, but if you are going to the movies, freakin' relax for a few hours! Good read, but next time, try to seperate the paragraphs to make it easy to read. Thanks for sharing.

Just because breastfeeding is natural and legal it doesn't mean we all want to share the experience. I go to the movies to see a movie. Period. If I want to see breastfeeding I will go do that. Why bring a baby that little to a movie anyways? Me in a thong bathing suit is legal and natural but trust me, nobody wants to see that either. There is a time and place for everything.

The comment on breatfeeding wasn't called for. I breastfeed openly in public and think it's a perfectly natural and acceptable thing, let alone legal. I especially think that in a movie theater that it's a good thing. It's better than having a screaming baby, don't you think?

Very fun read, and I sympathize entirely. The ones ranting at the screen bother me most. And I think DJ's on to something =)

I think there's a reason why they started building these theaters in which the chairs rise one level up each row. It's so if the person in front of you is displaying some serious asshattery, you can thrust your foot straight into the back of his/her head.