Would you let your kid go to the movies alone?
Categories: Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, Fun & activities, In the news, Playground bureau
Going to a movie without your parents is one of the great rites of passage in a kid's life, but how safe is it to drop your child at a movie theater alone? A reader of Newsday posed that question to a parenting advice column, asking if it was safe to leave an 8-year-old in the care of her 12-year-old brother at a local movie theater. The answer was a resounding "no."
What if big brother has to use the restroom and little sister wanders off by herself? What if the kids do something that gets them in trouble, like sneaking into an R-rated movie? Just because there are theater staff members around doesn't mean that your children are being supervised by those employees.
The advice was doled out by a Nassau County police detective, and he adds that most kids are old enough to handle a movie on their own by the time they reach eighth grade. He also advises waiting until kids are in their teens before you ask them to babysit another child at the theater.
I was in fifth grade the first time my parents dropped me off at the movies by myself -- it was a birthday party, and we saw "Tootsie." Yes, "Tootsie," a movie about a dude who dresses like a woman. I know, what were my parents thinking?
But hey, I survived the experience unscathed.
What would you do? Would you leave your kid to watch a movie? How old would they have to be?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jenni 11-03-2008 @ 1:36PM
Somewhere in Junior high would be okay for them to go alone into the theater; I'd probably make sure to be with them at least until they went in the door.
But then, it would all depend on how much I have exposed them to this and how responsible they are. I would also be one of those parents who didn't even leave the parking lot waiting on pins and needles until they walked back out.
First, allow them to sit in a different seat in the theater than you. This way you can still supervise, but from a distance, and see if they can sit without an adult reminding them to keep quiet and respectful of those around. That's actually my main concern: can a child sit through a movie on their own.
There's not much trouble they can get into from the door to the seat, it's during the show where the trouble is.
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Karen 11-03-2008 @ 2:17PM
I tried to get my 11 and 8 year old to go into one movie while my husband and I saw a different movie last weekend. I trust my daughter to make good decisions and we were going to be in the same building. I made sure they would know where to find us.
But my 8 year old said, "What kind of parent leaves their kid in the movies alone!? LOL We couldn't convince him. It was during the day and DD also had a cell phone.
So - we all went home.
I took them to see the kid movie the following week.
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Cathie 11-03-2008 @ 3:36PM
Absolutely not we recently let our 141/2 yr old go with a group of girlfriends to the movies and she was sexually assualted inside the theater.
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Heidi 11-04-2008 @ 8:33AM
That's horrible. I'm so sorry that happened to your daughter. Do you live in a high crime area? We live in a med. sized Vermont town (small by any other standards) and I've been able to drop my 15 & 13 year old daughters and their friends at the movies for a few years now with no worries. It would never have occurred to me that something could happen inside the theater. I guess I need to rethink letting them take the bus to the mall by themselves. Then again, if we still lived in Boston I probably would not let them do half the things they are allowed to do now. When you live in a supposedly safe area where nothing "ever" happens you tend to be a little more comfortable and trusting. My heart goes out to you and your daughter.