Some people should not be allowed to reproduce.

It may be mean but it is true. I probably won't be a perfect father either but seriously it's ridiculous how little some people care. I see evidence of this every time I'm in public whether it be the mall, in a park, at a restaurant and especially at movie theaters which is what I want to discuss further.

I just got back from watching the new Transformers movie and while I enjoyed it the kids were just plain out of control. I understand it is a movie based on a cartoon but it is rated PG-13 for a reason. It is such a simple rating to understand too. None of this confusing G, PG and R stuff. It has the age right in the name; 13, meaning appropriate for 13 and up. There was lots of swearing, violence, sex jokes, drugs and more in the movie. I know I'm not judge the for when a person is old enough to view these sorts of things but when a 6 year old is laughing about a crude reference to losing one's virginity (think fruit) it is obvious she's seen way too many movies she shouldn't have.

But I digress. What I really want to touch on is the lack of parenting leading to the bad behavior at the theater tonight. I'll go by age group starting with infants; those who are completely reliant on their parents to protect them and care for them. Movies are NOT a place for infants, period. They do not understand where they are or what is going on. Loud sounds frighten them and can damage their hearing. Get a babysitter or don't go. When you become a parent you need to make some sacrifices. I know of no movie good enough to sacrifice my child's well being for. I understand that you need to get away every once and a while and have some time on your own but guess what? When you bring your baby with you to a movie theater you still aren't spending time on your own. Every single time there was a fight scene or explosion at least one child starting screaming. I counted at least 4 different crying babies throughout the movie and not a single one of them was ever taken to the hallway. Unacceptable.

Next comes the age when you should know how to behave but sometimes need reminding. These are the ones aged around 5-10 years old. Given their display tonight I will refer to them as "Climbers." I already mentioned that there shouldn't be any Climbers watching this movie but this theater was chock full of them. I mentioned to my friends that the Climbers behind me weren't as bad as the ones behind them but that was only because I got my seat kicked 2-3 times instead of throughout the entire movie. See the problem with the Climbers age group is they have a very short attention span. You lose them in 5 minutes so good luck trying to get them through a 2.5 hour movie. The ones behind us decided that climbing around the seats was the best use of their time. There was another in front that was let run up and down the aisle as well as allowed to climb the 10 foot wall next to the stairs. For those of you not following the math, child + 10 foot fall = bad parents. Some Climbers also got bored climbing inanimate objects and decided that sitting and climbing in mom's lap was more fun. I had one child in front of me that kept bouncing or jumping in his mom's lap throughout the last half of the movie. It is really hard to watch a movie seeing a shape bouncing around out of the corner of my eye. If your kid is bored take him home. The movie wasn't right for him in the first place and there is no way you can concentrate on it with a child jumping around.

Moving on we get to the t'weens and teens. Quite possibly the worst age group because they should know better. I guess I can't directly blame parents for these ones since most are unaccompanied but my guess is lack of discipline led to certain behaviors. We purposefully avoided sitting near three boys I dub the "Punch Brothers" because they could not resist repeatedly punching each other the entire time in line. Sitting near them was just asking for trouble. Unfortunately we got stuck sitting around those that are so addicted to text messaging they just can't resist for a couple hours. Multiple times before the movie they ask you to silence your phones. That is hard enough for people to understand so many theaters are saying now to turn phones off and specifically saying NO TEXTING! Sorry let me rephrase, PLS NO TXTING!!!11!! It's bad enough hearing your phone vibrate every 5 seconds but when you open your phone it turns on a light. News flash! You are in a dark theater so any light source is going to be a distraction to everyone around you. I really think theaters should be monitoring and kicking people out for this. A girl behind me even started talking on her phone at one point. The evil glare shut her up pretty fast (at least t'weens are still young enough to be intimidated).

Common courtesy is all I ask. I don't mind soft talking. I don't mind laughing. Heck I don't even mind if a child is starting to become fussy and is immediately taken out to the hall. It is the complete disregard for anyone else that bothers me. Unfortunately I am at a loss as to what can be done. I can't just avoid kids movies because non-kids movies are chock full of kids. Plus, Harry Potter and even Spongebob had more well behaved kids than tonight. I can't wait for a movie to lose popularity enough to have empty theaters either. All my friends usually discuss new movies and what would be the point of paying the outrageous ticket prices to see an old movie relegated to the smaller and older theater rooms? My only attempt at a solution is that theaters start kicking more people out as examples and that we don't let some people have kids. Though I do wonder what would be more difficult, enforcing rules or forced sterilization.

On a side note, Gamestop and similar video game retailers are NOT daycare centers and Grand Theft Auto is NOT a good video game for a 3rd grader. Then again maybe I'm completely off base and shooting hookers after sleeping with them is good for kids.