Somerville Theatre bans (young) kids from entering after 6 pm. Let's discuss it here

[ron_newman]

This week's Somerville News has an article about the Somerville Theatre's policy of banning children under 12 8* from entering the theatre after 6 pm, even if they are accompanied by adults.

Is the theatre's policy a service to its customers who want a peaceful movie experience, or is it unfair discrimination against families with young children?

I'm posting this because we can have a more civilized discussion here than on the Somerville News blog comments. Ian Judge, the theatre's manager, reads this community, so we may be able to provide useful feedback to him here.

* Edited 11:55 am to add: I have a serious factual issue with this article. It says the policy applies to children under 12, but the theatre's website and exterior signs say it's for children under 8. That's a significant difference -- maybe significant enough to change people's opinions.

Second edit, 3 pm: Ian Judge has clarified that the theatre's policy is to exclude children under 8, not 12, from entering after 6 pm. He had made an erroneous statement to the News reporter which very unfortunately made it into the published article. Also, here is Ian's response to the specific incident detailed in the News article.

Comments

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the idea, to be honest. I've seen far too many young children talking through R-rated movies late at night

But then I don't have any kids.

[ron_newman]

One factual problem I have with the article: if the theatre's policy is to ban children under 12, why were Renee's 13- and 14-year-old kids sent home? This is not explained anywhere.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

Well -- I have to admit, I'm not terribly against the idea of reserving some showings for adults only, and it's true that a lot of the evening shows are rated such that they're not really appropriate for kids anyway. That said, 6 pm seems a little extreme to me, and if it's true that the cops have been kicking kids out of parks before the posted curfews, that all speaks to a fairly troubling trend.

So I don't know. I'm all for a nice, peaceful movie experience, but -- 6 pm? Really? Couldn't 8 pm work about as well? Most kids under 12 will be expected home by then anyway, I'd expect. We should be letting them have some fun after school, damn it.

[ron_newman]

But... Anderson said her children - Robbie, 14, and Tyler, 13, - were accompanied by a uniformed police officer and other friends. . So the children were accompanied by an adult, complying with the R rating.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Based on having looked for a couple night showings of 'kid's' movies there recently, there's honestly not a lot of under-12 fare there after 6pm.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think Renee maybe wasn't the best choice of 'representative parent' here. She came off as kind of saying "Well, my kids were sent home because neither of them are old enough to see the movie, but I'm going to blame it on this policy instead OMG AGEIST SOMERVILLE."

I think we should question how kids have been treated in the city lately -- absolutely. But I think someone else might have been better suited to champion the cause.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

Wait, they were accompanied by a uniformed officer to the theater? I'd read that as the officer escorting them back to their home.

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Kids that young generally don't have any ID to prove their age, so it may be a matter of being kicked out if you can't prove to the manager that you're allowed in.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

Huh. No, you're right. Reading comprehension. I fail.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

havent read the article, but R rating requires a parent or guardian, not just any adult.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

This is not something I think works. As a patron, I'm significantly less inclined to give my money to the theater based on this policy - it sounds like there may be a few issues (kids seeing R-rated movies without parental supervision, and possibly some disruptive kids from itme to time) that would be better solved in other ways.

One idea might be to ask an usher pop into the R-rated movies for 5 minutes, and see if anyone is being inappropriately loud. If so, said usher can ask them to leave. As a movie-goer, if a theater actually demonstrated concern for my experience in that way, I would tell all my friends about how great that theater is.

Please don't turn the Somerville theater into this weirdly authoritarian establishment where uniformed police throw kids into the street.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I love it. I go to the Somerville Theater a lot more often than any other. Between the location, the beer and ice cream, and the prices, it would probably be my theater of choice anyway, but the fact that there are no kids for evening shows is a real bonus. I think it's great that there are still some places that are adult only and I hope they don't change it.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

The Somerville News article describes the policy as "children under 12 are not permitted to enter the theatre past 6 p.m." This is not the same thing as your summary, "banning children under 12 after 6 pm." They're not forcing kids out of the theater at 6; they're prohibiting them from entering shows that start after 6 — so effectively it's a ban on under-12s being in the theater after 7:30 or 8, which does not strike me as unreasonable at all.

[ron_newman]

The city is opening a new park on Walnut Street next week. It was supposed to be a skate park, but the neighbors objected, so it isn't.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

The article says "children under 12 are not permitted to enter the theatre [emphasis added] past 6 p.m." — A kid going to a 5:55 showing of a two hour feature will in fact leave the theater just before 8:00. Which I agree with you is a much more reasonable hour.

[ron_newman]

Thanks for catching my error. I've edited both the OP and its title to reflect this.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Really? That's annoying. What's wrong with a skate park? That would be great for a lot of people.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

if it's true that the cops have been kicking kids out of parks before the posted curfews

Having lived over near lexington park for a while, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the "kids" complaining about being kicked out of the park before curfew

Some of the "kids" who I have seen rousted by the police before the 10pm curfew actually appear to be 17-19 years old, drinking, smoking, and disturbing the peace with loud arguments and harassing people on the bike path.

edited, based on complainant in article being identified as 14 years old HOWEVER - what parent thinks their 14 year old should be out at a park until 10pm?
It's not a matter of, as the mom suggested "they can't go to the parks", unless there is independent confirmation of the accusation that the police are routinely kicking them out before the 10pm curfew. One or two incidents of that are anecdotal.

[exsplusohs.livejournal.com]

I actually think this is a good policy. Little ones usually get pretty tired/cranky around 7:00/7:30, and having them at the movies isn't always the best choice. If I'm paying to see a grown-up movie, I don't want to hear fussing and crying and whining from a child.

[myselftheliar.livejournal.com]

I could not have said it better. I agree completely. I feel like people just expect it to be ok to take children absolutely anywhere these days at any time (eight yearolds at a 12am showing of dark knight? excuse me?), and it is unfair to those who do not necessarily choose to spend their leisure time in their company.

I think it's great that there are still some places that are adult only and I hope they don't change it. Yes.

[etana.livejournal.com]

I'm all for it but then again I don't like kids.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Noise and graffiti.

I've not seen one skate park that wasn't tagged all over the place.

Noise? Sure, the city curfew for parks is 10pm.
Do YOU want kids skating next to your home at 9:59pm?

Yes, it's absolutely a NIMBY issue.

[etana.livejournal.com]

If kids were allowed in at 8pm they'd be there until at least 9:30pm at the best of scenarios. That's a wee bit too late in my opinion.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I don't have kids, but I was one of those rare, well-behaved kids once upon a time (my parents took me to shows that were definitely rated for people older than I was), so this seems a bit extreme to me. Esp. if they're banned even when they're there with a parent/other adult. Ban on under 6s or even under 8s after 6? Or a ban later in the evening (8pm)? Either of those would make more sense. So would monitoring the shows to quiet/kick out -anyone- being disruptive, regardless of age.

I know teenagers and younger children can be obnoxious in theaters, but not all of them are. And there've been plenty of shows I've been to where it's adults talking or otherwise being disruptive.

It does seem strange that the example in this article is of two teenagers - not under 12 - being kicked out, even though they were with an adult. I'm guessing there's more to this particular story than "perceived too young, thus booted."

Re: NIMBY

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

What you see as objecting to something that doesn't directly benefit them, I see as them objecting to something that only benefits a small few - skaters.

The park as it is now benefits a greater segment of Somerville than just one small special interest group.