Weddings that don't allow children have become increasingly common as people continue to find more reasons not to invite minors.
In a recent Reddit post shared in the popular “Am I the Asshole?” On the subreddit, a wedding guest detailed an argument she had with a mother during a recent wedding over the volume on her young son's tablet.
“At the table behind me, at a dinner reception, there was a little boy watching a video at high volume during the speeches. “I looked at him several times because he was distracting, hoping they would get the hint to turn the volume down,” the post began.
According to the wedding guest, the mother noticed the stares, at which point she defended her son's behavior. She responded that she only let her son watch something because “my son didn't take a nap today.” The Reddit poster noted that they understood parents' reasoning and knew that children who don't get enough sleep aren't the easiest to deal with.
However, once the speeches were over, the mother confronted the other wedding guest and considered his gaze during the speeches as an insult. “After the speeches were over, the mother confronted me in a very aggressive manner and she thought I was questioning her parenting skills and her screen time choices. “She had not called him boo and he did not question her abilities as her mother at all,” she clarified in her publication.
“In general, I thought it was common courtesy not to have the volume on electronic devices turned up in a public place or at an event when someone is speaking.”
After the publication, many people took to the comments to defend the guest's actions, mentioning that other precautions should have been taken if the child did not take his daily nap, such as giving him headphones to listen to the tablet or even taking them out of the room so as not to interrupt the speeches.
“If the child cannot be quiet or entertain himself calmly during a speech at the closest thing to a formal event that most people will attend, the right thing to do is to remove him from the room,” one comment read.
Another commenter agreed, writing: “The lack of social awareness some people have is surprising. It is simply not appropriate to let your child have an iPad or equivalent at volume at a wedding, let alone during speeches. Nothing says entitled more than this.”
“My son didn't take a nap. Well? Now is everyone at the wedding the problem? Take the child outside during speeches. Incredibly, these speeches are more important than those from your son who doesn't even know he's at a wedding! He began a third comment. “The nerve of some parents to use their children as an excuse to do the rudest things is astonishing. Were you absolutely questioning her parenting skills…and her adult human social decorum in general?
“What if there is NO iPad at the event?” a fourth commenter suggested. “Teach your child to sit quietly when people talk. They need to learn to socialize and perform in public from an early age. You can't wait until they've learned the bad behavior and say, 'Oh, I guess it's time to teach them social skills.'”
