Unsupervised kids left at cinema

LUCY CRAYMER
Children are being left on their own at the movies leaving theatre staff to play babysitter and clean up soiled seats, says Waipukurau Civic Theatre associate manager Jim Shand.
Mr Shand said preschoolers, some of whom were not yet toilet trained, were being left by themselves or with siblings not much older to attend a movie. Sometimes the younger children became scared or distressed and needed comforting.
"We had one child who obviously had a sore stomach," he said.
That child defecated all over the seat and although an older sibling was at the movie they just continued to watch the film while staff were left to deal with the mess.
"We couldn't get a hold of the parent," he added.
That was one of three such cases cinema staff encountered in the last week of the school holidays but Mr Shand said generally children were well behaved as were their parents.
"Some parents of kids aged about seven or eight come in, make sure they are sitting down, leave a telephone number and come back at intermission to check on them," he said.
Mr Shand said a sign at the theatre told parents they were responsible for their children.
"They have to make a judgement call that the place is safe," he said. "I stand outside after the movie (when the kids are being picked up) to make sure that they are safe."
Unsupervised children do not seem to be troubling Reading Theatres in Napier and Hastings to the same extent.
Manager Nicole Speakman said they didn't have the same problem and generally young children were left in the care of their older siblings.
"As long as they are behaving themselves we don't have a problem with that," she said.
Waipukurau police Constable Rob Pratt said leaving a preschooler with a sibling not much older could be considered leaving a child unattended.