'AITA for saying something not-so-nice about disruptive children at the movies?'

"AITA for saying something not so nice about disruptive children at the movies?"

So, I (20M) and my mom went to the movies today and watched Zoomania/Zootopia 2. Sweet and funny, liked it. The only problem was that there were 3 kids (9-11ish?) in the same row as us and they were kinda disruptive. There were some perfectly acceptable things like laughing loudly, munching popcorn, singing along to a song and them being like "Oh no, is he gonna be okay?“ when a character got hurt.

That was a little bit annoying since I‘m autistic (and a little developmentally behind in some areas) but that were normal sounds and I‘d never complain about them. However, two of them also got up several times to dance along, two of them multiple times got up to the toilet in a way that was disturbing and they also discussed things loudly among them, some not even relevant to the movie.

One was also playing with their phone. My mom asked them about 30 minutes in if they could be quieter and they were whisper-talking after that but it was still audible. My mom glanced at them multiple times and after they picked that up, they starting laughing more (two even leaving the room to have a laughing fit in the corridor).

I don‘t know if they laughed at my mom and me, but they could have. In the last thirty minutes, they also seemed to deliberately talk more about other things and laughed louder, even though I can‘t prove that of course.

Mom would have gone and complained to the staff but she didn‘t because I didn‘t wanna miss anything and she didn‘t want me to possibly meltdown if I stayed behind alone with the kids, which could have happened (I know that‘s completely my fault).

I was getting kinda angry because while Is didn‘t miss anything major, it was still disruptive. So when the kids got up and left during the credits, I loudly and purposefully said "Hey mom, they are finally gone! Yay, I‘m so happy!!“ (roughly translated from German in which I said that). The kids turned around and all three looked bewildered, but didn‘t say anything.

Back home my older sister sarcastically told me „Woah, you really got them with that“ (again roughly translated) and my dad said we should have just complained to staff. I‘m feeling kinda guilty now, because yes, what I did, was pretty childish and it was also my fault my mom didn‘t go to staff, I think. AITA?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

sadmep said:

NTA: Dad is right though, you should have complained to staff.

Candid_Warthog8434 said:

NTA, however if going to a movie that is primarily directed towards children, perhaps wait till a super late session or till it comes on streaming. Kids are usually distracting at the movies which is why they often have mum and Bub sessions so the kids don’t annoy anyone

Grrrrr_Arrrrrgh said:

ESH simply because waiting to say something at the end doesn't solve anything. They were disruptive and you were upset, regardless of your choosing to say something afterwards. Was moving to new seats not an option?

IHaveBoxerDogs said:

ESH. I was willing to give the kids some leeway, because it is a kids’ movie and you have to expect some level of annoying behavior. But using a phone makes them little AHs. You should have either moved seats, let your mom go get a staffer, or she could have used her “mom voice” to tell them to knock it off.

I agree with what seems to be your sister’s take, those kids couldn’t care less that you made that comment. I doubt they were bewildered. Making a comment when they were leaving accomplished nothing.

ErnstBadian said:

Polite YTA. But I think it mostly depends what time the movie was. If you go to a kids movie at a time when little kids are likely to be there, you can’t get annoyed at all the people acting like little kids.

Left-coastal said:

NTA. They’re old enough to know better and act right.