'AITA for ignoring a child asking me to be quiet at Medieval Times?'
"AITA for ignoring a child asking me to be quiet at Medieval Times?"
I (25F) went to Medieval Times with a group of friends over the holidays. I was really excited because I had seen a bunch of TikToks of girls dressing up and flirting with the knights. A group of my girlfriends and I dressed up and skedaddled our way over. We were a little late, so we were seated in the back.
Like everyone else, we cheered when our knights appeared and heckled the rival knights. Partway through the show, a large family with several small children came in. There were already a lot of families and birthday parties there, so I did not think much of it and continued cheering. The family got settled and everything seemed fine.
After the dressage show, the knights dueled. Of course, when our knight came out, we cheered and acted like his number one fan club. That is when I felt something tugging on my arm. I thought my shirt had snagged on something, so I pulled it away, but then I heard a child scream directly in my ear, “Excuse me, can you stop screaming?”
The mom immediately grabbed the child and apologized. I said it was fine and continued cheering, but the child kept grabbing me and shouting at me to stop. Eventually, the mom moved the child to the other side of her so they could not grab me, but the child continued screaming at me to stop yelling.
I felt bad because the child was probably overstimulated, so I stopped cheering for our knight for a bit. Even when I stopped, the child still got angry and screamed at me to be quiet. At that point, I gave up and went back to cheering while ignoring the child.
Later, I told my friends what happened. Some of them said I was wrong for continuing to cheer even though it bothered the child. Others said it was the parents’ fault for not taking the child to a quieter waiting area. I still feel bad about it, so AITA?
Here's what people had to say to OP:
Hazypete says:
Medieval Times is not the place for a kid who does not like yelling. It’s part of the show and encouraged. NTA.
knotcricket says:
NTA. If the kid has sensory issues, her parents shouldn't be bringing her to a crowded theater performance where the whole point is to cheer. That's for the kid and her parents to manage, not you.
SuspiciousCod1090 says:
NTA, the mother should have told the child to stop screaming, put headphones on the child, or removed him from the situation.
Important_One_8729 says:
NTA, You were acting within the expectations of guest behavior at the establishment. if the kiddo was overstimulated or upset, their parents should've removed them from the situation until they could regulate.