Mum's ‘entitled’ act at a wedding sparks debate over screen volume

"The mother confronted me in a very aggressive manner," the guest wrote. What would you do? 

Parenting little ones at weddings can be tough when guests have different expectations of what is acceptable etiquette.

One guest at a wedding started a huge online debate recently when she took to a popular forum to question a mum's screen time etiquette for her toddler.

It all started at the reception when during the speeches, the guest says she became distracted by the toddler on the table behind hers who was watching a loud children's show.

"Am I the a*****e for suggesting someone turn down their toddler’s phone/tablet volume during a wedding reception speech," questioned the guest on a now-deleted post in the AITA Reddit thread.

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"Turn the volume down"

"I looked over a handful of times, because it was distracting, hoping they would get the hint to turn the volume down," explained the original poster.

Rather than noticing her subtle approach and turning down the volume, the toddler's mum said: "My kid didn’t get a nap today."

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"She confronted me in a very aggressive manner"

"I totally understand the importance of a kid’s nap schedule and that they can become tiny beasts if they don’t get enough sleep," the guest explained in the post.

But things didn't end there.

"After the speeches were done, the mother confronted me in a very aggressive manner and thought I was questioning her parenting skills and screen-time choices."

She said that this absolutely wasn't the case, but that it was more about the timing of the screen time viewing and the distraction factor.

"In general, I thought it was common courtesy not to have the volume of electronics up high in a public place or at an event when someone is speaking?" the OP concluded before asking for feedback.

Comments were swift to criticise the parents of the toddler and mostly sided with the guest.

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"This is why child free weddings are popular"

"This is why child free weddings are becoming more popular," one irate commenter responded.

"Mothers think the world revolves around them. They are encouraged in this view by other mothers who think they get a pass for imposing their offspring on the rest of us."

The unperceptive behaviour of the parents came under fire from the majority of responders.

"It's not the child's behaviour that needed to be regulated. They didn't put the tablet on and turn it up. It's the parents' selfish and entitled behaviour that needed to be regulated.'

Other parents were incredulous a mum or dad allowed this to happen.

"As a parent of four this would never happen," they wrote.

"And if my kids uttered a peep... I’d do what my dad did and hustle their a***s right out of there."

One pointed out that it is always the mums that cop the judgement.

"When reading OP's post I kept wondering where the dad was?

"And why the father didn't take the kid into the hall until the speeches were over or why the parents didn't bring earphones?"

Another poster agreed that clearly headphones or removal would have been the right move in this situation.

"I have two kids under six and I’m often annoyed when I see other parents acting entitled.

"When we fly, we use tablets with headphones. No reason they couldn’t do this in this situation. Or remove themselves from the ceremony if the kid is melting down.

"It's not hard to be mindful of others when you have kids," they concluded.

Originally published as Mum's ‘entitled’ act at a wedding sparks debate over screen volume