Wedding guest confronts parent over volume of toddler’s tablet during speeches

‘The lack of social awareness some people have is amazing’

Wedding guest applauded for telling parent to silence toddler’s tablet (Getty Images)

Weddings that don’t allow children have become increasingly common as people continue to come up with more reasons not to invite those who are underage.

In a recent Reddit post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” subreddit, one wedding guest detailed an argument she got into with a mother during a recent wedding due to the volume on her toddler’s tablet.

“The table behind me at a reception dinner had a toddler watching a video at a high volume during the speeches. I looked over a handful of times, because it 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 looks, at which point she defended her child’s behavior. She responded that she was only letting her child watch something because “my kid didn’t get a nap today.” The Reddit poster noted that they understood the parent’s reasoning and knew that children who don’t get enough sleep are not the easiest to deal with.

However, after the speeches were over, the mother went on to confront the other wedding guest, viewing her looks during the speeches as an insult. “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. I hadn’t said boo to her and wasn’t questioning her abilities as a mother at all,” they clarified in their post.

“In general, I thought it was common courtesy to not have the volume of electronics up high in a public place or at an event when someone is speaking?”

After posting, many people took to the comments to defend the guest’s actions, mentioning that other precautions should have been made if the child didn’t have their daily nap, such as giving them headphones to listen to the tablet or even taking them out of the room to not disrupt the speeches.

AITA for suggesting someone turn down their toddler’s phone/tablet volume during a wedding reception speech?
byu/Far_Switch4003 inAmItheAsshole

“If the kid can’t be quiet or be entertained quietly during a speech in the nearest thing to a formal event most people will ever be at, the correct thing to do is to take them out of the room,” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing: “The lack of social awareness some people have is amazing. It’s just not appropriate to let your kid have an iPad or equivalent on volume at a wedding let alone during speeches. Nothing says entitled more than this.”

“My kid didn’t have a nap. Okay? It’s now everyone at the wedding’s problem? Take the kid outside during the speeches. Incredibly, these speeches are more important than your kid who doesn’t even know they’re at a wedding!” a third comment began. “The brazenness of some parents to use their kids as excuses to do the rudest s**t is astounding. You were absolutely questioning her parenting skills… and her general adult human social decorum?”

“How about NO iPad at the event,” a fourth commenter suggested. “Teach your child to sit quietly when people are speaking. They need to learn to socialize and act in public from a young age. You can’t wait until they’ve learned bad behavior and say: ‘Oh, I guess it’s time to teach social skills.’”