the kids were expected to sleep....they probably thought it was a great treat....
I'll pass on criticizism for now...
when we could not afford a sitter for a few hours it normally ment we could not afford the movie either ;)
I remember seeing a movie in a theater years ago — I think it was “Presumed Innocent” — and a couple near us had a 4 year old with them. The kid woke up just in time to see the male star (William Hurt?) nail the female star on the desk. I was embarrassed and thought that those people had no business exposing their child to material like that. The movie got worse from there.