why are kids so outrageously stupid in movies and TV.?

Yep, I just finished re-watching 28 weeks later...the same sh*t too!!!

This has become a regular movie trope. The kid/teen that freezes, freaks out, wanders/runs off, sneaks out, etc.

Okay, Hollywood. We get the message: Kids/teens who don't obey their awesome parents are selfish, ungrateful turds who will get everyone killed.

Oh, and if you're the idiot hero on a mission that requires super ninja stealth you might want to turn off your cellphone ringer in case your idiot wife calls to say she misses you and hopes your mission is going well, hun.

Because poor behaviour is condoned in Western societies. While it is true that from a evolutionary viewpoint, you might expect children to cooperate in their own survival, the nurture aspect of it might dominate for the West since these parents are so lax with their children.

After so many years of poor behaviour, can you really expect the children to behave properly just because it is their own lives on the line? These are children after all.

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It's just lazy script writing. In this movie it also further highlighted that Brad Pitt had to be the one protecting them as they were all helpless, despite him supposedly just being an ordinary dad (albeit one who had experienced scary situations before).

Tom, the hispanic kid was far more independent. He knew that going with Brad was safer than staying in the apartment. He was superior to his dad in that respect. He also manages to escape and saves Brad on the stairs.