Post: Can My Kid See A Scary Movie?
Can My Kid See A Scary Movie?
It happens every year: At some point, I find myself sitting in a darkened movie theater next to a 5-year-old, watching some scary blockbuster that has such intense scenes it’s all I can do to keep from putting my hand over his eyes. Never mind the child is a stranger.
"My kid can handle it," one parent of a 6-year-old told me after a showing of King Kong. "He knows the difference between real life and this." (Me? I had to leave during the bug scene since it freaked me out so much.)
While it’s great to trust your kid’s abilities, most child psychologists wouldn’t agree with this parent. In fact, as Joanne Cantor, author of Mommy, I'm Scared: How TV and Movies Frighten Children and What We Can Do To Protect Them points out, very young kids can’t distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Because of this, Cantor says, it's useless to tell such young children what they’re watching “isn’t real.”
With this weekend's release of Pirates of the Caribbean (see our review here), parents need to think carefully about whether to bring the kids along. Movies with scary images, intense peril, loud noises, and above all, blood, can create all sorts of disturbances including anxiety, sleep disruption, and fears about certain situations.
Cantor and Kristen Harrison of the University of Michigan conducted a study showing that the younger kids are when they see a scary movie or TV show, the longer-lasting the effects. In fact, the study showed that one out of four college students still had lingering effects of a frightful movie or TV experience from childhood.
Cantor and Harrison found that these effects lasted much longer for those who watched frightening media because someone else was watching or wanted to watch the film or program.
So before you take your kids to something you may want to see and think they might be able to handle, ask yourself it it’s age-appropriate; our reviews can definitely provide you with some guidance. Getting scared can be fun -- if kids are truly mature enough to handle what's scaring them.
If you make the wrong judgment call and your young kid does get scared, Cantor recommends non-verbal remedies -- a hug, a glass of water, distracting activities.
And for young kids (under 7), because the distinction between fact and fiction is unclear, they often respond well to magical remedies -- an Indian dream-catcher or a ritual check for monsters in the closet.
How do you tell if a movie is right for your kid? Click here to find the developmental guidelines we use when we create our reviews.
There are 2 replies to this post
Date: July 12, 2006
Hmm..see, this is why I don't think we should feed kids stuff about Santa Claus and tooth fairies and the like. They're trying to make sense of the world, and parents are making it even harder!
Date: July 12, 2006
This is true - my English teacher had to cross the street if he saw a pigeon - thanks to his older sister who let him watch the Birds when he was too young.