Do you let your young one watch horror movies?

[reveal]

Every Saturday, a bunch of us get together at my place before the game and watch a movie. My son is 3, so I've put the kibosh on any horror movie if he is not napping. I do this because I don't think I can explain it.

What I mean is I can explain movie violence, he like Batman but he knows that he's a superhero and only beats up villians and never kills them just beats them up, and I have no problem with bad language because, again, I can explain it and he doesn't say words like that mainly because my wife and I make a concerted effort not to curse around him.

But I don't think I can explain horrorific scenes. It's hard to explain something which requires such imagination to comprehend. Anyway, am I alone in this? Am I being naive in thinking he wouldn't understand it?

 

[IronWolf]

My son is only a little over a year old, we do not let him watch very much television at all (this includes him sort of watching while my wife and I watch TV or movie, if he becomes too interested the TV goes off and we pick it up after he goes to bed).

Recently we had a LotR marathon at the house and had a few friends over. During any of the scenes that involved violence or even some of the orc scenes I would either play with him with his back to the screen or Mom would come get him and play with him in the play room.

I don't even see myself letting him watch those genre of films at three either. It's not that we plan on keeping him from seeing these types of films until he's 18, but we do intend to wait until his cognitive reasoning is a little more mature. (Face it, by the time they hit 13 or 14 they will just head to a friend's house to watch what they want).

So I don't think you are being naive at all....

 

[Micah]

You're being reasonable.

Night terrors aren't fun to have to deal with, and often scary movies can trigger them. 3 is too young for the horror genre. IMO

 

[BOZ]

my wife is big into horror movies. my 9-year old step-daughter has been watching horror movies with her since a very young age. freddy and jason don't scare her at all - but i couldn't even handle those movies while i was a teenager. (now they're no big deal.)

it may be an argument, but i don't think i want our fetus watching horror movies until she is older.

 

[Arkhandus]

Do. Not. Allow. Your. Young. Ones. To. Watch. Horror. Movies.

You should never allow children to watch movies or shows with an emphasis on horror, gory violence, foul language, or lewd content.

I'm friggin' serious. Forget your 'good parenting'. If you let your children watch/hear such things before they're teenagers (13+ generally, the earliest age anyone's supposed to be allowed to watch such things anyway), they ARE going to develop into violent, foul-mouthed, obscene punks by the time they are old enough to be considered 'adults', regardless of how mentally immature they may be at that point.

Such movies and television shows only stimulate the primitive parts of the brain and WILL inevitably cause most children exposed to them to develop more primitive tendencies as I mentioned above. It does not matter how they behave around you, they will show their true nature when alone or amongst friends, at some point, and that true nature will reflect the terrible influence you allowed them to be indulged in during their youth. Because 'good parenting' isn't merely making sure that your children behave around you, it's making sure they learn to behave when you aren't looming in the background with the promise of punishment for bad behavior.

Don't let your children develop like that. Ensure that they do not watch inappropriate programming for their age. They will never remain decent human beings if you expose them (or allow them to be exposed to) bad shows and movies that influence the primitive parts of their brain to take more control. It's especially crucial during childhood and the early teen years when their brain is still developing ethical concepts and perceptions.

I've seen my cousins develop into violent, insolent, rude, selfish brats who constantly fight and bicker with eachother and their parents, and a significant reason for that is that their parents never bothered to censor what they watched/listened to, and never bothered to make sure that they didn't have access to such stuff. Their parents would frequently get them into R-rated movies when they weren't even teenagers yet, and now the boys are a constant frustration for my aunt to handle.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Do. Not. Allow. Your. Young. Ones. To. Watch. Horror. Movies.

You should never allow children to watch movies or shows with an emphasis on horror, gory violence, foul language, or lewd content.

I'm friggin' serious. Forget your 'good parenting'. If you let your children watch/hear such things before they're teenagers (13+ generally, the earliest age anyone's supposed to be allowed to watch such things anyway), they ARE going to develop into violent, foul-mouthed, obscene punks by the time they are old enough to be considered 'adults', regardless of how mentally immature they may be at that point.

Sorry, but, I watched gory and violent and scary movies all through my childhood and I'm not violent, foul-mothed, obscene, or a punk and I'm generally considered an adult at the age of 18. There is NO end all, be all "This will happen" with things like this. It really should be up to the parent, though waiting until kids are at least a somewhat reasonable age is a good idea.

But hey, if you like your kids never sleeping and being terrified, that's fine. My little brother(he'll be 8 in a week) was like that a couple of times after watching Lord of the Rings(the Wraiths scared him) and that sure put a stop on his watching those until he can control his imagination.

 

[orchid blossom]

I used to work at a day care center, and I was surprised how many parents let their young kids watch horror movies.

I saw Poltergiest when I was around 8 years old, and I had to have a light on in the bedroom for three years afterward. I slept in the top bunk cause I thought if Gremlins came to get us, they'd get my sister first and I could jump down and run.

Bottom line-Kids have active imaginations, if you feed them with horror movies they will most likely spend a lot of frightened nights.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I saw Jurassic Park when I was roughly 8. It was pretty scary, but it certainly didn't affect me much in the long-term in terms of making me a screwed-up violent criminal.

I don't agree at all that you shouldn't show kids horror movies. I don't believe in in "sheltering" children from reality. Kids need to understand all the bad stuff that goes on in the world. The alternatives are intentionally lying or concealing things from them, and that I wouldn't want to do. That goes for plenty of things beyond horror films, including the current terrorism scare and "the birds and the bees" (an idiotic euphamism if there ever was one). I firmly believe that the best way to raise a child into an adult is to treat him as much like an adult as you possibly can.

I would rather my kid sit with me watching a horror movie at a young age and jump with me during the scary parts and hear me explain how it's only a movie and what the point of watching it is than have his first such experience be with other kids his age who sit around and laugh at the blood and gore and revel in the fact that they're doing something "edgy".

 

[Darkness]

IMO:

If the movies are really scary, give it at least 5 more years. I still remember watching a particularly scary Dracula movie when I was around 10. It didn't scare me out of my mind, but neither was it a particularly pleasant experience.

 

[Mystery Man]

But I don't think I can explain horrorific scenes. It's hard to explain something which requires such imagination to comprehend. Anyway, am I alone in this? Am I being naive in thinking he wouldn't understand it?

No, you're being a smart and responsible parent. Keep up the good work.