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AIBU?

To tell DH 5yrs old is too young for Star Wars (even though I've never seen it)

142 replies

lechatnoir · 18/05/2011 21:05

DH has started to let DS1 watch Star Wars (the old ones) which I'm not happy about it as I assumed they are quite dark &/or violent. DH reckons the early ones are 'harmless' and I'm being OTT and unfair stopping him seeing then when most of the boys in is class have seen bits if not all of them.

So AIBU to DH/DS1 or are the Star Wars series totally inappropriate viewing for a 5yr old?

LCN

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wearenotinkansas · 18/05/2011 21:47

My DP has let DD (nearly 4) watch some of them. She does love them but gets nightmares after seeing them. But then she also gets nightmares about Dr Who - which she hasn't seen (!) and the ogres (very annoyed at Charlie and Lola about that one).

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bea · 18/05/2011 21:51

i completely understand where you are coming from... i love the original star wars so know the films well... but .... when dd1 was 5 over my dead body would she be allowed to watch it... then ds1 came along and you know the PFB thing just dissappears and i supose he saw it properly only when he turned 7... but alas that means dd2 (4) has seen the odd bit here and there... and now i have a 4 yr old who is convinced she is artoo deetoo, has a wonderful lego star wars t shirt (artto and c3PO of course!) and can use the force with great aplomb... we fear she has turned to the dark side though!!!!

so there you are... agree about your initial concerns but basically i agree with as someone has said before... all they will see is goodies and baddies, spaceships... and fab light sabres...

Fab Film!!! favourite is the A New Hope!!!

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Yama · 18/05/2011 21:52

Dd's favourite character is Darth Vadar. She started watching them aged 4. Lots to talk about - morality, politics, family, Millennium Falcons ...

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animula · 18/05/2011 22:03

PatriciaHolm - I was surprised too!

Look - trendy Star Wars art. This artist/collective did a print of a child leading an AT-AT walker - I'd love to get hold of one for ds.

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NerfHerder · 18/05/2011 22:40

ROAR@animula!

v. good!

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JoniRules · 18/05/2011 22:44

No actually YANBU...I would not let my DS watch it at 5, maybe 7 or 8.

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JoyceBarnaby · 18/05/2011 22:45

Clearly some people think it's ok and some don't. Fair enough. But, OP, how can you possibly know which camp you fall into if you've never watched it?!!

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Pictish · 18/05/2011 22:45

Star Wars is brilliant - way better than the usual shite kids watch.
My eldest has been a fan since age 3.

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MrsMellowDrummer · 18/05/2011 22:46

My daughter's 3rd word was "Deathstar". I am not kidding.

YABU.

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TeamLemon · 18/05/2011 22:51

My DSs are almost 6 and almost 3. They've seen all the films, including Clone Wars, have Star Wars books, a tonne of Galactic Heroes toys, DS1 plays Lego Star Wars on the Wii and they have quite a bit of Star Wars Lego too.

YABU to not them watch, but be warned... DH has taught DS1 many quotes, included "I am a Jedi, like my father before me." and DS2 will only answer to the name Anakin.

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virgiltracey · 18/05/2011 22:53

DSs 6 and 4) are allowed to watch 4,5 and 6 but not 1,2 and definitely not 3. However, despite never having seen 1,2 or 3 DS1 (just 6) knows the stories inside out. They are all obsessed in the playground and talk non stop star wars.

I wouldn't let them watch Harry Potter yet though, or Dr Who. Neither is DS2 allowed to watch the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons (DS1 admits he is sometimes scared by these too)

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MarisCrane · 18/05/2011 22:56

My parents edited our copy (paused the recording and restarted it) so I never knew that Obi wan cuts off the arm in the cantina. They didn't edit out the death grip though, or anything else!

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SingingSands · 18/05/2011 23:02

Back in the mid-80s, my little brother used to sit inches from our old tv watching star wars, he would have been 4/5 years old. He knew the words off by heart - we would watch him mouthing along with the films! They really are quite tame compared with what is produced today. Little kids tend to take films like these at face value - they see the "good" guys versus the "bad" guys, are excited by the light sabres and spaceships, and love the characters.

And who can resist the Ewoks?

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hairfullofsnakes · 18/05/2011 23:02

How can you judge something you have never seen?

Here's a clever idea - before you start going on at your dh, watch it first as yabvu to go on about it as you dont even know what you are talking about do you?

Honestly!

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Niecie · 18/05/2011 23:02

YABU - as with all things, whether something is suitable depends on the child. However, as you haven't seen the films you aren't in a position to judge.

I would say Star Wars was a lot less scary/dark than Dr Who and the BBC see fit to show that at peak family viewing time on Saturday nights when small children can watch it.

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MillyR · 18/05/2011 23:04

There is some violence in them, but the films are fantastical in nature. It is rather like not reading your child Hansel and Gretel because it is about child abuse.

DS watched Star Wars many times at a young age and was not scared. Then a film started on tv at about 6pm (before watershed) where one man in the contemporary, real world shot another man. DS completely freaked out and was terrified. Because lots of aliens shooting lots of robots in Star Wars is pretend. A human now shooting another human now is not.

So I think YABU.

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virgiltracey · 18/05/2011 23:05

I have to say that whilst we are far more relaxed about star wars with DS2 than we were with DS1, I was somewhat disturbed to ask DS2 (4) the other day what he was thinking aout as he sat gazing into space only to be met with - "I was having a dream about me and the children from nursery being attacked by droids who stole our lightsabers and chopped our heads off" . If we didn't have star wars mad DS1(6) in the house star wars would still be off limits for DS2 who, if he had never heard of star wars, would still be quite happily watching bob the builder.

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MrsMellowDrummer · 18/05/2011 23:07

Very true Milly. We had to hide Finding Nemo for many years in our house, because to my then 3 year old, the concept of a little fish's mummy being eaten by a shark was just horrifically upsetting.

Go figure.

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animula · 18/05/2011 23:07

Aaagh! I can't help myself.

One day I'm going to write some blog listing Star Wars references in popular culture.

this one starts with the chant of the Ewoks worshipping R2D2. Apparently

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Joolyjoolyjoo · 18/05/2011 23:09

YABU! I went to the cinema (twice!) aged 4 to see Star Wars when it first came out, and have loved the movies ever since

I couldn't wait until my children were old enough to watch the originals (the prequels weren't nearly so good, and Revenge of the Sith is def a bit darker. Unfortunately, dd1 never had any interest, but dd2 (5) and ds (3) "watch" them- ie they watch bits and pieces, but don't really "get" the story.

It does depend on the child too, though. DD2 loves anything scifi or fantasy, and I reluctantly let her watch LOTR. I watched it with her, with the rule that if she found it all scary it went off. She loved it! having said that, I have never allowed dd1 (7) to watch any of the LOTR/ star wars- for one, she isn't interested, and secondly she gets a lot more affected by films etc than dd2- she couldn't watch the Little Shop of Horrors, and had nightmares about the Black Rabbit in Watership Down

For me, as a child, the film that upset me so much I had to be taken out of the cinema (at both attempts) was Bambi. I found the idea of a mother dying and being orphaned far scarier than an asthmatic guy in a black mask

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mitochondria · 18/05/2011 23:11

YABU.

My boys started watching the "proper" ones about a year ago when they were 5 and 3.
They have also seen the Phantom Menace but I try to avoid that because it's crap. I'm not keen for them to see the third new one yet because that is a bit dark at the end.

My husband watches them all the time anyway. There was no escape.

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virgiltracey · 18/05/2011 23:12

That watership down rabbit is truly scary though!

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TeamLemon · 18/05/2011 23:12

Oh yes, DS1 regularly "chops" his little brother up with a lightasber and can be seen shooting his blaster gun with other boys in the playground, but we have yet to get him to watch Happy Feet. Less than 10 minutes of tap dancing penguins and he's a sobbing mess.

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Bogeyface · 18/05/2011 23:13

Skimming but for me the main reason YABU is because you are banning something you know nothing about.

Watch them and then by all means ban them, but you really cant say no to something that you are making assumptions about. IMO they are fine for young kids, but I wouldnt let them watch the more recent 3 as they are too violent.

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bigmouthstrikesagain · 18/05/2011 23:15

My embarrased mother had to drag a sobbing 5yo me out of Watership down (my first trip to the cinema), it was the scary nightmare sequence - still scares the bejeezus out of me to this day.

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