AIBU to not let my 6yr old dd watch Watership Down?

[CherryPie3]

Because my husband thinks I am.

She is prone to bad dreams and letting things play on her mind and I remember WD being a bit bloody...

I saw Watership Down at about 6 or 7, and cried so much that my mum thought I was deeply and permanently traumatised. I was - still can't hear Bright Eyes without howling . More seriously, did also have nightmares, and it did prey on my mind quite badly (I was that sort of child). I wouldn't let 6yo DS watch it, as he is of the same ilk.

I cant believe how many people were traumatized by wd. i mean really?

I'm inclined to feel the same about "Warhorse" -probably too upsetting for 8 year old? Anyone seen it?

Is it out yet? I know I'm not going to see that at the cinema - just hearing bits about it on the radio had me starting to get damp-eyed. I've not even read the book yet (intend to, DD has it in a morpurgo set and hasn't yet read it - she's 12) but knowing roughly what it is about and how Black Beauty reduces me to tears I know I'll have to wait till its out on DVD.

My DD got upset by Lady and The Tramp 2 when she was about 5 - there's a 'scary' dog in it. No way WD for a 6 year old! Just because a film has a U certificate doesn't mean it won't upset some children. It just mean it didn't tick any of the censors boxes (though how WD doesn't get it for violence I don't know - just because its a cartoon is irrelevant to small children). Really its best not to show a small child anything unless you're damn sure its innocuous, and certainly not let them watch anything for the first time alone.

I saw it at 12 and cried and cried.Had read the book so knew what would happen too. My Dd has just turned 7 and she couldn't cope with it,she is also prone to things playing on her mind.She still hasn't seen a classic Disney film in full apart from Mary Poppins.Its really hard to find anything without fighting (lady and the tramp)/parental death (Bambi,lion king)/terrifying people (101 dalmations,chitty chitty bang bang)etc. If anyone knows of a really good film for smaller children with none of those things then please mention it!

I hated that film, and even thinking about That Song for too long makes me well up.
Tiny Clanger had the same reaction as me when she saw it at a friend's house. She spent several days guarding her pet rabbits in the garden for long periods of time.
Strangely enough, Jurassic Park had no effect on her. Apparently the velociraptors were cool.
I have noticed that small children encountering the original King Kong are usually wobbly-lipped at the end. They are rooting for Kong all the way through.

Oh BluddyMoFo . That is just awful.

I really do think that watching those films as a child affected me deeply. I am extremely hypersensitive to any sort of animal suffering now and can't bear to watch films / read books with anything even remotely animal-suffering related. DM knows to warn me if she passes on a book that has any sad animal content I then immediately discard said book. A while ago someone recommended I watch the trailer for the Animal-Rights film "Earthlings"...I went vegan for two years.

No YADNBU.

Scarred for life I am. sob.

Just hearing "Bright Eyes" makes me want to cry. Saw it two years in a row as a christmas treat at primary school, so maybe age 7 and 8.

Some bloody christmas treat. The first time was shocking. THe second time was almost worse, because I knew what was coming! :(

Bloody hell, Bloodymofo, I remember that pit pony film! I was like Niagara, watching that :(

WD didn't terrify me so much, but it really haunted me for months. It was just so sad, and strange, and scary, and real. And completely unexpected! I think films/cartoons of the seventies/early eighties were a bit like that...weirdly ultra realistic, even in cartoons, if that makes sense.

I remember watching some ultra bright cartoon about a rabbit - super cute - being almost caught by a fox, but getting away. I cried my eyes out and my mum was going to let me watch WD soon, but she changed her mind sharpish!

WD is just one of those moments though, that you never forget, if affects you. I'd love to go to some kind of support group for people suffering from WD trauma ;)

With kids though, you just don't know what's going to affect them. I remember one episode of Hi-Di-Hi where someone was found floating in the pool. I was about 7 and traumatised for months. Hi-Di-Hi, ffs!

I was just saying to DH before there's no way I can watch War Horse. It's my idea of hell. Any kind of depiction of animals scared/suffering stays with me for ages. I got kind of, semi upset at the real animals used in that Zookeeper film that came out recently (not We Bought a Zoo - but the one where they talk).

YAsoooooooNBU. End of.

Daddy is very naughty and should be told off!

I was given the book when I was about 6 or 7 by one of my favourite uncles. Still haven't read it (30 years later) because I knew it'd make me cry. Still haven't told him I haven't read it.

Now DD is amost 6, perhaps I should actually get round to reading it? ?

No don't let her, it frightened me at ten years old!

YANBU - don't let her watch it, it will fuck her up !

WD is shit. It's boring as hell.

Sorry to post without reading the whole thread.

It turns out my entire childhood cultural experience was heavily censored by my well-meaning DM. I had no idea Bambi's mother died. Ditto Dumbo. ET and Eliot lived happily ever after as far as I was aware. Watership Down didn't even exist. (Too many scenes of bunny peril to craftily edit perhaps?)

It has affected me in exactly the same way as popbiscuit, even though our experiences are opposite.

I let my then 5 year old ds watch WD. I think I was being a bit dim because I read & loved the book when I was 6 &, because ds is another bookwormy type, I thought he'd love it & want to read the book.

Anyway, we settled down to watch it together...I got bored & went off to make a coffee...ds was confronted with a gruesome bit...tears & distress .

Definitely a 'with caution' one - ds is nearly 8 now, & I think he'd be OK to watch it with me, as would 5 year old dd1 tbh, but it does contain potentially distressing scenes. LOTS of them.

As for 'The Plague Dogs' - I used to teach year 7 a unit on a novel called 'Pig Heart Boy' (Malorie Blackman) which raised issues about animal experimentation, & we used to watch TPD.

Recently I was added on FB by someone I taught about 8 years ago. She clearly remembers watching 'TPD' & apparently it's haunted her ever since...

Both fantastic novels & great films, but not easy viewing or something you'd automatically plonk a very small child in front of!

Can't remember how old I was when I watched it but I'd never do it again, my children have never watched it and they are 17 and 8

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Cherry if he's never seen it you definitely have to make sure he sees it! It's a great film IMO, but definitely not suitable for little ones!

I expect he'll be shocked at what's actually in it, won't he?!

I agree with what most people are saying that you should probably wait with WD, it's the ONLY book that has made my DH cry. And that was a couple of years ago.

Having said that, I do think challenging films like this can be really good for children to watch as long as you watch them together. I remember my Mum reading us WD and then we watched it together, cried buckets and then talked a lot about what it all meant. My older half brother had recently died and it really really helped me to understand what had happened and to feel some semblance of peace. I can't remember what age I was - maybe 8?

I agree with an earlier poster that kids films/tv shows from the 70's and 80's were a bit darker - I remember watching things like The Moonstone and something about a lighthouse where boat loads of people got drowned on CBBC (when Schofield was in the Broom Cupboard). But I think that's kind of good... as long as they're not gory or super violent...am I weird?

I am still traumatised by the bit in never ending story when the pony drowns in the mud.