When is it inappropriate to watch horror films around DCs?

[coffeeandcream]

I honestly don't know - we are expecting our first in December and we have no experience of babies or young kids. We are the first of our friends and in our family to start the next generation.

DH and I enjoy thriller and horror films, but I obviously want to be a responsible parent. At what age would you say little ones become aware of the content of films their parents watch? Should we just stop watching these kinds of films at home?

Opinions and advice much appreciated.

C&C

Just watch them when they're in bed?

erm, when the kids are in bed of course...

yes, when they're asleep.

i know 'parents' who watched very hard core horror around their kids - all three kids now have "issues" oddly enough :/

But newborns will be awake in the evening, we never stopped watching things until dd was about one I guess, it was when she started taking an interest.

Never if you have a child like my DSS who cried for weeks about the bad bunny rabbit after MIL let him watch Watership Down age 5.

MIL also let my DH watch horror/thriller type things when he was little but it was 30 years ago and things are pretty graphic and true to life now.

I agree with other posters - when they are in bed (and asleep so don't watch 10 minutes of the Walking Dead, wide eyed with horror after sneaking downstairs )

I was a bit PFB with dd and worried that screams etc would have an impact on her

She is now the devil incarnate and only 8 months old do that bit of theory turned out to be shite in practice

We prob watched stuff until they were maybe 5 months? Mind you newborn ds started crying at all the shouting on Jeremy Kyle, he was weeks old. I felt like an awful mother then

I came in once to find DH watching Scarface with DD. She was tiny but we 'decided' 'together' that it was not appropriate. Bear in mind that newborns can distinguish facial expressions, terror included.

Whenever they start actually registering the telly. I can't remember when that is.

I can remember feeding a very tiny ds while watching Lost and jumping at something scary so hard that he lost my nipple

My DD1 burst into tears at a few months old when I was watching the news and there was a very distressed woman shown who was really crying, something awful and happened, and DD just looked at her and started sobbing.

So I would say when they are asleep / in a different room.

TBH it's Cbeebies from you all the way in from now on
I can't even watch something like buffy or star trek as about 2 secs in I realise they are highly inappropriate! Dammit.

I wouldn't watch them around them until they are old enough to watch it themselves. I saw scarface by accident as a child... Not good. The music alone is enough to give kids nightmares.

Thanks for the insight, I know it's a long time to go yet, I was just curious. Obviously, wait til they're in bed, but as mrsrhetbutler said, newborns are awake at all hours.

Chances are we'll just watch something else, I'm just paranoid I'll scar LO for life before its even 6mo!

newborns also sleep for much of the time too...

I think they can pick up the feel of a film - not to mention any fear or suspense you are feeling.

So yes - when they are in bed

You can still get away with it when they're still tiny but awake (under 6 months?). DS has a 12yo friend who texted about what a great flick 28 Weeks Later is. Which came on at 11pm the other night. I am NOT impressed with friend's parents.

DS has also admitted that Dr. Who is probably too scary for his younger siblings thank goodness because they scare me to bits, too!.

Newborns sleep for long enough to watch a film!

I remember dd1 coming downstairs when we were watching Saw, we clicked the telly off straight away but she did ask "what are the naughty men doing in the bathroom?". She was 2 1/2

I also agree that even babies can pick up on the atmosphere of a film. It's not just what you see or understand but other things like the tension music/sudden loud jumpy bits etc.

Up until about a year old they won't really notice what's on screen except flashy colours. After that wait until they are in bed because they might start to get scared and getting scared as a kid is horrible.

I have an 8 week old and haven't stopped watching anything I feel like yet! It hasn't been anything super scary, but the Sopranos and other stuff I would never let him watch until he's old enough. He really isn't paying any attention to the TV yet, and as for screaming and stuff being distressing, he will hear babies screaming lots, what's the difference? I do think people are way too sensitive about this stuff, while they are tiny I'm sure it won't even register.

Well I stopped when something on the news made my DD1 burst into tears.

That felt reasonable to me

I watched all sorts of films and TV programmes after the kids went to bed, but all with subtitles when each of them were newborns. Crying or squawking definitely impedes the enjoyment of a good film. Once the kids start trying to look at the TV, probably best to stop watching adult programmes. Cbeebies all the way.

Ifyoucantsayanythingnice-

You mention MIL let DH watch horror when he was little in the 70s and it is now more "true to life"... erm not really. SFX may have came on leaps and bounds, but 70s horror includes The Exorcist, Last House on the Left, Hills Have Eyes, Black Christmas, Martin, Strip Nude for your Killer and many others that are still shockers today.

My father is one for early exposure to more "grown-up" material. He wasn't so keen on me watching horror but would buy me films with pretty risque scenes from the age of 12, the first time I asked for them. Even I was a little shocked though when I met up with him last summer in London and we'd been seeing The Skin I Live In, a parodically complex iteration of the rape/revenge theme involving graphic sex and sexual assaults, bondage, dildos, drugs and bloody death. Typical Pedro Almodovar, 15 and a little surprised it wasn't 18, we both enjoyed it. But then came the kicker:

He said it may be okay for my young half-sister, by his much younger (40yo) partner to watch: she was/is SEVEN. YEARS. OLD.

Not that this has much to do with stopping babies and toddlers from hearing scary noises that give them 'mares.

Ifyoucantsayanythingnice Tue 05-Jun-12 19:59:59
Never if you have a child like my DSS who cried for weeks about the bad bunny rabbit after MIL let him watch Watership Down age 5.

Glad it's not just me. I have to leave the room if Watership Down comes on. It's terrifying!