Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

To think Jurassic park isnt suitable for a 3 year old?!

22 replies

NoBlimminWay · 08/12/2015 13:13

My dp has been going on and on about how he thinks its about time my dd (not his) watched Jurassic park. Shes dinosaur mad at the moment but even so, his suggestion has been met with a big fat no. His argument is that shes not scared easily and that no one follows movie age guidelines. He thinks I'm being too strict and so I've suggested we put this whole thing on AIBU so he can see what other people's reactions would be.

OP posts:

WhirlwindHugs · 08/12/2015 13:16

Er no! Some clips of the nice parts of the films where the dinosaurs are still in cages etc would probably go down well, but anything more than that = nightmares.

Tell him children can't distinguish fiction from reality at 3 years old.

Murdock · 08/12/2015 13:18

I watched Jurassic World with my 3-year-old - she fell sound asleep after 45mins.

Depends on the child - the violence isn't graphic but it is quite intense.

FattySantaRobin · 08/12/2015 13:19

My 2 year old loves the JP films. But I'm in a minority here. I know that. And they are PG anyway.

FattySantaRobin · 08/12/2015 13:19

Jurrasic world she loved too and that's not pg

FrozenPonds · 08/12/2015 13:24

My just turned 4 year old likes it.

She is getting the Jurassic Lego sets for Christmas.

hownottofuckup · 08/12/2015 13:26

Totally depends on the child, I have 2yr old who loves all the Spiderman films and a 5yr old who was obsessed by the Harry Potter films (I did turn off the last one though) and is now a fan of Jaws and Independence Day.
My 7 yr old doesn't like anything remotely scary.

Murdock · 08/12/2015 13:29

I can't wait to watch Jaws with my DDs, but they are a bit young for it at the moment - seriously intense film.

hownottofuckup · 08/12/2015 13:34

Tbh I wouldn't have dreamt of putting it on, but they're dad did and she loved it. She's someone that enjoys a good scare, i'm more like my 7yr old!

steakpunararemediumwelldone · 08/12/2015 13:34

DD watched it at 4 and was fine with it. It is a PG but it depends on the child. DD is 8 now and I haven't let her see Jurassic World yet because of the pteradactyl drowning scene.

I like using www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews for stuff like this as it has child and adult reviews so you can get a good idea of what is going to be in it.

If she is your dd though it is your decision.

edwinbear · 08/12/2015 13:38

My 4 yr old dd has seen it and loved it, she understands it's just a story. 6 yr old ds was scared though so chooses not to watch it, although he also understands it's not real.

Murdock · 08/12/2015 14:06

steakpunararemediumwelldone

"the pteradactyl drowning scene"

That was such a weird moment in that film, because it was basically your standard issue summer-family-film-with-scary-bits, then all of a sudden this really cruel, mean-spirited, violent scene turns up in the middle of it.

Luckily DD was asleep by then...

FattySantaRobin · 08/12/2015 14:28

I thought the raptor getting grilled was worse but that's just my personal thing. I liked the raptors.

LaurieLemons · 08/12/2015 15:25

Only you know your DD. If she likes dinosaurs then she probably won't get scared and if she does you can just switch it off.

FeliciaJollygoodfellow · 09/12/2015 09:04

My three boys have all watched Jurassic Park by the age of three. It wouldn't have been my choice but it was watched on a rainy afternoon while I was working.

If it scared them it certainly didn't have any lasting effects, so I guess I have to grudgingly say DH was right.

Jurassic World did scare them though and we turned it off.

HackerFucker22 · 09/12/2015 09:14

My 3 year old had seen all of them (Jurassic World at cinema, without my permission - thanks BIL).

I am a terrible mum.

PonyoLovesHam · 09/12/2015 09:18

Murdock I thought the same! That scene did seem out of place, I wondered if I'd missed something and the woman had got away. It just seemed a bit extreme compared to the rest of the film.

My 4 yo dd really wants to watch it. I'm considering it, she understands the difference between acting and real life and will know the dinosaurs aren't real.

SunsetDream · 09/12/2015 09:39

No way. There's too much realism. Some children are fine, but why would you want to desensitise her to violence?

Whatthefreakinwhatnow · 09/12/2015 09:45

desensitise her to violence?!

My DD first watched JP at a similar age and loved it, still does at 8 and enjoyed the new one. She didn't find it scary- not because she us desensitised to violence but because she understands the difference between fantasy and reality

SunsetDream · 09/12/2015 09:50

Yours maybe, but not all do. Being eaten alive ought to be shocking...

INeedACheeseSlicer · 09/12/2015 10:10

Well, I understand the difference between fantasy and reality.

I still find certain scenes in films scary, or unpleasant, or downright disturbing.

That's a bit of the point of watching a film, isn't it? That you suspend your sense of disbelief, and get wrapped up in the characters?
You aren't sitting there thinking "oh, that was an impressive bit of CGI, and it's OK, that woman didn't really just get shot, she's just an actor." Or maybe you are thinking that, but I would have thought it would detract from the impact of the film a bit.

FWIW, I am now disturbed by things that I think I would have cheerfully shrugged off if I'd watched them as a teen - I'm thinking mainly of 18 films, but the principal is the same. I don't know whether that is because I watched a lot of films as a teen, and so I was a bit desensitised, or whether because I just wasn't mature enough to really think about what I was seeing.
I'd be concerned it was the same with children (maybe it's not coincidence that in some of the anecdotes on here, it is the older children who are more scared) - that if they are unmoved it might be partly because they aren't mature enough to understand it - in which case they aren't getting much out of seeing it anyway, and that if they keep on watching things like that, they might become a bit desensitised to it all as they get older. Or conversely if they are disturbed by it, then you have shown them something that was really scary to them.

My children are quite sensitive anyway, but I wouldn't dream of showing them something like that. Watching something on a screen, with accompanying sound effects is a world away from reading about it in a book. You can't unsee something that disturbs you. I still remember scenes from films I saw as a child that made a big impact on me, and generally they are less shocking than someone being eaten by a dinosaur.

ZebraLovesKnitting · 09/12/2015 10:28

I'm tempted to say that it's your DD in question, so it's your rules. If you don't want her to watch it then that should be the end of it.

Personally, my DC are almost-3 & just-turned-5 and over the last year have watched a mixture of PG and 12 films - all the Spiderman, Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter ones, for example. Not watched Jurassic Park yet, but if it's in over Christmas as usual they probably will watch it.

My 2 year old (almost 3) won't sit and watch anything for more than 10 minutes anyway, but my 5 year old will happily sit and watch a whole film, even the Lord of the Rings epics. He definitely understands, because he acts them all out later, and my 2 year old will play along acting out bits too.

In fact, the only thing that we've had issues with is Coronation Street. I don't watch it, but my in-laws do. DC were at my in-laws, it was on and there was a scene where Paddy (whoever that is, I think that was his actual name?) gets buried alive by a load of grain. My 5 year old (then 4) couldn't get it out of his head, was very upset by it, had nightmares about it and just kept remembering it over and over again.

The only thing that I can think of is that most films he's watched are fantasy (superheroes, monsters, elves, orcs, wizards...), so they're obviously not real, but Coronation Street seems to be more real.

RainWildsGirl · 09/12/2015 10:38

my nearly 6 yo dino mad DC hasn't watched it yet but he can be easily scared by things. I still jump at the dilophosaurus (or something like that) in the car that spits venom! and the t-rex eating the guy off the toilet - i dont think that is suitable for young viewers. i think that 7/8 would be reasonable for my DC1, certainly not at 3. My DTs are 3 and there is no way I would let them watch it - they find Sharptooth in the land before time scary!

Flip