To think 3 is too young to watch Star Wars?

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My Child came back from 'Dad' saying they'd watch Star Wars. Child is just 3

I think 3 is too young. But maybe not a battle worth fighting iyswim.

I love Star Wars, I'm a proper geek about it. However, DD didn't watch it until she was 5. I wanted to be sure she could sit through it and understand the story. I also wanted her to be old enough to understand the themes, albeit in very simplistic terms.

Similarly, she watched Lion King with me at the same age, because I wanted to be able to talk about the death scene with her.

I admit I dropped the ball with Bambi because I'd never seen it. I worried no one would be alive by the end!

DS1 was around 3 when he first saw the original trilogy, but he dipped in and out of it. He watched them properly at 4. We took him to the cinema to see The Force Awakens after biding our time to find out if it was suitable for him as it came out soon after he turned 5 (he was riveted).

I'm more cautious with DS2 than DS1. DS2 is more imaginative and prone to mulling things over in his head then having a nightmare (As I discovered after reading The Enormous Crocodile). DS1 is more technically minded. I haven't shown him episodes 2 (a bit dry and political) or 3 because of the ending, but I can imagine him asking all kinds of questions about lava and volcanoes rather than being traumatised about Anakin's fate!

Really it's down to the child, but the original 3, The Phantom Menace and The Force Awakens are unlikely to stress most children if they can sit through them.

No, it depends on the child. I watched New Hope around that age, it was one of my favourite movies.

New Hope may have a U rating, but early on in the film you see the burned bodies of Luke's aunt and uncle - I don't know how that got passed as a U rating! Three is probably too young.

Ludicrous. But I'm a big believer in having a bit of patience and holding off until the child is old enough not just to enjoy the film but understand it as well. I get the feeling it's usually the parents unable to wait for their offspring to watch these films.

And 'U' means universal from the age of 4.

My 3yo loves them. She watches them with DH. If she doesn't like a bit she asks him to skip it, same with the opening bit of Frozen where the men are cutting the ice. She knows which ones are goodies and which ones are baddies, but I don't think she's really taken in the storyline.

Why have you put the word "dad" like this? He's the childs dad, you are not the superior parent.

Agree with Neon. When you are in charge you decide what films they watch. When their Dad has the DC, he decides. It's Star Wars - not The Human Centipede

Magical and gentle films like My Neighbour Totoro are much better viewing for 3 year olds IMO. I love this film but it is so sad

I'm going to try and watch the original trilogy with DS later next month and he'll be just 4. He already loves, loves, loves Star Wars and is getting Star Wars toys from Santa. So we're going to watch them as a pre-Christmas family movie time, to build up some Christmas anticipation without being overtly Christmassy.

The thing is that Empire and Jedi have major twists in them that are a huge pop-cultural talking point and to be honest I'm pretty astounded that he doesn't already know the big one from Empire. If he doesn't watch them before too long he'll get spoiled. (It takes everything my husband has got not to ominously blurt out 'I am your father' when they have lightsaber duels. So if he can watch and take in A New Hope, we'll watch Empire the following week. And he'll be shocked!

I noticed that you put the word Dad in inverted commas. Is this really just about the Star Wars film?

I think they are more likely to have spent time renacting the lightsaber battles than sitting down watching the film

This will go for years for many it never stops

I think ds was 4 when he first started watching them he soon became totally obsessed and still is

She was probably bored stiff

I adore these films and I am desperate to show them to DS who is recently 3. He is too young this year. He has a great attention span and picks up on things in books or Thomas movies which make it clear he's following very closely. He doesn't like confrontation though and seeing people actually murdering each other and destroying entire planets would be really too much for him.

Today he saw a picture of a big dinosaur with a baby dinosaur in its mouth. When I told him the big one wanted to eat the little one he corrected me that no actually, the big one wants to carry the little one around because it's so cute. Oh my.

My DS is very much not ready for any Star Wars but I can see how other kids might be.

I agree with PP though that I want him to be old enough to really appreciate the twist. Appreciate it a bit anyway. I'm not sure I really appreciated it until I was a parent. I enjoy those films in a whole other way now. That is a different thread...

3 is too young for my DS or any 3 YOs I know, but obviously some are ok with it.

Impressed he stayed awake through it tbh, have never managed that myself.

It's gonna depend on the kid and which of the films. It might be worth checking what he actually watched. Because there's a cartoon movie as well and a bunch of kids TV series too and I guess are aimed at younger ages than the films, I think?

Plus like others said, there's a big difference between some of the films. Some are rated U and some are rated 12A.

If it was the Phantom Menace, they probably fell asleep as it's so long and involves trade agreements

My dh let ds watch Star Wars 2 months before he turned 3. I was not impressed! He did then point out that they were a U rating. Ds loved them and a year later still watches them and plays with characters from the film. Unfortunately dh has since let him watch all the other films too . I figure that the level at which he is watching them is very superficial so most of the darker stuff goes over his head. They have definitely bonded over it and I know several other 3 year olds who have watched it too.

I had this very discussion with my husband yesterday as he let our youngest watch a bit of it and I feel he's too young. He's nearly 8. Personally I just don't see that he would understand it so I can't see the point in him watching it until he can. I think when he's about 10 he'll be ready for it and so will really enjoy it.

Meh.
If they can sit through it...
I'm 30+ and i can't. So boring if kids like it, hen fair enough.

DS (3) likes a few fantasy / action films, mainly because they are fast paced and visually interesting. He doesn't really follow the whole film as it is, so Star Wars is fine (although don't think he's seen any of them yet) as are similar films.

Some children's films are far more scary IMO DS picked The BFG recently, the animated version, in store - older production, not quite sure from when but maybe 80s? Terrifying! He actually sat with me with my arms around him and hid under a cushion when the bad giants were about. Visually it was more 'gruesome' than, say, the latest Star Wars film and even I didn't like it... But that was made for children and is a U!

They wouldn't have a clue what was going on anyway. They'd just enjoy the flying scenes and funny creatures. What do you think will happen?

**Proppedup the original Bfg scared me, i was unsure whether to take my dds to see the new one this year but its tame in comparison. I watched starwars at 3 and its fine but i also watched jaws around that time and 35 years later still scared to go in the sea.

The original starwars are fine. Walked out of cinema a fortnight ago, the film kubo was really creepy, im surprised at what passes for a u rating nowadays.

My 4yo watched all the star wars last year. I'm not a big fan but DH is. Our DD loves Darth Vader with a passion (even before watching the movies she called him her friend while we were at comic con). She regularly asks to watch them and DH has checked with me that I'm OK with him taking her to see the new on in December since it has 'her friend'. I've just told him to make sure she'll be allowed into the cinema. It depends on the child though. Some children aren't bothered by what's on the screen.

flirtygirl Oh good, I was wondering in case he wants to see the new version at some point! DH thinks I'm silly but those bad giants were quite something... (I'm so weak!)

It does depend on the film. I saw Arachnophobia when I was about 7 or 8. Terrified me for years (and was probably supposed to). But I also didn't like ET or anything with puppet type things, even if they're family films, so knowing the child is obviously a big part of it.