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AIBU?

Comic Relief before 9pm

292 replies

TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 08:14

6 year old DC came out of school full of Comic Relief chatter and asked to donate their week's pocket money to the charity. Fine and dandy, we switched on at about 8pm and they showed a short film about a child and their grandmother collecting rubbish in Nairobi. DC was even keener to donate, so we texted in to donate money from all of us. Watched a couple of skits and then they showed a video of a 13 month old girl dying of malaria. Actually dying on the screen despite CPR and being put into a body bag and wheeled away. You can imagine the effect that had on a 6 year old. We've been up half the night with them having nightmares about dying babies.

AIBU to think that wasn't suitable viewing pre-watershed?

OP posts:

Report

TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 08:37

No. I haven't seen CR (or Children in Need) for that matter for over 20 years. I don't need to. I see the impacts of poverty on children almost daily through charity work.

OP posts:

BedHeaded · 25/03/2017 08:40

My DC were looking forward to watching it after fundraising at school and I was going to let them watch it until 9pm.

I turned it over after the innuendo bingo and 'slags tan' comment at 8ish.

Sillysausage123 · 25/03/2017 08:40

What did Ed Sheeran say about rape?

HalfShellHero · 25/03/2017 08:40

Oh yes...vic reeves! Bloody I wonder how many complaints it will get,

TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 08:40

The plight of a 13 month old dying of a preventable disease trumps my 6 year old's protected, pampered ignorance when it comes down to it.

We have conversations about how lucky DC is and how important it is to help others all the time. They're a very giving child who has opted to do what she can to help frequently through her pocket money and spare time. It's very important to her and to us.

We've never hidden death from her and always been honest about it but I just didn't expect them to show it so openly at that time of night.

Agree about Vic Reeves too.

Guess I'll just go back to ignoring it.

OP posts:

WhataHexIgotinto · 25/03/2017 08:40

I don't know any 6 year olds that are in bed at 8pm, let alone on a Friday night.. I don't think 8pm is early for a 6 year old at all, 6 is still very young.

Anyway, I kind of see what you mean but the very nature of comic relief suggests that there's going to be some hard hitting stuff on.

I had more of a problem with the choice of some of the language and content tbh. I thought some of it was way out of line pre watershed (not to mention rubbish). I wanted DD to watch before 9pm as i think its important that she understands what it's about, but she prob won't watch next year. Not because of the distressing segments, but because of the slags tan etc comments.

Ed Sheeran mentioning rape at three minutes to nine didn't bother me at all, it's happening and he was stating a fact.

HalfShellHero · 25/03/2017 08:41

He helped some homeless boys as they often get raped by older boys on the streets , he was apparently told not to say it on tv before 9 which I can kind of understand but he seemed genuinely affected.

TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 08:42

DC is a dyed-in-the-wool night owl. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of nights they've been in bed before 8pm during their entire life!

OP posts:

MyCatIsTryingToKillMe · 25/03/2017 08:42

The Ed Sheehan comment was literally a couple of minutes before 9pm and was just a couple of words not images. Younger children would not have known what he meant. The second part of that story made me cry, the futility of it all. Save 5 boys and the rest are still there struggling. The brutality and evilness in this world still shocks me at almost 50.

Goforit2017 · 25/03/2017 08:43

I don't think my child needs to know that.

VanillaSugar · 25/03/2017 08:44

Ed Sheeran went out to see the plight of children who were orphaned due to the Ebola crisis. He met two primary school aged brothers who were left on their own. Back in the studio he said that younger boys were raped by older boys. He was visibly distressed and the clip then showed him back at the scene saying that he was going to use his own money to get the boys into a safe place and into school.

user1489226029 · 25/03/2017 08:44

Dallas I totally agree with you, exactly what I was thinking. They did not need to show what they did. Like you said no dignity for the little one or the family.

KitKat1985 · 25/03/2017 08:44

To be fair it's probably not much worse than what is on the news some days. I think you possibly should have expected distressing footage given the nature of CR.

Cuppaand2biscuits · 25/03/2017 08:44

I didn't show my 6 year old any live Comic relief last night because she's very sensitive and it would be likely to upset her. All the 6 year olds I know are in bed by 8pm at the latest with 7.30 being more usual. If we had chosen to watch I'd be upset by the scenes you describe.

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 25/03/2017 08:45

YANBU. I wasn't happy about the language and the content right from the beginning at 7pm - as people have said, children are required to dress up and join in, of course they are going to be invested in red nose day and are going to want to watch it. At 7pm the content should be child friendly.

Zampa · 25/03/2017 08:45

YABU to pick out the footage of the death of a child as the reason CR crossed the line. However agree with PP that some of the language was inappropriate for before 9pm.

ButtonLoon · 25/03/2017 08:45

I showed my 6 year old the Blue Peter Red Nose Day special - she thought it was hilarious and it was pitched just right. For future reference.

MyCatIsTryingToKillMe · 25/03/2017 08:46

The Vic Reeves thing was painfully crap, I tuned out. Did I miss something particularly bad that he said?

VanillaSugar · 25/03/2017 08:47

I still think we should support Comic Relief. At least Richard and Lenny are trying to do something rather be a sofa critic (like me ).

ThornyBird · 25/03/2017 08:48

I'm on the fence a bit - we were watching with dc (7 and 10) until 9 last night and they were very upset about the baby dying from malaria but like a pp, I was more 'offended' by the 'slag's tan' comment and Vic's knob out. I do think we as a society have made death into a taboo subject and my into risk reaction was that children don't need to see the attempted resuciatation, part of me questions why not?

I didn't think either of those were appropriate jokes for children. Would we laugh dh if it was a bloke on a train flashing his dick at women? Is it ok to call women with fake tans slags? I find I get more and more angry at such jokes now I have daughters!

VanillaSugar · 25/03/2017 08:48

He wore a kilt and had a fake todger sticking out.

HalfShellHero · 25/03/2017 08:49

Oh yes innuendo bingo! ...I forgot about that...god it was bad wasn't it.. im sure it used to be more child friendly, and no my ds is 7 he doesnt need to see a child literally dying ... of course he doesn't as much as he doesn't need to see anyone dying the homeless boys in boats is enough really at that age...

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PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 25/03/2017 08:49

What did Vic Reeves say?

ThornyBird · 25/03/2017 08:50

initial reaction

KittyConCarne · 25/03/2017 08:50

We had the exact same issue last night with DD1 (also 6).
We let her stay up late to watch some of Comic Relief with us and older DSC, and the exact same clip of the beautiful 13 month old dying was so upsetting to her. DD2 is 14 months, and I think the stark contrast of that little girl's short life versus DD1's sister made the situation very real for her.

Like you, I was watching the scene unfold (with remote in hand, ready to turn over) and assuming/ hoping that it would have a happy ending, which would teach DD1 the importance of the fundraising efforts she'd been involved in. I even glanced at the clock- thinking they wouldn't be showing such a sad story prior to the watershed, but obviously it ended in tragedy and DD1 dissolved into tears.

I feel it was my fault entirely to allow her to watch that clip, and I will be more careful in future. But we had a cuddle, mopped the tears up, and explained that yes it's sad that babies in poorer countries do die, but we can react in 2 different ways to watching it:

Feel sad and upset, and do nothing.
Use those sad feelings to make us want to help less fortunate children as much as possible.
DD1 said she'd prefer to take option 2, and spent the last 20mins before bed drawing up her fundraising plans for the next appeal (Sponsored longest bathtime and Sponsored longest ride on the supermarket escalator, being my 6 year old's favourite ideas haha!)

Hoping we've turned a distressing image into a more positive idea to spur her into helping, which is of course the reason the programme makers use the footage to spur us adults into donating. I will just remember in future appeals that the 9pm watershed that protected me as a youngster isn't quite as definete these days.

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