to talk to nursery about their zombie outbreak?

[JumpingJellybeanz]

When I took 4 year old DS to nursery on Friday the group of kids he usually plays with were all chasing each other around, pretending to be zombies, trying to eat each others brains and having lots of fun. And suddenly it all drops into place.

For weeks now we've had problems with DS having nightmares and waking up screaming. On the few occasions he's aware of what he's dreaming about he's mentioned zombies and not wanting to be eaten.

So do I say something? Will they think I'm 'that' parent?

I don't know if it's relevant but DS is autistic and can be quite literal in how he sees things. He also struggles with playing with other children and nursery having been working really hard on this with him. 6 months ago he was oblivious to the existence of the other children.

WWYD?

No, OP didn't mention PvZ but someone else suggested it.

Children always have and probably always will play games about killing. Cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, being chased by a monster/wolf/bear. Violence is part of the human condition. If anything, our children are more protected from exposure to violent ideas today than they ever have been! At least zombies are totally harmless in that they can't ever kill anybody in reality, because they don't exist.

I think kids universally play games like this, as a safe way of exploring scary things.

Please speak to the nursery. A good nursery will absolutely help to support your son with understanding pretend play. It can be hard for many children at that age and I’m sure the nursery staff will have a number of techniques to support your DS.

Talk to them OP. They may well be very glad to get rid of the game.

I banned a similar one from my pre-school last year...I was fed up of them knocking each other to the floor, strangling each other with hoods, making a little too much contact with their teeth and generally upsetting each other!

We weren't mean, they were quite easy to distract if the alternative games were fun enough. We had several children who were quite fine with pretend play but not so fine with someone pretending to bite their head. Can't say I blame them really,

Not all pretend play is beneficial...we've had to stop superhero games, shark games and donosaur games on occasion because they can just get a bit carried away. It's not fun if someone is upset or hurt. It's also not much fun to be the staff member trying to explain to an angry parent why their child hit their head on the floor trying to escape X who was "going to bite me".

Obviously it's near Halloween and there is minecraft and Scooby doo. It might also shock some parents to know that some people need telling that it's probably not appropriate for their 3 year old to watch the walking dead!

It is not an appropriate game to be playing on a daily basis - death, gore, fighting. I would be deeply unhappy if that sort of game was tolerated among pre-schoolers when mine were in nursery
Really? Im pretty sure at 4 yrs old the biggest part of the game is slowly chasing each other round the playground, not wrestling others to the ground and pretending to rip their guts out and eat them!

TwattyCatty DS2 is 6 and his first encounter with zombies was on DD 10's tablet playing Plants vs Zombies. I bet that's where most preschool DC first see them.

For an autistic child who doesn't understand playing pretend I think this will be hard to simply explain. Autistic children often suffer from anxiety too and develop fears of things.
I think you need to talk to his nursery about this he might need to be allowed to go to a quiet place with an adult when the children are playing this game.

mini thats what I meant by discussing appropriate interactions - agree that dc might not benefit from the type of play he doesn't understand, something different with other ppl might be more appropriate /beneficial. I guess its all about finding the right level for his understanding right now.

It’s definitely reasonable to say something, even if just to let them know DS may be tired from disturbed sleep. My dd had nightmares from reading Jack Frost at Nursery, I let them know, not so they’d stop reading it but so I could get the book details to read at home and allow Nursery and us at home to talk it through and dispel the fear. I appreciate it might not be as easy to dispel with a zombie theme though :)

How do 4 year olds know what zombies are?

I doubt most of them really do know. They just see zombies as some kind of scary monster who might chase you.

My DD (4) wants a ninja party for her birthday. She doesnt know what a ninja is really she just sees them as some kind of superhero and hears kids at school talking about ninjas and playing ninjas.

Some year one parents have complained that playing chase is too much for their PFB's and has to be stopped.