to not be particularly pleased when ds comes home from nursery having read a book about all the monsters in Dr Who?

[FrannyandZooey]

Another child brought it in, and he and ds spent the morning looking at it.

I would rather things like this from home were "oohed" over briefly by staff before being put away on a high shelf "to keep it safe until home time".

Ds particularly interested in "The Garlics"

"Mummy why do the Garlics try to kill Dr. Who?"

sorry but lol at 'the garlics'!

I saw an episode of Dr Who when I was very small, and the garlics gave me nightmares.

Hasn't stopped me from being a huge fan now!

Maybe Dr Who is a secret vampire!
I can't remember how old your DS is but presume 4 or under if still at nursery. I wouldn't be pleased either.
It's not possible to control access to such things in a family with older sibs, but in-depth examination not on in a nursery.

Yes he is just 4

I know the other children are going to be talking about stuff like this, and I am sure my ds does his fair share of hideously inventive violent play, but I don't see why they were allowed to study this book of photos of monsters for any period of time, or indeed, at all

It wasn't just a quick look, as when we passed the comic shop in town he was able to pick out the Dr Who monsters in the window straight away and name some of them.

WWYD?

Is this so terrible? The boys in ds's reception class are mad abuot stuff like Dr Who. Your ds clearly enjoyed the book!

Not terrible, but surely they should be doing something more constructive/less merchandising at nursery.

I don't think I have said it is so terrible, no

If I thought it was so terrible I would have been in touch with the nursery by now

However I don't really want him looking at graphic pictures of frightening and grotesque monsters (which look "real") while I am paying for him to be given a morning of educational and pleasant activities. I was rather surprised that this was allowed

You are right that he did enjoy it, though. If he had been scared I suppose I would be more irate about it

however he has yet to go to sleep, for instance - I can't really judge if this will have any long term effect yet. It wouldn't be unusual for a child to have bad dreams after something like this, would it?

so trolls and giants and sprites and talking animals are ok

I think I'd probably have felt the same when DS was 4 .. he has friends who were allowed to watch Lord of the RIngs and Harry Potter at that age and he patently wasn't .. he's still not allowed LOTR at 6

it all does merge though .. and sometimes these things are what bonds children together

part of me says sooner the garlics than power rangers

I had nightmares after seeing an episode of the daleks. I don't think a book would have given me nightmares. I was in infant school at the time, so must have been about 5

Depends on the child, I would say.

It's a difficult one, it's nice that children can bring things in and share them, I guess (although at the co-op, things from home are always put away, not out of fear of bad content, more to avoid the inevitable squabbles), but surely they should be checking them for content to some degree?

yes it would be unusual I wouldn't worry unduly

(incidentally, I've just noticed that you can get a whole set of Dr Who books for £9.99 from the Book People)

the books are not too graphic Franny and your ds obviously enjoyed it but I guess a very sensitive child may not have liked it (but then maybe they wouldn't have been interested enough to look?).

Dr Who monsters are pretty graphic though. It's the realism of the photos that bother me - they aren't drawings or something he has imagined in his mind

and ds can't handle some of the things you mention - giants and burglars are right out

I would say it was very unusual for a nursery to look in detail at a book like this, they do usually seem to stick to the well known and inoffensive children's stuff.

I wouldn't have liked this happening when ds was at Nusery, either. As you say, I wouldn't think it was the worst thing in the world but I might just ask the question as to their views on assessing the appropriateness of material brought in from home.

However i do think a book is a less immediate and scary way to see this stuff than on the screen. I'd bet a bar of choc (green n blacks, natch) that he doesn't have a bad dream tonight.

DS is 4 and I'd have no problems with him reading of the Garlics. To me the battle is not just to get them to remember the completely nonsensical "rules" of spelling, but at the same time make them enjoy it.
My kids love Dr. Who.
A lot.
Big heaps of love.
Anything associated with Dr. Who is in their eyes inherently good. Sounds like OP has a good teachers, who has latched on to something the kids like and is milking it.
Sadly in many schools, they'd latch on to sport, and instead of the wholly positive role models in DW, they'd be told that drunken wife beating footballers were "heroes".

No I don't think he will have nightmares (am just guessing obv

but it's not what I want him to be doing while he is there. If he was playing in the park and a boy was showing him I would feel differently. But I don't think stuff like this should be part of a nursery session

I don't think that is unreasonable

No DC it wasn't the staff it was an older boy who had brought in a book and he and ds looked at it for quite a while

there were only 4 children at nursery today so it wouldn't have been that the teacher didn't notice

I'm clearly in a minority here but yes, I would have been pretty cross. Mine have only just started watching it at 12 and 9 because they found the trailers scary for the first series (I didn't ban it, they just weren't willing to watch). I know that's really wet at their age, but some chidren are more worried about stuff like this than others, and I don't think nursery staff ought to prejudge the issue to be honest.

Fox it wasn't one of those novels, it was more like a "Dr Who's greatest enemies" picture book or similar

for instance with one monster per page, big photo and a bit of info about each one

I don't think I'd have been happy either, tbh. DS1 (5.5) gets real obsessions about these things, and is mad for Dr Who, and has the Top Trumps, etc etc etc.

He saw part of an episode, once. On a plane. I think it's far too scary for his age. And anyway, he frightened DS2 a bunch of times with his Garlic impression, and I've said he's not allowed to watch it again.

It's actually stupidly hard to work out what will scare kids. At 4, DC was reduced to tears by the chase scene in The Magic Roundabout film.

They aren't scared by Daleks at all AND The scene in the Adams Family where the baby is dropped from the roof made both laugh.

I think it's not as simpler as older=tougher.
Younger kids don't get that they are supposed to be scared by some things.

ahh ok, I can see it. Dr Who Monsters and Villains (tis also on the book people).

mmm I guess it's because the book was brought in rather than the nursery choosing to show it to the children iyswim.

Dd and ds are scaredy cats and I doubt they would have been frightened by the pictures but would have been scared if they had been told a story involving the daleks trying to kill Dr Who at age 3/4 with the pictures - definitely in fact.

DD is 4.5 and loves Dr Who. She doesn't watch it when it is on on Saturday nights (she is in bed), but we do record it for her and she watches them avidly.

No nightmares here

[bad mother emoticon]

DC - you're right. Wurzel Gummage used to terrify me.

DD also has the mosters and enemies (or whatever it is) and loves it, she quizzes us on which monster is which.