9yo watched JAWS on sleepover

[VikingBlonde]

I've just picked up my DD from a sleepover, she's just 9 and a gentle, fairly sensitive sort. First thing she says to me is "I really didn't like Jaws mummy!" And the dad is like "oh yeah that might not have been the best choice of movie ..."

I'm fewwwmin! Jaws is a horror film. I watched it recently and jumped out of my skin a few times. And I'm not bloody well 9. There's a shed load of claret and kids being eaten alive and realistic limbs being severed and we are - to cap it all off - going on our ONLY holiday of the whole year (cos we are skint) camping at the beach tomorrow. She's already told me she won't be getting in the water when she normally loves bodyboarding. CHEERS FOR THAT!!!

The kid who's house the sleepover happened at is a child who can't have sleepovers at anyone else's cos she gets anxious and stressed if she's away from her own home so how the effing chuff have they managed to show MY kid a horror movie while she's there!!!??? Grrrrrrrr

We have had a talk about there NOT being great whites around the UK and that the film is just pretend but she just recounted the part about the little boy getting eaten and burst into tears.


What would you do?

[wanderings]

I've just watched Jaws for the first time, and I'm "fewwwmin" at how much time I had to spend watching such dull and boring characters. I'm with Spielberg in that when he read it, he was rooting for the shark because the humans were so unlikeable. I enjoyed seeing the obviously fake shark though. If the shark could talk it might have been more entertaining!

[gobbin]

Lol saw the original at the cinema when I was 8 with my dad. The only thing that scared me was the head rolling out of the boat but otherwise I haven’t been left scarred 😃

[ArsenalsPlayingAtHome]

My 8 year old has watched it, and loved it but she was right next to me & was holding my at the scary bits.

I wouldn't be happy if one of my DCs had watched it at someone else's house at a sleepover. It is scary to children that age - certainly enough to give some children nightmares.

[Duskqueen]

I was about 7 when I first watched it, I loved it. It is a case of knowing the child tbh, my DD(4) wouldn't be bothered by it, but some children are more sensitive.
Although can I just add that Great Whites have been seen off the coast of the UK and can survive in our waters.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

I wasn’t trying to patronising you in any way. Stating that a 3 yo and a child 3 times their age cannot process visual and auditory stimuli in the same way is not patronising anyone. You actually said that you couldn’t get too worked up about it because your 3 yo watches it as though it were pas patrol. Had you talked about treating your children as individuals and not showing your middle child arachnophobia that would have been supportive of the op. I felt your post was doing the exact opposite and that you were actually patronising the op yourself.

[sendthecoffee]

@Mummyoflittledragon

Please don't patronise me. I also have a 8 year old and a 6 year old (my youngest has just turned 4, not 3 as I said - I keep forgetting!). Neither of them are scared either. They know it's not real.

They watched it because they saw it on prime and asked. As I've watched it multiple times and I know my children, I knew they would be ok, in the same way that the middle one has seen arachnophobia (although my youngest is scared of
Spiders, so I wouldn't let him). My middle one also adores the thriller video, but I know my eldest would find that scary, so I wouldn't let him watch it. It's all about knowing what your child can cope with. I wouldn't show Jaws at a sleepover because I don't know what the other children are like.

I wouldn't show them anything that I believed was inappropriate for them - violence, sex, other types of borrow, but for my kids, Jaws was fine.

[cariadlet]

I saw it at the cinema at 10, my brother must have been 7 or 8. My son saw it when he primary school age too. It's not really a disturbing film.

For goodness sake, when will some posters realise that not everybody is the same.

Some kids will find Jaws entertaining, some will find it boring, some will find it funny, some will find it scary in a good way, some will find it upsetting.

If in doubt don't show a film to other people's children if it could scare them.

[fishonabicycle]

Try not to worry. I saw it at the cinema at 10, my brother must have been 7 or 8. My son saw it when he primary school age too. It's not really a disturbing film.

[gluteustothemaximus]

For all of those with halcyon memories of watching horror films at the age of four and emerging as marvellously balanced, fabulous individuals as a result, well done you.

But it does seem to have left many of you remarkably judgmental and determined that everyone who didn't is a pathetic, sheltered piece of shit.

Maybe it's just a coincidence.

👏 👏 👏

[Roseandvioletcreams]

Interesting article I agree its more about other stuff than the shark itself.

Well my dd watched it last night nealry 11 and loved it. She really really loved it but she also loved arachnidphobia.

She was telling me all the details about sharks in the film, she adores spiders . She said she can see why its a huge block buster.

But I would still never ever think of showing it to any of her friends at all!!

[PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks]

Minty going by that, the later Harry Potters should be rated 15. So should Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

[cariadlet]

@Mintylicious

Really good article. Interesting idea that we should get rid of the 12A certificate because it means young kids get to see inappropriate films, but also older teens and adults miss out because action films would be improved if they were given a 15 certificate instead of being cut to try and get a 12A certificate.

[cariadlet]

I can’t stand kids who cry over everything so prefer films and characters to not be one of those things and the best way to do that is make sure they know these things aren’t real from an early age.

But that doesn't mean deliberately exposing them to things that could frighten them so that you can then explain that they're not real.
Yes, if they're inadvertently presented with something that scares them then you can do the reassuring, explain it's all pretend etc, but then you take those sensitivities into account in the future.

scaredy cat children are a bit of a yawnfest.

I hate this attitude from some posters.

My daughter is one of those that I know would have been terrified by Jaws when she was 9. Not by the actual shark when it finally appears, but by the building threat and sense of menace before this. (Spielberg had terrible trouble with "Bruce" the mechanical shark which is why it doesn't appear much - which ended up helping him to create a scarier and more effective film).
She's very imaginative and gets totally immersed in films. When we were little we had to walk out of Ratatouille because it was too tense for her! She used to be scared by Spud in Bob the Builder.


We didn't force her to watch stuff to toughen her up; we let her take things at her own pace.
She's 15 now and amazingly didn't turn out to be a delicate little snowflake. Instead she's very confident and independent. And can cope with scary films that are rated suitable for her age.
She went to see It with her dad last year. When she came back she told me that it had been really good and wasn't too scary at all.

[Scottsy100]

Didn’t say I was an Uber parent just that I can’t stand kids who cry over everything so prefer films and characters to not be one of those things and the best way to do that is make sure they know these things aren’t real from an early age.

[PutYourBackIntoit]

I saw it aged 5. I'm terrified of the sea, remember being terrified in swimming pools just in case a shark could get through the grate.

At nearly 40 I have to pretend to my children that I'm not scared of swimming in the sea because I want to instill confidence in them. I wish wish wish I hadn't seen Jaws at such a young age.

For those saying it isn't scary, it bloody well is (for some at least), so no way this film should have been shown at a sleepover.

For me, films with massive anticipation are the scariest (Blair witch project too).
Jaws, with the footage from the sharks perspective and that iconic music made it absolutely terrifying. When I go swimming, if that music gets into my head, I cannot push it away, I get out of the sea. It appalls me that I'm so scared.

I'd be livid if my 9 yr old watched this at a sleepover. YNBU.

[bluemascara]

I'm fairly sure I was 6 or 7 when I first seen jaws. Flippin loved it!
Catch yourself on... she will be fine.
Watching jaws was a right of passage when I was young.
Unwrap your daughter from all that cotton wool

[StitchingMoss]

Minty, thanks for the article - puts it much better than I could. And at least someone else agrees with me that Jaws isn’t appropriate for primary aged kids.

Couldn’t agree more about the exposure children now have to violence. I see it all the time in schools. Parents who don’t think it has an affect are delusional.

[StitchingMoss]

Scaredy cat children are a yawn fest?

So where do u go with it then? Saw at aged 9? Hostel at 10?

It’s just bollocks.

It doesn’t make you some Uber fucking parent because you show your kids inappropriate films. It’s just stupid.

Kids are over exposed to violence nowadays - partly because of the ludicrous overuse of the 12a certificate and partly because of parents who seem to be in some kind of ludicrous competition to see what totally inappropriate films they can get away with showing their kids.

Toddlers going to see Meg? Insane.

[Scottsy100]

My 8 year old son watched it only the other week with me (I couldn’t wait to show him as it’s a classic) he laughed at how fake the shark was, jumped when the head came out under the water and made all the appropriate “ewwww” noises when Quinn got munched by Jaws, I watched all kinds of films when I was young and I think it’s a better way to go than to be scared of everything, scaredy cat children are a bit of a yawnfest.

[Mintylicious]

It’s only a huffposf article, but this is quite interesting on the 12A category and its impact on cinema:

m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/paul-blanchard/12a-film-rating_b_7697060.html

[StitchingMoss]

Staggered at the films being shown to such young DC - WHY would anyone show their 3 yr old Jaws? Just why??? They can’t have asked to watch it as they wouldn’t know it exists so just why??

My nearly 9 yr old has a massively over active imagination and would be seriously traumatised by Jaws - I’d be livid if someone showed it to him on a sleepover.

Agree with other posters who say only on MN is this crap ok.

[PinkAvocado]

I honestly don’t think in my normal life that anyone would think YABU. The man being eaten alive and the severed body parts are disturbing and the parents who let them watch it are irresponsible in this instance.

Btw, I liked your ‘fewwwwmin’ as it made me say it in a scouse accent and usually I’m crap at them

[Aus84]

OP a couple of things.
Nothing in this film is realistic.
It's a thriller, not a horror.
It's PG. (PG 13 in Aus, but still, PG)

Even though I think you are getting a little worked up over it I can see how a 9 year old sensitive child could be upset. If it helps, one thing that works with my children is I look up the actors and we learn a little about each one. It reassures them that it was just pretend, they didn't really die and there was no real blood. Even just reading little about the making of the movie and where/how the scenes were shot could help.

[gluteustothemaximus]

Fucking hell. Only on MN is this acceptable.

I'd be fucking livid.

I watched this aged 7. Had nightmares for years. Don't give a shit if PG, 12, 15 or 18 it is a very intense film with very scary scenes. 9 years old? No fucking way.

But this is MN. So as it's a PG, my 2 year old should watch it and I should get a grip