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?

[puzzledlady]

It does not matter how everyone else’s children were ok with it at age 5 - what matters is your daughter isn’t and so now you have to try and help her deal with that. There is nothing wrong in being scared at jaws - all children are different. Fwiw - my father was a massive jaws fan so I watched it when I was little - he told us all about it so we knew what would happen. It’s one of my favourite movies. Would I let my 4 year old watch it? No.

[sendthecoffee]

I can't get too worked up about it as my three year old watches Jaws like other three year olds watch Paw Patrol - on repeat. Maybe not the best choice for a sleepover though, if you don't know the children particularly well.

[ShatnersWig]

@GerdaLoveLili I just looked at IMDB and it is ridiculously confusing as it says it's rated PG for TV, the cinema re-release was 12A and the video release in 2000 was PG. Yet the blu ray is very definitely also 12 (because I own it).

But the fact remains that whatever version you see, it is the same film. The only difference is that if you've seen the latest blu ray it has been remastered to improve sound and picture. But otherwise, identical films.

[CoraPirbright]

Totally agree with Char:
I saw it aged about 8-9 and was VERY scared. I knew the shark was fake and the actors were acting and the blood was fake blood. But I had an imagination and couldn't stop thinking about the horror of being eaten alive - it was that scene with the guy that gets eaten from the feet up, so he's awake and aware he's being eaten.

I also saw it when I was 9 and it was the first time outside cartoon violence that I had seen people die horrible deaths. And ones that can and do happen in real life (although thankfully extremely extremely rarely obviously). Swimming in the sea is one of my absolutely favourite things to do but it has been ruined by this film. Feel panicky, can’t not hear the bloody music and if I shut my eyes I can see that mouth coming towards me.

I am with the OP all the way and would be bloody furious with the sleepover host parents. And for all the people saying “oh I watched it when I was 3/5/7 etc and I was fine” well bully for you. We’re not all the same.

[Iseveryusernametaken]

Get her to watch this. Sharks get far too much bad press.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

sendthecoffee
That’s because your 3yo doesn’t understand the content of the film in the same way as a child would of about 7 plus. They don’t have the cognitive ability or emotional awareness. When your 3yo is older, you will get why the comparison is non sensical.

[dontknowwhattodo80]

I'd always ask if I wanted to show a film that some children might find scary

My 9 year old DS would have been scared, he's a bit sensitive like that! I wouldn't have been fuming but I would have felt sorry for him as he wouldn't have been confident enough to say he didn't like it!

If he asked to watch it at home though I'd be happy to let him

[tor8181]

we went to see the meg last week(think 10X as bad as jaws)it was a lot of jump scares, very graphic human deaths and live whale eating

its a 12a and i took a just 8 y old but he doesnt care about things like that

there was a lot of toddlers/preschool age there and this was a 8.45pm showing
i thought it should have been a 15

trouble is when you trust other adults to look after your child your trusting their judgment and he probably though at this age a PG was fine

all thouse thats saying its not a PG on netflix (uk version)it is down as a PG as i just checked and i have 3 children accounts on mine and it come up on everyone

[Maddy70]

Jaws isn't an adult movie it's a PG. Really wouldn't even consider this inappropriate tbh

[Mummyoflittledragon]

Maddy
It’s not a PG anymore. It’s 12A. Mentioned several times upthread.

[gingergenius]

Hansel and gretel - put in the oven by a blind cannibalistic witch
Ted riding hood- terrorised by a wolf who subsequently ate her granny
Cinderella abused and tortured by her step family
Snow White - abused and tortured by her step mother
Rapunzel - kidnapped, abused and tortured
The three little pigs - harassed and ultimately stalked for being too trusting
Jack and the beanstalk - a lazy no good thief


I think Jaws us the least of your worries!

[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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks]

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