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?

[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!!

[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.

👏 👏 👏

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 😃

[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!