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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is inappropriate to show to a class of 7 year olds?

52 replies

Summeriscomin · 01/02/2019 18:23

m.youtube.com/watch?v=3fzpTNrFFPk

My son has been talking about this since I collected him from school. He’s got quieter and quieter and is now scared to be left alone as he’s scared about this dragon. He genuinely believes it’s real no matter how many times I tell him otherwise.

He described the video older and I found it and can see why a 7 year old would believe it. Apparently the teacher announced it as breaking news.

Aibu or is it unreasonable? Or is my son too sensitive/gullible?

OP posts:
Racecardriver · 01/02/2019 18:25

That’s a bit on the gullible side for a seven year old.

EdtheBear · 01/02/2019 18:26

The teacher needs to tell them it's fake news. But 7 is a good age to be learning that you can't believe everything online etc

goldengummybear · 01/02/2019 18:28

I assume that this video was shown as inspiration for writing. He is clearly very sensitive- hasn't he watched many films or tv programmes with special effects?

rainflowerstar · 01/02/2019 18:29

My 7 year old would of laughed at this video.

goldengummybear · 01/02/2019 18:30

The dragons would t have been very convincing to my 7 year olds either.

planespotting · 01/02/2019 18:30

What was the teacher using the video for?
So odd

Marcipex · 01/02/2019 18:30

Does he believe it because his teacher said it was real? I know quite a few six year olds and they would all know it was a joke.
Can you both make a tiny film of your own? A doll parachuting or teddy driving, to show its easy to make something that looks real.

SaucyJack · 01/02/2019 18:31

I don’t think it’s inappropriate for the typical 7 year old, on the probability of balance.

But I also don’t think it’s abnormal of your son to be anxious. Sometimes kids have weird fears. I was proper petrified of the three bears at a similar age.

RitaConnors · 01/02/2019 18:31

It will have been a literacy focus. We did one today about the Crown Jewels being stolen.

Bunnybigears · 01/02/2019 18:31

Im sorry he was upset but it is actually rubbish special effects wise! Does he believe cartoons are real? Find some making of videos on you tube where they show how green screens etc are used.

Aragog · 01/02/2019 18:32

I would have thought the vast majority of 7 year olds (year 2, or perhaps a younger year 3?) would have known it wasn't real. It's certainly not any more 'real' looking than most children's films.

We do green screen work, SFX and animation work in year 2 computing so most would have assumed it had been created that way, or similar.

Just tell him its now real and show hm a youtube video of how special effects are used in films.

Aragog · 01/02/2019 18:32

not, not now

Original poster
Summeriscomin · 01/02/2019 18:33

Thanks, he genuinely believes everything. He’s extremely gullible and sensitive so I guess that’s the reason he has been affected by it.

They watch the news everyday and I assume it was shown as a joke by the teacher. He has been talking about it non stop however.

There was another one where the dragon attacked a school apparently.

He was shown a video of a ghost from his older cousin and refused to sleep alone for a week.

I guess I can relate as I can’t watch anything remotely horror or scary without it seriously affecting me.

OP posts:
MitziK · 01/02/2019 18:33

Looks like it's being used as a writing stimulus for English. As part of it, I'd expect them to be differentiating between fiction and non fiction at his age.

Maybe have a chat with the teacher on Monday in case they need to make it clearer that it's not real. I wouldn't say it was particularly inappropriate, though - they hear stories about magical creatures every day and see them on TV.

pootleposeyperkin · 01/02/2019 18:34

It's fine and looks very fake. We were shown the 'Boy from Space' at that age, bloody terrifying!

Pedant666 · 01/02/2019 18:34

My 7 year old would have laughed at this video.

PorkPatrol · 01/02/2019 18:35

I think he must be pretty sensitive and also a bit gullible if he actually believed it was real.
Most 7 yr olds know that dragons/unicorns etc are fictional don’t they?

goldengummybear · 01/02/2019 18:36

OP I would make a video with him, watching something about the green screen process or let him have a play with some Snapchat filters. They have effects like lasers coming out his eyes, breathing fire etc

JellyMouldJnr · 01/02/2019 18:37

ive just shown it to my six year old. she says it is definitely real. but is completely unworried.

HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone · 01/02/2019 18:38

I've taught Reception for years and I would say 90% would think that was rubbish special effects so I would have no issue showing a Year 2/3 class the video.

I am amazed he thinks it is real. I would show him Newsround so he can see what a real news report looks like and then maybe he could compare it to that report and see how unrealistic it is.

tulippa · 01/02/2019 18:38

I showed that clip to my class of 7 year olds to inspire their writing. I was greeted to a chorus of 'That's not real miss!'

Mirali · 01/02/2019 18:39

If a teacher presented it as real i don't think it's silly for a 7 year old to believe it

WhyDontYouComeOnOver · 01/02/2019 18:44

I use things like this ALL the time with my Year 2s. Once, I "filmed" a dragon landing on the school roof and knocking a tile off. When I do things like this it's usually to introduce a topic, cause an event that needs lots of discussion, will be used as a writing stimulus and create, as we call it in the Welsh curriculum, "awe and wonder".

I've never had a child that old be scared or worried about something like dragons or fairies. I've done crime scene and aliens, animals and pirates.

Does your child not watch TV? Movies? Play games?

fartfacemcfartfaceface · 01/02/2019 18:51

Showed my 7yo ds - he laughed and said "it's fake - it's animated".

Good lesson in fake news OP, would have been kind for the teacher to make it clearer though.

MyDcAreMarvel · 01/02/2019 19:15

My seven year old new it was fake, my four year old twins one thought it was fake the other real.