Teacher showed 15 film to Y7

[Littlepopsicle]

DS has just started Y7. All going well, loves his new school and is very settled.
Drama class last week, teacher told them the theme for this half term is something about haunted houses. She then showed them the trailer for The Woman in Black. DH and I eye rolled each other as soon as we heard this as we knew what was going to happen....no surprise, DS has been unable to sleep alone since seeing this. We are very careful about anything he watches as he has an overactive imagination, is easily scared and sleep is easily disrupted. DH is annoyed at having another disturbed night with DS and thinks we should complain to the school. Do you think we should complain and say this is inappropriate to show to 11 and 12 years olds, or at least parents should have been warned that this was going to be shown? Or would you say it's a non-issue, get over it, he's just an over sensitive child?

I’m a secondary teacher and I wouldn’t be annoyed if a parent emailed me about this. As @DrFosterWentToGloucester23 says, we are professionals and can easily and happily adapt lesson content if a particular child will find it distressing or inappropriate for any reason. I will always change or adapt a text if some of the content will upset a child, for whatever reason - sometimes it’s because it features death and a child has been recently bereaved, or it might be because of a fear or phobia of a specific thing. The last thing I want is a child upset by something in my lesson - I care about my students and want them to enjoy school, not go home traumatised! If teachers don’t know, we can’t help, so I would always encourage parents to communicate with the school, particularly when your child is in Year 7 and we don’t know them yet. The teacher shouldn’t mind at all. As the unit is on Haunted Houses and there may well be other horror films they are planning on using as examples to show the kids, I’d email sooner rather than later to give them time to adapt.

I will say I am shocked so many schools do The Woman in Black in Year 7 and 8 as an English text. It was a GCSE set text and imo that’s the age group it’s appropriate for. It’s a very disturbing read and I wouldn’t dream of teaching it to children that young.

And for people saying your child is over sensitive, OP, I don’t think he is - I’ve taught several Year 7s who would have had the same reaction over the years. And to be honest I can’t watch horror films even now in my late thirties because of the nightmares they give me!

Fgs your child us at secondary school. By all means complain. The teacher will express regret that your sensitive child was upset while privately wondering when you will be encouraging a bit more age appropriate resilience.

I’ve just watched the trailer and there is nothing bad about it at all.

It’s got creepy music but I assume that the reason for watching it was to discuss how to create a creepy scene without anything creepy going on.

The trailer definitely wouldn’t be a 15 as there’s no jump scares, violence, blood etc.

Its your fault for not exposing your child to horror from a young age.

A trailer fgs!

My 8 year old loves horror and her favourite is the Annabelle franchise, probably started watching from age 5!

She lives Meghan too.

Damn a trailer!!!!

Just the trailer? YABVVU

So the film isn’t actually a 15 (I haven’t seen it admittedly) and it wasn’t the film he was shown anyway, just the trailer. I think that yea, YWBU to complain.

Oh I was absolutely terrified of the play during drama GCSE. I think what might help is talking through with your son why people like these kinds of stories and films. Reading about Susan Black the author, as well as thinking about other ghost generes he may have seen when younger - Scooby-Doo etc. Rationalizing and exploring fears and seeing them from an entertainment level context and the human history of this type of story telling might help him to sort out fact from fiction in his mind. Just do it in the harsh light of day, not before bedtime!

Too far the other way if you're serious. That's awful!

https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-woman-in-black-film-qxnzzxq6vlgtodq2mza3

BBFC determine the rating - it is definitely a 12A.

No sorry, I literally have never known anyone personally to be showing horror films to their kids that young, and I think that’s normal.

100% serious and she is a normal, well adjusted child.

I'm shocked that a y7 child would react over a trailer like this.

Don't you watch YouTube trailers with your kids? They loved watching I.T trailers on YouTube and jump scares.

Please listen to this sensible advice @Littlepopsicle. You know your DC best not a bunch of randoms on the internet. Especially if the term theme is haunted houses (just why this for 11 yr olds?), you may want to know what’s coming.

I was made to watch horrors when I was young by my dad and step mum and absolutely hated it!
I of course pretended to like it.
But as an adult I can’t watch any of them or be in certain situations as it triggers a response.

This trailer is absolutely fine but horrors, especially over 18 should not be shown to kids.

There’s nothing I hate more than parents trying to be cool and in turn messing their kids up.

I empathise with your son. I'm not particularly sensitive about these things but that film terrifies me for some reason! It's not what happens as such but the imagery/ atmosphere.

People can be triggered by different things. The teacher didn't really do anything wrong by showing a 12A trailer and most kids would enjoy scary stuff. Your son, or any child, could be triggered by all sorts. We don't always know why. There's a very famous horror film that really triggered me when I saw it in my late teens - I simply couldn't sleep all night afterwards and have avoided ever watching it again since - eventually I decided something in it brought back memories of nightmares I had as a child.

BTW my dd studied the Woman in Black for her drama GSCE and was very scared of the film. She did manage to attend the school outing to see the play in the West End though. We arranged for her to sit on the end of the row in case she wanted to go out at any point, but she didn't.

My DVD copy literally says 12.

I may have misunderstood, but just looking it up, it says 12A is only used for when the film is shown in the cinema. For DVD release, it is changed to 12. So ‘technically’ this film maybe be deemed inappropriate for 11 year olds at the start of year 7.

However, the fact remains is that if OP took her son to the cinema, he would still be exposed to the trailer as it would be 12A, so I think it’s worth helping him with his anxiety.

Depressing thread. I really hate scary films, find them disturbing and always have. Thank goodness as an adult I can choose not to watch them. I don't see why children have to watch films or trailers that are deliberately designed to entice people who for whatever reason are so thick-skinned and jaded by life that they need extreme stuff to feel anything. I'd definitely talk to the teacher and ask what they can do to include children with normal levels of sensitivity.

Deliberately exposing your 5yo to age-inappropriate horror films (and let's be honest, there don't exist age-appropriate horror films for 5yos) is considered to be abuse, no matter how desensitised she has become.

I was that age when I went to a sleepover at a friend's house and someone found a VHS (yeah, I'm that old) of a movie called Cats eyes. Can't remember what it was about but it scared the crap out of me. I couldn't sleep for two nights and drove my parents spare but on the third night, after repeatedly reassuring me it wasn't real and I was safe, they told me no more creeping into their bed in the middle of the night. They left the hall light on and reassured me they were next door but otherwise I had to battle this one out alone. Remarkably I survived and a monster didn't eat me.

I also started learning self-regulation and resilience. So I wonder if really this is the time to start that? If he's getting scared of a Halloween episode on a sitcom, then he might need to toughen this one out. He's quite likely to see pretty scary stuff on phones belonging to his friends etc so this is a good time to start with this life skill.

Good luck!

Lots of kids enjoy horror genre. I’m amazed anyone is concerned re your situation but can’t see the issue with a year 7 kid sleeping in parents beds over a trailer.

Maybe there is also a difference between psychological horrors and more physical violence.

I also remember being at a year 7 birthday party aged 12 and being shown Scream 2 on VHS (woohoo!). Our parents were called for permission first, but I absolutely loved it and have been a huge scream fan ever since.

The Woman in Black did scare me more even as an adult, like with the rocking chair scene, but I am still of the opinion that this reaction to a trailer is on the extreme.

I saw the film and stage play a few years ago but couldn't remember the rating, so looked it up on Sky and it says it's a 15

15 is what Sky rated it themselves. It has nothing to do with the BBFC. A 15 rating on sky means it can't be shown free to air before 8 o'clock unless its on a channel that needs a PIN to stop kids accidentally seeing it.

My son is very sensitive to stuff like this aswell. I'd mention it atleast in case there is a next time.

So no 'IT' for your child then???!!!!

In all seriousness, sleep overs and scaring the shit out of ourselves was one of the highlights for me at school, so it'd be a shame if he can't watch them.

I can't even watch horrors myself, I actually close my eyes if it's late and a horror trailer comes on 🤣 I dream every night, sometimes multiple times and I know 100% if I watch it my over active imagination is bringing that back to me as a nightmare

Resilience develops through exposure and ability to manage situations. Not through exposure to trauma but through experience kind of in a scaffolded way.