To let my nearly 3 year old watch jurassic Park?

[Roundandround1]

Dino mad at the moment and doesn't scare easily (not that he's watched lots of scary things!).

DH thinks he'll be fine with the first film, I'm on the fence.

What's the general consensus? I watched them myself as a kid and absolutely loved them but I'm not sure how old I was, definitely young primary at least I think.

I'm minded to let him and just skip over a few of the "scarier" bits (first couple of mins, kitchen scene, T Tex & toilet etc..)

Yes, if he's not a sensitive child - my dino mad boy loved it at 3 and has watched and rewatched it for years. He's 13 now, and we watched it at the cinema last month for its 30th anniversary. My boy has always been good at separating reality and fiction, and I think just dealing with any fears or questions as you go along works best.

I let my kids watch from around that age.

Mine all watched them. My kids were fine, your the parent. Most will say too scary, but I think if they enjoy this type if film,let them.

I think it robs kids of so much enjoyment when parents rush them towards age-inappropriate things out of misguided enthusiasm. There is so much out there that is brilliant for a toddler, and Jurassic Park will be there when they're old enough to get the most out of watching it. They're not little for long! And it's very rewarding a few years later to sit down with your older child and see them really understand and fully experience the films and shows you've been looking forward to sharing with them for the first time.

This is a good point.
I am fairly relaxed (now) about what my 16 year old watches but he knew at primary school that he was not going to be allowed to watch wildly inappropriate stuff.
Once they reach the age where they are asking to watch stuff/play games because "everyone else is" it's easier to say no if they know what is allowed and the arguments are usually shorter!

We watched it every Sunday when DS was 2 and 3. I have no idea why he liked it, but he did. He loved dinosaurs. No adverse effects now that he is 6 and he wouldn’t be bothered about watching it these days.

I’ve always been chill with what my DD watches (just turned 3) but I read recently it’s not so much that it’s too scary but that at this age they don’t have the capacity to separate reality and fiction so you explaining ‘it’s just pretend’ won’t mean anything to them, they can’t fathom what pretend actually is just yet.
I think genuinely you’d really just frighten him. There is plenty of real life Dino television/film out there that is waaaay more suitable.

Thanks for the suggestions, we've watched quite a few of them already but a couple in there we haven't.

Admittedly he has already watched some things that probably aren't strictly appropriate I.e. the odd marvel film, spider man, iron man, guardians of the galaxy. He doesn't sit and watch the whole thing obviously but there have been times these things have been on as we have older DC here too so it's hard finding a mix on a Sunday afternoon of things people can watch.

My son watched them when he was 3 and was absolutely fine so it completely depends on the child- you know your son best!

No! It might terrify him and put him off dinosaurs. What about something PG rated with dinosaurs?

Do Dinovember with him! Every November our box of dinosaurs came to life at night - the children loved coming down in the morning to find out what they'd been up to!

Probably the same way kids obsess with marvel superhero's but are too young for the films. Yet there's so many toys/costumes times etc for them

What a sweet idea!

Try ‘The good dinosaur’ by Pixar. It’s amazing, my daughter loved it

Already a favourite here 😊

I would let mine, hell I let mine watch it when she was 3 years old. He will probably loose interest before the film had finished. You can always fast forward the bit's you don't think he will like.

Absolutely not. I watched it at about 8/9 and still had nightmares 4 years later.

Why would you do this? There's no potential upside and an obvious, considerable potential downside.

Parents who push their kids to watch age-inappropriate things are unwise.

At about the same age, I let DS watch Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures. He was fine for about three weeks then had wild nightmares, so we stopped until he got older. Jurassic Park would have traumatised him and still would at 6.

Has he seen Dino Dana yet?

Ds watched it at around 5.Was fine

my 3.5 year old just watched it yesterday. He was a bit bored and confused in the first half hour but started liking it once there were lots of different dinos showing up. He did have to sit on my lap for the second half and grabbed my arm and hid his face at one point when there was a velociraptor jump scare. He told me afterwards the velociraptors in the kitchen were too scary but then 30 seconds later asked to watch it again 🤣 no nightmares so far. He does like spooky, scary stuff (Nightmare Before Christmas was his favourite thing to watch age 2 before the dino obsession really kicked in) and is pretty good at differentiating real from pretend for his age.

Is it really a 12A though as people are saying? It came up on our telly as PG!

I watched it at 3/4 and loved it, it was my favourite film for years. Tbf though I was born to teen parents in the late 80s and watched whatever they watched. I've probably seen all sorts of movies that weren't age appropriate like JP or Gremlins.

Good grief. I was watching Ray Harryhausen movies on Saturday afternoons with my big brother by 3. It kept me out of my mother's way.

No way!! I saw it at cinema as a teen and was scared!