AIBU not to let my three-year-old watch Frozen yet?

[Colourfulrainbowunicorns]

A discussion came up with a bunch of mum friends and I was definitely in the minority. I thought I would post here to see if I am being unreasonable. It's fine if I am.

My DD is 3. She has become aware of the character of Elsa from Frozen at nursery and loves this character. I am not bothered by this and happily got her an 'Elsa' dress when asked. I also allow the songs.

I will not however let her watch the full film.

She gets a bit invested in programs and is easily upset. She also likes to properly understand 'why'. I think there is a LOT of explanation and unpacking needed in Frozen and that she can wait a year or so.

On a practical note she doesn't have the concentration to watch a full length film like that.

I think Disney state it as age 6+ on their streaming service.

Mine liked it when they were preschool age (older step sibling was obsessed) but one refused to watch it from the age of 5 because she can’t handle when Elsa accidentally freezes Anna during play…she’s the biggest empath I’ve ever known though

Erm if young children are watching those films, then their parents are negligent.

And I know from friends who are teachers and sports coaches that if a child under 11 mentions watching cert 15 and 18 films, they are required to report it to the safeguarding lead. It can lead to a social services referral, so if you are letting your ‘young children’ watch these you are reckless, negligent and risking their mental health - ie completely worthy of a SS referral. Not something I’d crow abut on MN or use as a basis to sneer at a mother querying whether Frozen is suitable for a 3 year old [NB it has a PG rating, ie deemed fit for 8 and over, but parents have discretion for younger children].

You’re not being unreasonable about whether she need to be watching full length films …. I could go either way with that .
You’re also not being unreasonable about the suitability of the content …… you’re actually being ridiculous here. Unpacking , explaining, complicated issues … it’s a Disney film !

Honestly I let my daughter watch that Christmas movie, she was maybe 3/4 at the time. She found the colours too much and the pictures moved to fast and actually asked me to turn it off. Not sure if the same would happen with frozen but she's not really been to keen on movies since then.

It doesn't sound like she's desperate to watch it, so I'd wait until 4 or even 4.5. She'll get more out of it watching it then. You could watch the songs and shorts on YouTube / Disney in the meantime.

Indeed, oh dear.

I don’t understand the dilemma, if she hasn’t got patience to watch it all who cares?
tell her questions are for the end as constant stopping and explaining is exhausting!
You are really over thinking it

Absolute legends for parents unlike some of the wet wipes in the comments here who just seem to have been brainwashed that they nor their parents didn't watch the same growing up.

I came back from school the once and was watching kids TV. My grandad came in and asked to borrow the remote and told me he knew of a better program. It was a Western, plenty of gun slinging.

As a result I'm sure you've probably worked out that I've obviously turned out to be a gun raving lunatic that would kill anyone that enters the neighbourhood looking slightly dodgy.

Education, folks. Within reason it's not what you watch, it's what you learn from it. You are parents, teach your kids. Restriction isn't teaching - they'll find a way to do it regardless, you won't know and they'll learn their own lessons.

My daughter watched it when she was three - purely because we were going to Disney and so she’d have context when meeting the characters there. We introduced her to Disney classic films then too. Some of those were scary! Frozen was pretty tame really.

Don't show her Bambi or any of the early Disney films then

@AnonyMumAuDHD And I know from friends who are teachers and sports coaches that if a child under 11 mentions watching cert 15 and 18 films, they are required to report it to the safeguarding lead. It can lead to a social services referral, so if you are letting your ‘young children’ watch these you are reckless, negligent and risking their mental health - ie completely worthy of a SS referral.

Then you need to report every single child and their parents to a safeguarding lead, because when I was under 11 every single kid at school watched South Park and thought it was hilarious, and I very much doubt that anything has changed since then.

Not something I’d crow abut on MN or use as a basis to sneer at a mother querying whether Frozen is suitable for a 3 year old [NB it has a PG rating, ie deemed fit for 8 and over, but parents have discretion for younger children].

My point is that there are far too many parents who have short or non-existent memories.

When we were young children, we all watched 15+ and 18+ movies, and the only thing it did to us was ensure that we developed a good taste in movies.

My recommendation to any parent is to try to remember how they were when they were children, and rather than parents being concerned about age certifications on movies, they should be more concerned about whether their children are watching good movies.

Absolutely no need for 3 year olds to watch movies. So much else to be doing in the real world.

Watching movies all the time? No they shouldn’t be doing that. But one every now and then as well as doing lots of other things - don’t see an issue

If you don't want to explain stuff to your child then... don't? If you don't think she should watch films then don't put them on.

No one can tell you if your specific child should watch it. You obviously feel that you've identified themes and meanings that other parents haven't so If you're concerned then that's up to you. If you're worried your child is deeper or more insightful than the other, lesser, 3-year-olds who love Frozen already then keep her away from it.

Err....isn't going to the cinema and watching movies as a family part of the real world?

Im with you. Im in the minority that doesnt think a 3 year old needs screen time at all.

Me either.

It doesn't have to be films/screen time 24/7 or no films/screen time at all. I'm not sure why it always seems to be an extreme on here.

Most 3 year olds won’t be able to concentrate on a full film anyway, it’ll be mostly background noise except for the songs, if those are the bits she’s already seen and she likes. If you think she’s going to find it upsetting then obviously don’t show it to her and just find the songs on YouTube maybe?

😂

You mean from exposure to material not appropriate for their age? But that is what the OP is trying to prevent.

@Colourfulrainbowunicorns I think it will do no harm at all to wait a year or two.

I literally let my 3.5 year old watch it for the first time today. She is quite sensitive so we skipped some bits that she found a bit much but otherwise she absolutely loved it. It was like watching her meet her heroes because she’s been singing the songs for months. I just answered questions as we went and it was fine. It was a nice thing to do together.

What is the matter with kids’ attention spans these days? A child of that age should be able to sit through a kids’ film! DS watched his first film at the cinema (Happy Feet 😊) at that age 20 years ago and was perfectly happy, and had been to shows at the theatre before that.

If your daughter would be asking questions about the characters’ emotions then surely that’s a good thing that she’s showing empathy, and an opportunity to explain emotions to her?

Is this the present day equivalent off Bambi's mother dyeing?

Good idea op

you will have years of Let It Go being sung at every opportunity

the less time you have to endure this the better

Watch it with her and fast forward the darker parts.
Its mostly okay from what I can remember.
I remember bringing DD to watch Brave, the scene with the Bear was scary, she was terrified. A year later it was her favourite movie L, ATT it was over too much, she was about 5.
We always skipped the start of Bambi.