okay so some eejit let my four year old watch childsplay.....

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

now how do i stop her being scared of chucky if she is indeed scared of chucky?

she wont go upstairs to the toilet alone untill you check that chucky is not there and its the same at bedtime she used to go up alone get her pjs on and wait for me to come up with her drink and her story but now se wont go up untill we have checked that chucky is not there. but she has had no nightmares about him so is she actually scared or is she seeking attention?

she has made me hide my dvd box of childsplay so that she cant see chucky because he is too scary.

is there any special editions 'the making of childsplay' or anything i can show to reinforce that its not real?

who the hell showed her that? OMG thats awful
Hope this is a windup.

no its not i know who let her watch ot and the circumstances and words have been had. i thought that she would just forget about it but its been over two weeks now and she is still making me go upstairs with her to ensure that chucky is not there. once she is upstairs and can he see that nothing is there she is fine.

the film wasnt put on for her viewing. she was sleeping out and came downstairs after she had been put to bed to go to the loo and noticed that a 'scary' film was on and refused to go back to bed. she likes being scared. they didnt let her watch the whole film and made her cover her eyes at the bad bits after about half an hour she decided that film was bad and went back to bed with no problems and no bad dreams she didnt mention it again untill she saw me.

Is she seeking attention?

FFS!

Er no.... some arsehole has let her watch a film that is completely unsuitable for her, and put their needs above that of a four year old child.

"after about half an hour she decided that film was bad"

I'm afraid that four year olds who are allowed to decide what is and what isn't appropriate viewing for themselves stand the risk of being terrified.

Whoever let her watch it is a fecking idiot, frankly.

You'll just have to try and distract her at bedtime.

Get her some sweet stories on cd - you know, ones that 4 year olds are supposed to listen to, ones that won't traumatise them! - and sit with her until she falls asleep.

Nightlights, or landing lights left on if necessary.

SHE DOES NOT NEED TO SEE ANY SPECIAL EDITIONS OF THE MAKING OF CHILDSPLAY - SHE NEEDS TO BE HELPED TO FORGET THAT SHE EVER SAW THE SODDING FILM IN THE FIRST PLACE!

no i didnt mean i was going to let her watch the film again i meant is there any clips of the doll being made/put together/controlled so that she can see he is just a puppet and nothing more.

she has always been scared of the dark. she is fine when she is in bed once we have established that chucky is not there and will fall asleep alone like she normally does. there have been no nightmares just...
dd; come upstairs with me
me; dd im busy what do you want upstairs
dd; i need the toilet
me; go to the toilet then its not dark
dd; what if chucky is there
me; he is not real
dd; are you sure?
me; yes
dd; will you come with me anyway?
me; okay then lets go

as soon as she is in the bathroom and sees that it is empty then she is fine.

the reason i thought it may be attention seeking is that she has once before seen a clip of the film, damn sky tv i had no idea they put on films like that in the day, i had left her watching land before time when she shouted "mum come and look at this dolly he is very naughty" we set up parental control immediately and she never mentioned the 'naughty dolly' again.

plus she is having no nightmares about it and went back to bed straight after the film. i wonder if its becuase when she told me about watching it it i said "thats not a nice film you shouldnt have watched that. you will be scared now" that she thinks she should be scared, so is playing on it?

What sort of sky have you got?

Any films like that which are shown in the day, require a pin code input and it certainly wouldnt be shown on the same channel as the land before time!

sky plus but we didnt have pin control set up at the time. we do now. that was about a year ago though. she had changed the channel herself looking for a better film she said.

She saw a clipof childspaly and at a later point was allowed to watch it?
What are the chances...

Knightcider she saw the clip when she was with me. i had put on the land befre time on sky movies and went to wash up. leaving the sky remote near her. she got bored of land before time and flicked the chanell buttons. as soon as i knew what she was watching it was turned off and the pin code was set up so that she couldnt put things like that on agian.

the people she was with were aware that she had done this and seen a tiny bit of the film. there is no way that i would let my child watch that film.

Who let her watch it?

"Is she seeking attention?"

Do you really need to ask? Seeing a clip and not being scared isn't quite the same as seeing the film. Childsplay scares the shit out of me, never mind a four year old.

And as for "covering her eyes over the bad bits" - bloody hell. They should have switched the bloody thing off there and then, never mind letting her watch it.

I trust you won't be leaving the child on her own with these particular morons people again?

everyone seems to be getting at u seashell.... but the point is shes saw the film now, whats done is done.

If she is genuinely scared then it should just wear off, lots of kids have nightmares about these things. Try introducing something else for her to focus on at night.

If it is attention seeking, try boldly reinforcing that it isnt real.

Easy to say though eh?

RIGHT. This is a disgrace, your poor dd...but it has happened.

I would advise treating the fear as real. She may not be able to rationally accept that something she is so terrified of is pretend.

So - a toy tiger/large dog etc that she has no fears of becomes her guard. It can go with her/stands guard over her bedroom door etc (Keeps out nasty dreams/things, lets nice ones in). Some people use dream catchers for the same thing.

And GET RID OF SKY PLUS if your household can't use it responsibly.

Erm, don't be so sure that it will "wear off", Suzi. She is frightened of something she has seen which, at the age of four, she has no way of knowing is not real. The intention of that film is to terrify; it's no surprise that it has frightened her so badly, and it isn't something which is going to go away overnight. A four year old's fears seem very real to them, and treating it as attention-seeking behaviour is not the right way to deal with those fears.

Just keep repeating that it's just a silly story, and it isn't real. I agree with whoever said that checking for Chucky just reinforces in her mind that there is something to be scared of - but it won't hurt to do things like give her a nightlight, or tell her that her teddy bear is very brave and will look after her. And keep taking her to the toilet while she is still scared; she needs all the reassurance she can get.

she wasnt in my house when she watched the film the second she was staying out for the night. we have parental control set up so that she cannot watch anything unsuitable. dh cant even watch anything as he can never remember the pin code!

i do not allow my child to watch childsplay, the one she watched was the seed of chucky which i dont even like!! and ill say it again i do not allow my child to watch things like this. ever!!

i just wanted to know if there was anything that would show her that the doll is not alive. she is very visual and if she could see something that showed chucky was just a robot or puppet or whatever it is then she would be happy with that.

she is not having nightmares about chucky she just wont go upstairs alone. which is clearly a lot better than her having nightmares i know but she pees about five times an hour and makes me go with her everytime!!

and yet again i do not allow my daughter to watch childsplay or any thing similar.

im not surprised she is scared

its not a film i would ever watch because i know i would find it psychologically terrifying

it wasnt on skyplus tho was it as you have the dvd

i would chuck that out completely

my dgs was terrified of pigeons because one got into his room down the chimney

he had to change rooms and was scared of fireplaces anywhere

he did the not goping upstairs alone or to the toilet thing

her fear is definitely genuine

all you can do is reassure and make her feel safe and protected again which will take time

I think that showing her anything to do with Chucky at this stage would be a huge mistake. She is four; four year olds are very literal and it would be hard for her to tell the difference between the film and anything to do with the making of the film.

I wouldn't even mention the name Chucky to her, other than to tell her that it's just a film - and only then if she mentions it.

I'm not surprised she won't go upstairs alone. That's something you'll just have to ride out with lots of patience, and lots of reassurance that your house is safe, you will always be there to protect her, and there is nothing for her to worry about.

ah i see u do have a dvd of childsplay but she warched it somewhere else

well u just have to reassure her but she isnt attention sdeeking thats for certain

I'm sure the fear is real ..someone let me watch "The Bogeyman" when I was 8 and I was terrified for months, apparently had nightmares and can still remember the scenes to this day!!

Perhaps the protector animal that I mentioned could sit at the top of the stairs to hep her feel safe up there?

yes zippi i have already hidden the box. all of her dvds are kept seperately to mine as i do like horror films and she knows how to work the dvd player so mine are kept locked up. but sometimes dvds of hers are just put away with mine. she saw the box of childsplay while i was getting one of her mermaid films out from my collection. it has now been put into a high cuboard in the kitchen where she cant see it.

i do take her upstairs and never tell her that im looking for chucky i just go up with her. i dont know if she will accept that a teddybear will protect her but i will try that one.

luckily she is not having nightmares and once she is upstairs she is happy to stay there alone. i think she just needs the reassurance of some one going up with her.