My ds is getting really worried about going to school panto

[travellingwilbury]

They are going to see Peter Pan and he was really looking forward to it but today at school they have shown the children some of the story on the computer .

He is now saying he doesn't want to go and Captain Hook is far too scary . It took a while for him to tell me what was wrong and how worried he is about it .

He is a bit of a wuss sensitive soul sometimes , I had to turn Snow White off as the scene in the woods was too scary . I am planning on speaking to the teacher about it on Monday but wondered if anyone else had any ideas on what I can do to make him less scared .

Please don't make him go if he is really that scared. Is there anyway you can go with him and promise him you will leave if he is scared?

I also wouldn't send him if he is upset, what's the point? Or as LilRed says, can you go to. My dd was a -wuss- sensitive soul too so we just kept her away from the myriad of things she found scary and now she has grown out of it and is much more adventurous.

I have told him that if he doesn't want to go then that is fine . I asked him today if he had told the teacher that he was scared but he said they aren't allowed to talk when they are being shown something so he didn't .

I just feel a bit sad that he will miss it , he normally loves going to see things at the theatre , but maybe Peter Pan and Captain Hook is a bit scary for a nearly 5 yr old .

Sadly I don't think I would be able to go , I would struggle to find anyone to look after my 2 yr old . Also I don't really want him to go to something that he is expecting to be grim , he would be stressed about it .

He is such a boisterous boy , I forget this side of him sometimes .

Next step if talking to him doesn't help is to think wether he should make an excuse to his pals or just tell them he was worried about it ?

Decisions decisions

how much of the film did they see? would he find it any easier if he saw the whole film with you at home, so he knows that it is all ok in the end? was the reassurance my DS needed at times. :O

that was meant to be a

we spent a few weeks the other year explaining over and over to DD3 that it was just someone's Daddy dressing up and pretending, but I did have to make sure I sat next to her in the theatre and pretned to be scared of Captian Hook so that she could tell me not to be silly as it was only soemone's Daddy dressing up etc etc

My boisterous, football playing "boy-y" boy would struggle with Peter Pan even now and he's 7. He finds the cinema too overwhelming too and has only managed to stay all the way through "Enchanted" "Cars" and "Madagascar" Every other film we've tried I've had to take him out of. I don't think he'd go to a pantomime without someone in his family with him!
Wusses of the World Unite!!!!!

I think watching the film could be an idea but because its panto I think its a bit too real . I have tried the "Its only people dressing up thing " so far no good

Thanks Seeker you made me laugh

I think it is genetic as I too am a wuss. My dh is not a wuss. With him its all bah humbug to ghosts and ghoulies. But do you know what - despite being too scared to go to the toilet on my own after a scary movie (there are always frightening things in bathrooms in films) I think my fertile imagination has made my life more interesting and more fun. Although I don't know if fear is good for post natal stress incontinence .

So absolutely wusses of the world unite.

Plenty years to come for panto if need be.

So do I get him to make something up to his friends or let him embrace his inner wuss and be honest ?

My DD was a wuss about films (got scared by Lady&the Tramp II FGS) but was ok with panto.

talk to the teacher. Maybe he can sit with her or a TA?

But if he's really wound up about it, he shouldn't be made to go.

I think I would talk to the teacher. DD1 reacts in a very similar way to films on DVD - she can't cope with the average Walt Disney with a scary bit in the middle.

I was really worried when there was a school trip to the panto last year - she was 5.5. (She had also never even been to the theatre and to be honest I was a bit miffed that the school had robbed me of that particular milestone.)

Anyway, the teacher made sure she was sitting with her best friend and her favourite TA. DD said it was too noisy and a bit scary sometimes, but overall she had fun. And I think she'd have felt a bit odd being left out when all her friends went.

If the teacher doesn't seem sympathetic, I suggest your DS develops a strange 24 hour virus that day!

My dd1 went to the panto with school in Reception and spent the entire time with her head buried in the teacher's shoulder. The following year the teacher had a quiet word with me and suggested that I make some kind of medical appointment (in our case an eye test was due) for the morning and keep her off. Last year they went to the cinema, which was fine, but this year (yr 3) we've booked another eye test. Well, she saves face with the kids at school!