Anyone's DC really sensitive - scared of films etc?

[parrotonmyshoulder]

DD is now 6 (in year 2). She has always been easily frightened - I've always put it down to a healthy imagination really. But I suppose I would have thought she'd be beginning to grow out of it a bit by now.

'Frozen' had us leaving the cinema in the first scene! Screaming. That was the only cinema attempt we've made. Every other Disney film has been too scary - not that she's really wanted to try any. I tried Merida last year, but it was a total disaster.

Now we're attempting Aladdin on a rainy afternoon before tea - mostly because I've had enough of housework and playing! DS (3) is loving it. DD, who read the story as a school reading book this week, is terrified. I'm trying to point out the funny bits etc.

She loves the Tinkerbell films, but nothing any more perilous than that.

I'm delighted that she's not into horror movies and GTA, and don't intend to 'toughen her up', but really? Aladdin? I'm finding it hard to sympathise today.

This is reassuring. Dd(5) is terrified of Peter Rabbit on the tv. I thought it was just her.

My DD is also 6 and very similar. However she is a lot better at theatre shows than she is at the cinema. Also some things that would seem scary she is quite happy with Maleficient wasn't a problem although I FF the fight scenes but Minion movie or Peter Rabbit are complete no goes.

She also happily totes around her worry eater and sports ear defenders for the fireworks.

My ds is similar. Actually, dd who is 12 has never been keen on films either but ds is worse. His class - he's Year 4 - watched an episode from a CBBC Romans tv show about Pompeii and it was too scary for ds - he cried and didn't want to watch it. He was the only one.

He hated Stuart Little -the mild peril was just too much

Refuses to watch Frozen -the ice monster is scary.

But he loves dinosaurs and will happily watch a scary dino show, with them eating each other. He is physically fearless. He is also happy to watch nature documentaries with animals hunting and killing each other.

But he's scared of the dark, scared of hide and seek. Used to be scared of fireworks but was OK this year.

It's odd. Your dd is not alone!

I don't think my DD has ever experienced anyone being mean about this. I hope she doesn't .

I am 27 and I am still like this. People make fun of me all the time I can watch children's films but I can't watch adult films in the cinema if it will have loud noises like guns or explosions. If there is tension in TV programmes I have to mute it.
I hate balloons and fireworks too.

I seem to be getting worse as I get older

My concern with the film thing is that, at yr3 it won't be very long before one of her friends has a cinema trip for her birthday and she won't want to go because she's scared which is a) horrible for her, b) sad for her friends and c) opens her up to teasing once they find out.

I took her to the BFI with me in Sept to watch an old film and she loved it but it's not as dark as a commercial cinema and the film was very gentle.

Watching with interest. My DD is 7 and like this. her 5 year old brother harder than a Martina Cole character. Kids, eh

My 8 year old has got there slowly. Her teacher used to pair her up with another scaredy one when they watched films at school, tasking each to look after the other.

Funnily enough her little brother was fine at 3 (I think it went over his head) but at 5/6 he is utterly terrified of the cinema. I took him to see Minions which is the mildest film ever, and he said it was so scary he never wanted to go to the cinema ever again.

Aladdin is a good film but I think it has some pretty scary bits when they just escape being swallowed by the sand etc. i suggest avoiding Toy Story 3 for now.

My DD3 used to be like this. She made me drive her to get her ears double pierced yesterday, at age 17. Six is very young -- give your DD plenty of time.

Supermarket shopping -- screeched until I left for the fresh air and no more muzak. I ended up rearranging my life so as not to have to take her grocery shopping. She hated the car too, screamed from start to end of each trip including the trip home from the hospital when she was a newborn.

Fireworks -- had to leave with DD screaming and puce in the face, calmed down to sobbing after half an hour as we walked home.

Films -- cried for days after 'Curious George', and afterwards if she thought about it.

Refused to read Harry Potter books or watch the films. Actually, she refused to read anything until she was about 9, after learning to read at a normal pace when she was younger. The first book she read after age 4 was The Tale of Despereaux by Kate di Camillo, which she loved even though it was quite suspenseful. She also loved books by Sharon Creech -- 'Love that Dog' and 'Hate that Cat' which were gut wrenching, and others. She loved other books by Kate di Camillo too. Books were nice once she got into reading, because you control the images in your head and you can stop reading any time.

Overall though, she preferred non fiction over fiction once she got to her early teens, though she is once again into fiction this year as their English Lit selection is right up her street ('Heart of Darkness' ).

She can pick up a tune and rhythm instantly, sings really well (lungs got such a great workout as a baby and toddler I am not surprised).

She liked gentle films like the BBC Beatrix Potter series and also Veggie Tales (Christian animated series) and children's programmes on tv. She absolutely adored the Curious George series on American public broadcasting. As she got a little older she liked 'Fly Away Home' on DVD (about a girl who becomes mother to a flock of geese) and '13 Going On 30', 'School of Rock' and many more. I agree with a pp that DVDs are a better idea than the cinema as you can pause them or turn them off and there is no panic.

By 13 she was able to watch Schindler's List in school.

She is a sleepwalker and tends to bottle things up and just gut her way through things.

Cocktail Queen - is your ds my ds? Same age, same year at school - can watch Jurassic Park but not Frozen...he's an incredibly cautious child too, won't do any white knuckle rides or extreme sports (ski-ing is a no no).

No advice but I used to be like this as a child, I hated Aladdin!!

Also, never show your dd 'basil the great mouse detective' - for some reason that one stuck with me.

Peter rabbit was also a no.

I had to walk out of schindlers list at college

DD is uber sensitive. She wants to be braver but it's not happening. I am just going slow with her. She really wanted to watch the avengers 5 minutes we lasted!

I think it's quite common with first born infant school/nursery aged children.

My dd1 is like this. It's weird coz she's pretty brave in real life. I agree it gets annoying - on a rainy Sunday when I'm getting over a tummy bug I really just wanted to curl up on the sofa with a film with her but her tolerance for mild peril is ridiculously low. She likes monsters university as actually there's surprisingly little peril. She also likes the snowman even though he melts. The rest of Disney she loves in theory (hooked on the merchandise for example ) but generally refuses to watch. I'd be grateful for any recommendations. She's like it with books too. It's a shame but I'm hoping it means she's really into the stories and will love books and films later. She's 4

Re the fireworks, we have a MASSIVE public display two streets away from us and she wouldn't sit on the wall outside our house to watch it! We're going to a display this weekend at PIL and I shall be based back at their house with all the scaredy people. i.e. her!

PowerPants - Cocktail Queen - is your ds my ds? Same age, same year at school - can watch Jurassic Park but not Frozen...he's an incredibly cautious child too, won't do any white knuckle rides or extreme sports (ski-ing is a no no).

They're funny, aren't they? No roller coasters for ds either - though dd is very bold and loves them.

Hi all, we're gonna move this over to films in a mo (with OP's permission, obv).

Longestlorkerever, my DD3 loved hearing me read books by Arnold Lobel around that age, especially 'Mouse Tales', 'Owl at Home', and his 'Frog and Toad' books.

I'm like this and still can't watch much above a PG (if the higher rating is for violence!), dislike surround sound and music gigs.
Also struggle with anxiety.

Had many disastrous experiences as a DC and teen having nightmares after seeing something with friends or siblings.

All ending with a storming row in late teens after being tricked by a boyfriend into seeing Shallow Grave! After which I became more assertive and avoided violent or scary films and TV.

Lots of violence in mainstream films and TV is misogynistic shite anyway.

There's an interesting book called the "highly sensitive person" that made sense. It basically said if you're like this, then films that bother you are best avoided!

my dc are a bit like it.

Me too.

Dd hates any kind of suspense. Tangled had to go off. Ditto Cinderella. It took months to get through Frozen, despite her being obsessed with it.

I am the same. I don't mind gore, or scary but I detest plot suspense. I always watch films with the wiki and the IMDB page open. When we first got together it Really wound DH up, till he realised it is somethings innate.

ds was at this age.
I always put it down to him just living in the book he was reading or film he was playing - really active imagination and not able to sit back objectively as his sister did.
Doesn't seem to have scarred him.

Bit late to this thread but just wanted to say my DD was like this until about the age of 8. She couldn't watch any Disney films, I can remember even as a small child she would get scared of Thomas the Tank engine on TV because he nearly fell off the tracks! In fact any film or tv programme with 'mild peril' was a no-no and would have her screaming and running from the room. I think it comes from getting so involved in the film that they find it difficult to separate themselves from the emotion.

It did make it difficult sometimes at other people's houses, we would take colouring / sticker books with us so she would have something else to do if the children were watching films. The same would happen at school, they would give her some drawing to do. Fortunately she's always liked drawing and colouring! There was a tricky 6th birthday party where they were watching Tangled - but I just had a chat to the mum and explained the situation, turned out they weren't watching the film until later on in the party, so I arranged to go back to the party a bit early to collect her. As far as I am aware other children were fine about it - it was just one of those things they accepted about DD.

I think you just have to accept it, and not make a big deal out of it. DD has now learnt to manage her emotions a bit more, and she got to the stage where she didn't want to be left out of what her friends were doing! She is now 10 and has happily watched Harry Potter, and loves reading books with exciting / dangerous storylines. However she still does get caught up in films and she finds it easier to watch scary films if she already knows the story (hence why Harry Potter was OK as she had read the book first). She found Inside Out quite upsetting and was actually crying in the cinema, but she still wanted to carry on watching it.

My youngest DD is much tougher and at 4 years loves all the Disney films! Horses for courses...