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Original poster

Appropriate television/films....

51 replies

CountessDracula · 09/01/2006 23:11

I sometimes feel that my dd is watching stuff that is inappropriate. I find a lot of new films very fast paced and hassley eg madagascar, shrek, toystory type stuff. DD is 3 and 3 months, we first took her to the cinema when she was 2.5 to see Magic Roundabout (another hectic one!) and she was glued to it. She has been to see wallace and grommit film, the heffalump movie etc.

I had bought her a couple of the old movies like Dumbo, Jungle Book and she had things like Miffy videos and Kipper. However several people gave her dvds for xmas and we recorded Shrek and Toystory, she seems to love them but I wonder if they are just too much for a 3yo.

She seems to have lost all interest in TV (not that she watched much) and only wants to watch dvds. Is this a common thing? Should I restrict her to babyish programs? I don't want her to grow up too fast!

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handlemecarefully · 10/01/2006 00:03

I genuinely didn't notice the fast frenetic pace -now keen to watch it again more attentively, and mildly worried about my lack of critical analysis skills / awareness....

morningpaper · 10/01/2006 09:16

I think stuff that goes over their heads is not really a problem. I think it just goes over their heads. I've watched lots of telly (Seinfeld in particular) which has lots of aside references to other tv shows/films all of which I TOTALLY don't understand (DH guffawing gives it away) - it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of thse programme.

Original poster
CountessDracula · 10/01/2006 09:41

It really is the pace of these films - I feel quite exhausted by the end of Madagascar for eg.

I am NOT saying that I think it is unsuitable viewing for a 3yo, just that I feel it could be more gentle as it is aimed at kids. It really seems to be aimed more at adults tbh.

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Enid · 10/01/2006 09:46

cd my dd2 is the same age and is also uninterested in tv. She doesn't watch films that much either, unless they star Barbie or Cinderella - she certainly wasn't interested in madagascar. She is a computer whizz and would play for hours on the Poisson Rouge website if I let her. She is too frightened of the 'bangs' (?) to go to the cinema.

I don't think the films are too much though. some of these films are great! Shrek and toy story are really fabulous films and luckily dd1 is a veg-out so I can watch them as often as I like. I couldn't wait until dd1 was interested in going to the cinema and I have taken her regularly since she was 3.

Pfer · 10/01/2006 09:53

in i sneak as quiet as a mouse just to tell you that DS1's (4yo) fave DVD's are spiderman (film not animation) and star wars......out i sneak again

Original poster
CountessDracula · 10/01/2006 11:20

Well I'm glad it's not just dd

Enid I LOVE the films, I just worry they may be too much too young for a 3yo

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Dottydot · 10/01/2006 13:26

Oh dear...ashamed to admit that ds1's favourite film is Star Wars and he's only 4. Can't remember how he first came to see it - I think at his Grandma's, but he loves it. He also loves Toy Story, Monsters Inc and Shrek, which I don't mind him watching at all, as I think the content's fine and I like watching them aswell! But in an ideal world, if I could re-wind time, I wouldn't have let him watch Star Wars - way too grown up for him and has now led to a complete lightsaber obsession!

Dottydot · 10/01/2006 13:26

Pfer - just seen your post!!

grumpyfrumpy · 10/01/2006 13:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

kleist · 10/01/2006 13:57

It's not that kids won't watch things that, I think, are too old for them. Not even that they won't enjoy them in some way. For me it's that I don't want dd to be exposed to certain things before she has to. Everything she sees / hears gets re-enacted in her imaginative play which is already morbid a lot of the time. The first time she saw The Snowman, about the most gentle animation you can imagine, she was so upset by him melting at the end that she was in tears and played lots of games for days about things melting and 'dying'.

morningpaper I totally disagree with you that it's ok for them to watch things that 'go over their heads'. In fact I think that because they don't have the skills to understand violence / fighting it's even more important that they get sheltered from it until they can separate fiction from reality with more accuracy. Anyway, what's to gain from showing them things that they just won't understand?!

shrub · 10/01/2006 14:18

cd - completely understand what you mean. i'm sure i read somewhere that many animation companies apply the same template from adult action films to cartoons ie. an event - something braking, an explosion, screams, shouting every 3-5 mins to keep interest.
I remember letting my ds1 when he was 4 watch Nemo at the cinema and he was shaking at the end (in excitement) but it left me wanting something more gentle for him. When he was first at school they watched the Incredibles as an end of term treat and he hid under the table with a couple of other children. My ds2 who is 2.5 doesn't watch tv but we have got old videos from ebay such as Bagpuss, Clangers, Paddington, Peter Rabbit. My ds1 is now nearly 6 and being at school it is so hard to get a grip on peer pressure. he talks about star wars and power rangers even though he has never seen them. it just takes one child in the class to have seen it and they want to act it out with their friends. i think its better to have the choice with videos/dvds, at least they are not bombarded with all the merchandise to go with the programmes. i also have a problem with everything being american - a relative has been brought up with all the disney stuff and she has a slight american accent .

lucykate · 10/01/2006 14:25

have you noticed how many animated films have a story line that involves the mother dying at the begining

bambi
ice age
finding nemo
cinderella
snow white

to name but a few

Pfer · 10/01/2006 14:27

grumpy - we watched the incredibles quite a few times last year and DS1 loves playing at being a superhero.

Pfer · 10/01/2006 14:31

All of these 'classics' aren't all that good either are they? Bambi - dead dear, Dumbo - drunkeness and teasing, Cinderella - girl scrubs floors till marries into money. You can read bad stuff into anything you watch whether it be classics or modern day pixar stuff. It just depends on what you're happy with your kids watching. Personally, I don't mind DS watching Star Wars, Spiderman, The Incredibles,Lord of The Rings. He doesn't go around hitting anyone because of it and if you think about it they are all about good fighting evil - so there is some good in them after all!

Bozza · 10/01/2006 14:44

You see I am the opposite in that I wonder if we are sheltering DS too much - won't let him see LOTR, Narnia (until on DVD), Harry Potter etc.

lunavix · 10/01/2006 14:48

I can see where you are coming from.... but I personally don't agree. I wasn't allowed to watch much tv as a child and had very few videos. I'm now obsessed, I love having it on,and as a childminder it's a daily struggle with myself as I don't allow it on but love it in the background

I like the adult jokes in shrek and similar films. True a lot of it goes over the kids heads, but it makes it watchable for all ages.

I'm so sick of putting tweenies on (ds who's 20 months's favourite video) and feeling my brain dribble out my ears and my mind wander somewhere with duller colours and less irritating voices. I like the fact that we can sit as a family and watch the incredibles or monsters inc as a treat, and we all enjoy it (granted it doesn't hold ds's attention like the tweenies does but is that a bad thing?)

Ds also HATES old disney classics. Dull colours, repetitive classical-sounding songs... I loved them in my childhood but they are very outdated now. He will NOT sit and watch one, or even humour me if I put one on. On the other hand, a friends dd (3) enjoys them, but does prefer the other new movies (such as Robots which I believe is her favourite.)

I agree with lucykate, half the mums die in them, plus there's always negative aspects in them too - death, fire, bullying, drunkenness, granted there's adult jokes and things in the new movies but could it be they're just up to date. What affected kids 10 - 50 years ago is very different now.

kleist · 10/01/2006 15:02

Every classic fairytale has something frightening in it, whether it's death or evil witches or whatever. I'm not personally into absolutely sanitising or sheltering my dd from those larger, adrenalin-producing type of story lines. BUT I do want to expose her to them when I think she's ready to handle them. So if Bambi is too upsetting for her at 3 but fine for her at 5 then that's when I would want her to see it.

T.v. and / or DVDs aren't necessary. You don't have to suffer through Tweenies (which I loathe) you can just have no t.v. or put some music on.

kleist · 10/01/2006 15:04

Incidentally lunavix, I was also brought up without much t.v. - my mum really censored what we saw and when right up until I was a teenager. The idea of me having a t.v. in my room is unimaginable. But I haven't grown up obsessed with it. I only ever have it on if I want to see something specific. The background noise of it irritates me. I certainly can't concentrate on doing other things at the same time.

alicatsg · 10/01/2006 15:25

interesting thread. My ds (aged 2 and a VERY important quarter) is obsessed with the wizard of oz, we see it every day and nothing else will do. we got the old BBC narnia series on dvd for christmas but its a bit drab and he is completely uninterested. I'm thinking Mary Poppins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the real one) next. After all if flying blue monkeys of Oz don't scare him oompa-loompas should be no problem.

Hulababy · 10/01/2006 20:23

DD is 3 and loves Shrek. Other films she loves are: Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Charlie and the Choclate Factory (original one), Cinderella, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Tigger the Movie, Piglet's Bid Adventure.....and more. Over Christmas she also saw Toy Story and Stuart Little which she liked.

DD is now 3y9m and has been really into films for about a year or so now.

She gets so involved with the films. She gets so emotional too. She will cry with the happy and the sad bits, she laughs and giggles at funny bits, she is cross at unfair bits, she sighs at the lovey dovey bits. It really is a roller coaster emotional ride with her at times.

She wants to get Madagascar and Lion King next apparantly.

Hulababy · 10/01/2006 20:27

Have to say that I have no problem with DD watching films like Shrek (and will get her Madagascar too). She likes something funny at times. And it does make it a bit more interesting for me and Dh to watch when it isn't all aimed at children.

Mind you I still like Mary Poppins and Charlie and the Chocolate factory myself.

I definitely can't think of ANY Disney film that doesn't have either a scary or a sad moment or two in it. Even Tigger the Movie does!

ghosty · 10/01/2006 20:36

It all depends on the individual child and his/her personality, don't you think?

My DS is 6 there are certain films he can watch easily and enjoy and certain ones he doesn't like.
Most animation he can handle (cartoon OR computer) as he knows it isn't REAL ... he is very literal and if he thinks something is REAL he will be terrified (has only recently watched Harry Potter (1) through to the end without crying because he knows that Harry Potter isn't real and is a made up person, played by a boy called Daniel Radcliffe whose mummy didn't really die and he still lives happily at home with his parents LOL )
Spiderman .... to gruesome at the end with the green goblin
Can watch Star Wars (get confused with episodes ... the first one ever made with Harrison Ford but not any of the others)

He loves all the old disney classics best of all ...
Loves all new disney pixar stuff but I find only some of them good ... just took him to see Chicken Little and I thought it was crap ...

I think they churn them out too quickly now to be honest ... thinking about the hype and box office $$$ before thinking about story line and content for kids.

I am also bored rigid by the same old same old story line of dying parents and/or young child building relationship with sad and lonely single dad and/or being lost and finding their way home(Finding Nemo, Chicken Little, Lion King, Madagascar etc etc Yawn yawn)

That is why my faves are Shrek and Toy Story as they are different!

Katemum · 10/01/2006 21:13

My 5 yo loves films like Shrek, Stuart Little, Nemo and others like Star Wars and Batman. But we have had to stop him from watching The Tigger Movie and The Fox and the Hound as he just finds these too upsetting, he sobs uncontrollably through them.

Janh · 10/01/2006 22:55

Oh, and I can just take this opportunity to mention yet again that you should never let little children watch Ring of Bright Water? (Adorable otter comes to violent end at hands of countryman ditching with large spade who takes it for rat - my DDs watched it at c 8 & 5 and were devastated).

nooka · 10/01/2006 23:33

I would rather my two (5/6) watched anything by Pixar than any Disney film. The Pixar stuff is a)watchable - I want to be able to sit with them when they watch something new, not be bored or conversely intensley irritated and have to leave the room and b) not be full of really dodgy messages with which I disagree because many of them are either very conservative, or just dated. However when they were really little we mostly enjoyed older TV programmes with them, like Clangers, Mr Ben, Ivor the Engine, Noggin etc nice and gentle wind down programmes that we all watched so much that the videos went squeaky.