AIBU about TV time at grandparents

[warmmfeet]

Hi all!

4 year old likes playing scooby doo as got some hand me down toys and loves the theme tune, which we introduced him to. He knows the premise of the show but we don't let him watch it yet because he is a sensitive child and as of yet really not able to differentiate real / not real if he sees it on tv, also prone to waking at night feeling afraid and nightmares

We had a chat about this on Xmas day with extended family.

I'm unwell with bad sinus pain, left my son at my parents for less than 1 hour today to go to chemist and my mum put the scooby doo movie on for my DS, who saw a monster which terrified him. He's been worrying about it since, distracted, afraid to be on his own in a room.

I obviously tell him it's not real, try to teach him some mantras about being brave etc but guaranteed we will have a bad run of nights now.

I'm so annoyed but idk if I'm taking it too badly and should just laugh it off ? She probably thought she was giving him a nice treat to let him watch something I don't let him watch.

AIBU? Anyone else have similar problems?

The cartoon movie or one with Freddie Prinze jnr etc?
Did you explicitly say scooby dooby/any form of tv he can't watch or just monsters in general?

@MichelleScarn i don't know if it was the cartoon or the movie. they claimed to not really know what it was or what they were doing - plausible. It had been turned off when I got there. I think it was on their sky.

It was a general chat about scooby doo and my older nephews (now adults) were saying the movie is good and I said we didn't let DS watch scooby doo or anything scary yet.

I have a similar aged DS who is frightened of things but I never quite know how he's going to react. Some things that I think would be scary absolutely don't bother him and sometimes he takes against something totally innocuous (he's terrified of our mop at the moment for example...). I'd probably just shrug it off and accept that these things happen.

Dd has always been similar. I'd be a bit irritated yes given it was only an hour they had him, but probably not worth showing it, people often don't understand unless their child is similar. I'd just explain that movies can be a bit dodgy for him (they are always much more suspenseful etc than tv) and perhaps give them a few safe options, if they need to turn the tv/films on in future. I wouldn't tell them off this time but do make clear it really affects him.