Is it only me who are so anal about what films my children watch?

[FairyMum]

Inspired by other threads, I thought I'd start my own. I am really suprised by the type of tv-programmes and films some parents let their small children watch. They claim their children are not easily scared and its fine to watch this. I am weary of both fast moving and scary images for my children. I also think there are so many things small children just won't understand until a certain age. For example, I would not let my 6 year-old watch Harry Potter mainly because I think if he waits a few years he will get so much more out of it. I don't want to rush them into all the wonderful films and stories they will enjoy much more if they wait (I think).

Now I am wondering, are some children really more easily scared? Yes, I guess to a certain extent they are, but I am also thinking that they build up a certain tolerance to things they see. In my eyes this is not a good thing at all.

I want my children to keep their innocence. I want my 3 year-old to be scared by images in power rangers and instead watch bob the builder and postman pat who I think are programmes for his age group.

Am I the only one?

My 6 and 9 year olds watch cbeebies because my youngest is 3 and in our house we watch what's appropriate for the youngest in the audience. While the 3 year-old has his stories, they watch scooby do or tom&jerry.

I would not want them to watch power rangers because I think its crap. I don't let myself be pressurised by what other parents let their children watch tbh.

Why wouldn't I trust my DD to tell me if she was scared? She is able to articulate when she is sad or angry and does tell me when she is scared.

If she tell me she is not scared then I don't think she is (I can't see why she would say she wasn't).

Also surprised that your 9 yr old watches Cbeebies.

Agree with Anna8888 and other posters who have said that their DC would get bored watching postman pat etc

Most of that post made no sense at all

My DD would be bored watching most of the programmes mentioned.

I have to say I try to police what they watch in terms of 'is it good television' rather than necessarily what age it's aimed at. And children do take things on different levels.

Marina, I so agree - dd has watched things that NO WAY would we have let ds1 watch at that age (namely Pirates of the Caribbean), but other things as well.

I think there's a slight assumption in this thread that old films are better and more acceptable than contemporary films. Ie - Fairymum liking Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - which I remember as being terrifying as a child. But that, Pirates of the Caribbean is not ok. It's a bit illogical, perhaps. I can't imagine a small child who doesn't find the child catcher frightening, and if they don't (recognising it as not real, fantasy etc) then why wouldn't that apply to HP/Pirates?

i was sh*t-scared of the child catcher at a young age.

dd1 is very vocal about what scares her. the other day dh was watching a daytime documentry type thing on aliens. one of those 'do they really exsist' with loads of crappy shakey camera footage from eyewitnesses. dd1 is absolutly scared of aliens. she came to me (i was doing laundry in the bedroom) and said she wouldnt go in the living room as she was scared of what dh was watching. so she stayed chatting to me whilst dh finished watching it.

my dd's do have a touch of drama-queen-ish about them as well, so when they are scared you know it.

I couldn't explain why the puzzler is terrifying, yet Pirates of the Caribbean is 'fine'.

Its always very easy to judge anothers parenting skills, particuluraly if you are not a parent yourself, however with this in mind, I was surprised at nephew who brought "Hellboy" to share with us over a year ago. He was just turned 3 at the time and I must admit to being surprised.

Out of curiosity does anyone else's children enjoy Hellboy?

or the other way around, either...

and that's without getting into Dick Van Dyke vs Johnny Depp's accent.

fairymum, all of my dd's head to bed at the same time. dd1 actually needs more sleep than her younger sisters as she is up in the night with asthma/eczema and is generally more worn out by the end of the day. they even share bedtime stories, so one night then may all listen to dh reading a dora the explorer book, the next night would be soemthing like the grufalo, then dd1 choice which would be horrid henry.

dd3 sleeps a full 12 hours, dd2 drops off to sleep about 2 hours later (has never needed much sleep) and dd1 needs 12hours or more.

Every now and again, my mum looks after DD on a Saturday for a couple of hours and DH&I escape to the cinema. We often see 12A films and I am surprised about the amount of very young children in there. I'll be whispering to dh "I wouldn't bring Evelyn to see this at that age!"
My mum & sisters are really into Harry Potter, and they are keen for her to watch the films with them when she gets older. But I am not too keen, I think they can be a bit scary. There is a difference between the children reading / being read to, comparied to the film. By reading, they are limited to their own imagination. I know when I was growing up, I loved to read The Witches, but I was allowed to watch the film and their portrayal of The Grand High Witch in the film was a lot more horrific and gory than in my own imagination.
I remember watching The Labrynth when I was younger, and it scared the hell out of me. And traumatised me regarding men with David's Bowies tight trousers . I also apparently cried when I watched The BFG because my mum says I freaked that I recognised David Jason's voice but couldn't work out what was going on!

"I'm assuming your kids go to school? And when your 9 year old is asked what he watches on tv I'm sure he'd rather die than admit that he watched cbeebies."

Why Kerrymum? Nightgarden is hardly her favouorite programme. She watches it with her brother. She watches other things too. You seem very hung up that children must watch the same as their peers. This is partly why I started this thread and I feel reassured that many parents feel like myself and there are plenty of children out there who are lot allowed to watch films for older children.

"Why wouldn't I trust my DD to tell me if she was scared? She is able to articulate when she is sad or angry and does tell me when she is scared."

I don't think children can always judge what they will find scary. Like I said earlier I am worried about the longer-term effect of seeing certain images/stories, but just the here and now.

"I think there's a slight assumption in this thread that old films are better and more acceptable than contemporary films. Ie - Fairymum liking Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

Pirates of the carribean has certificate 12. Chitty chitty has recommended age of 7 on amazon.....I don't think old -fashioned films are always better and the child catcher is definatly scary. Again, I would not let my 3 year-old watch it (even if he reassured me he was not scared...LOL).

Also, I should add that tv does not play a bit part in our lives. We only have one tv and I am guessing my children watch on average 5 hours a week on tv and we don't have a dvd -player. My ds1 who is 6 plays Star Wars at school and knows lots of the characters, but he picks this up in the playground. No need for him to watch it to join in. So far it has therefore not really been an issue for us and my children haven't hassled me over it. Mind you, my ds2 seems to be more of a tv-addict so we will see what I have in store.....

my kids watch tv when we come home from school I guess a lot of their pals are in after school care then, so I suppose their parents would say they don't watch as much tv as mine, but I think an hour after school at home watching tv is preferable to another 2-3 hours in the school gym hall waiting for your mum or dad to come and get you.

Chelsygirl, mine wasn't a value-comment on how much tv children watch. I think that is another thread, although I would not necessarily agree with your post.

Have to admit, I find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory far more objectionable than Harry Potter, as there is a strong bullying mentality in Roald Dahl- you're encouraged to turn on anyone who's fat, spoilt, or in any way a nerd. In HP bullying is done by the baddies, in CCF it's encouraged by the author. Big difference.

As I said before, I don't trust some unknown censor to decide what's appropriate or not for my children.

Not that I'd forbid them to watch it outside the home. But I've made it quite clear that I don't like it and we're not wasting money on it.

Obviously, you can't stop them seeing things forever- I believe dd has watched Pirates of the Caribbean at school on a day when the class was taken by the deputy head...

I agree you cannot stop them from seeing things forever. I think there is a huge difference between taking a 9 year-old to a Pirates of the Caribbean with a certificate 12 and letting a 3 year-old watch it or Star Wars. I think 3 year-olds belong in front of cbeebies and think thread makes me feel a lot happier because it looks like the majority agree with me.
When you start threads like this, there will always be posters who try to look like the sort of total lunatic who want your teenager to watch Tweenies though....

Right, off to do the egg-hunt....

there will always be posters who try to MAKE YOU look like the sort of total lunatic who want your teenager to watch Tweenies though....

Kerrymum, it is obvious from any threads I have seen that I parent in a very different way to you, so excuse me if I ignore your comments about me being a lunatic and my children freaks for not watching power rangers. They will never watch power rangers under my roof because I think its a crap programme. I am sure you do some quality -control on programmes your children watch too or perhaps its time to start.

No, I said my 9 year-old watches cbeebies when my 3 year-old is in the room. While I am reading him stories she is watching scooby doo with her brother. She is also taken to the cinema to see films right for her age. Please read the thread.....I have children who are different ages and I also prefer to see tv as something we watch together. Yes, my children might miss out on some programmes, but I hate the idea of them sitting alone in a room watching something the others can't or won't watch.I think tv can be such an isolating effect on family-life.

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