WWYD- DD doesn't want to go on (day) school trip

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

DD is one of youngest in Yr3. (She is still 7). Next week Yr3-6 are going to the cinema. The film is related to school work but not essential. (The cinema gives the school free viewings of old films, this is a reasonably regular thing for them).

DD doesn't really like the cinema that much, and hates scary films. While the film will be tame for most of the class, she will not like it. She has said she doesn't want to go.

I'm talking to her teacher today, but what will be the best course of action? Make her go, and have a teacher have to take her out? (Likely to be at least 5/6 members of staff, and about 50 kids)
Ask her to stay behind and go to younger class?
See if I can pick her up after lunchtime registration?

I have no idea whether she will be alone in this.

It’s also a I go and not remotely educational

Jurassic Park is not suitable for young children. I wouldn’t want a seven year old going for that reason alone. If the school want to show something on dinosaurs then the David Attenborough programmes are brilliant, his brother’s scary film with people being eaten is not.
(The music’s good though)

I thought I'd let ds7 watch it a few weeks ago. I think it's come on to Netflix. Well, he hated it. He asked me to turn it off when the dinosaur was trying to eat the 2 kids trapped under the car door. It made me think they're not growing up much quicker than we did after all.

Jurassic Park is a PG certificate, I just read on the BBFC website that they awarded it a PG but with this additional warning attached: "contains sequences which may be particularly disturbing to younger children or those of a sensitive disposition".

To be honest, I think the school has made a bit of a mistake here.

Jurassic Park for a bunch of 7yos. Wtf?

Poor thing, I remember being 9 and forced to watch this at school. I tried to read my book under the table, but the teacher saw me and told me to stop and watch the film. I still don’t like it now.

Oh good god Jurassic Park?
And she's not keen on loud noises? Hell no. When you said tame I thought you meant something more a Pixar film.
She's a good judge of what she will and won't like.

Good call OP.

Jurassic Park! Are they mad!

When you said older film I was thinking of Bugsy Malone or something along those lines.

To be honest most of the film's they go to see with school are not educational, but it's fun and they need that too.

The permission form did include it being a PG. They have seen other PG films as well. With DD, she cope fine with animated films, but live action is too much.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/jurassic-park

It is nice that they can return her no big deal. Maybe ask if she could sit on an edge so she is not "trapped" if she does want to leave.

My son is in Y5 and he wouldn't be going at all. He is autistic but he has various friends who aren't and also can't tolerate scary films. They'll get there when they're ready and I think the more you push them, the more stressful it feels to them.

if you have a class group on WhatsApp or whatever I would suggest raising there - I bet you won't be the only concerned parent. The take your concerns to the school.

Bloody hell. I still vividly remember going to see that as a young teenager,and the friend I went with spent the entire time with her hands over her ears because it was so loud. I'd say the school have made a really bad call here, I seriously doubt your dd will be the only one in the class with issues, I reckon they staff will be in and out of the cinema like yo-yos taking kids back to school!!

I am pleased I talked to the school now. It's a long time since I saw the film. I can understand why the film has been chosen (they have just done a project with a dinosaur roaming the school causing disruption).
I know that the majority of DDs classmates will be fine with it. But there are a few other sensitive children in KS2, so she might not be alone.

Jurassic park scares me. Unless they've edited the bit where the man gets eaten off the toilet, or where the loose arm lands on the other guy's shoulder.

Might let a tough 8/9 yo watch but only on a tv, at home, where escape was easy and with me/DH right next to them.

No way would my 7 year old be watching that. Far too scary. I watched it at 13 and was still petrified! My daughter's isn't a cinema fan anyway unless it's something like Mary Poppins Returns. I think the school will realise it's not suitable for year 3.

they have just done a project with a dinosaur roaming the school causing disruption
So not much emphasis on facts at her school then?! In that case, to continue my shark theme, may I recommend they do a project on a great white roaming the school swimming pool causing disruption to swimming lessons, and then they can watch Jaws and Jaws 2. Sorted.
And there was me thinking they were doing the younger equivalent of studying concentration camps and watching the Boy in the Striped PJs. No, its dinosaurs roaming schools & Jurassic Park. Silly me.

Good grief, this terrified me as an adult! This would have given me nightmares as a kid. Not a big fan of special effects cinema generally. YANBU. You are being completely reasonable to say to school that you would not let your child watch that at home in case they are distressed and therefore it is the schools duty of care that your child is not put in a position to be distressed. When my DS was 7 he couldnt cope with horrible histories and would run out of the room. 18 months later he couldn't get enough of it, finally maturing to the humour, gore and sense of it. Kids mature at different ages and are exposed to the different levels of peril and gore in films differently too, dependent on what each family deems suitable for their kids to watch. School should accept this, especially with such a wide range of ages going.I only watched (most)of Jurassic Park after my kids showed me the behind the scenes bits on the DVD (they both love it, but first watched it when the youngest was 9) Then I could make sense of how the dinosaurs aren't real, but predominantly just CGI. This helped me enormously as an adult to rationalise my irrational thoughts, which in my 7 year old mind, I would not have been mature enough to handle.

Wow I was going to tell you that it was better to encourage her to go beyond her comfort zone but then you said the film was Jurassic Park! I can’t believe you are the only parent who has a problem with this!

It can't be that scary if it's relevant to what their learning.

Decades later, I still have nightmares about Goodnight Mr Tom which was genuinely relevant to what we were learning. Fear doesn't obey logic and some things are just scary.

I think the school have misjudged this one. My DD is also a younger Y3 and she would be scared by Jurassic Park, especially at the cinema. In fact I think my Y6 daughter would find it uncomfortable viewing - not so bad on the sofa with parents, but a bit overwhelming at the cinema.

Ds is no sensitive soul - he sat through Endgame recently at 8 - but we forgot about the scary bit in JP. He was 7. He was really scared. I think the school are going to have some hysterical children on their hands

I know that the majority of DDs classmates will be fine with it.

They possibly won't be, my DD was scared of Thomas the tank engine* at that age, I just didn't discuss it in the playground. It is a really poor choice of film and I am sure many more parents then you realise will be uncomfortable with the choice.

• She didn't like the crashes.

I very much doubt any film is going to be particularly educational. I think it's meant to be about the experience of going out of school and seeing a film with all your school friends then talking about it afterwards. That said Jurassic Park is an odd choice. I'd let my 6 year old go but he's quite hardy I definitely wouldn't choose it for a movie night with a bunch of 7 year olds.

Wow! There's a huge difference between doing a fun dinosaur project that would never happen (dinosaur roaming the school) to taking 7 year olds to watch JP, with the CGI making it really realistic.

I'm a primary teacher, no way would I agree to taking kids to see JP!