Unsuitable films for children

I was a teacher and it often seemed that children watched violent/pornographic films with older siblings - parents were unaware and usually out.

My DD was traumatised by the child catcher in Chitty Bang Bang. She is now in her 50s and still will not watch that film.

My daughter (45) but aged approximately 9 stayed over with a schoolfriend and they were allowed to watch Nightmare on Elm Street. She had nightmares for weeks which we found baffling but I didn’t find out for many years. She was worried I’d have stormed round to have words with the other child’s parents and she was right, I would have.

My DD was traumatised by the witch in "The Wizard of Oz" when she first saw it on television aged about 5. She's now 37 and still won't watch it.

Yes Puppytoe, I understand as I felt the same as your daughter aged about 5. However, I now love The Wizard of Oz.

My two watched Evil Dead II when they were very young and found the whole thing hilarious. However DS (41) refuses to watch the new TV version of The Dark Crystal because he was terrified by the Skeksis in the original film and DD (44) has never seen Bambi because she doesn't want to see the bit where Bambi's mother is killed.

I remember deciding to introduce my two girls to horror at the age of 11 and 13. The younger one was more likely to cope than the older one so that was fine. We watched 'Alien' tucked up in bed together on holiday, with the 11 year old in the middle for security. Being on holiday helped I think. They were both scared but fine. But that's because I made the right judgement about when they were ready and gave them a secure environment where we could all scream and joke about it together.

My granddaughter, aged 10, was shown the animated film 'Alma' at school, which is apparently recommended for the English syllabus. She left the room in tears, and so did a big lad from the same class. The others were unperturbed.
The theme of the film is that a small girl becomes trapped inside the body of a doll, with no prospect of release....!

Chestnut...I did exactly the same!
I chose the horror film carefully and then explained about make-up etc for the actors and we also watched an extra clip on the video about how the film was made.
My son loved it and still has an abiding interest in the direction/special effects/make-up in film.
However, he won't watch anything whatsoever if an animal is harmed and his biggest trauma when younger came from Bambi!!

Dee1012 and Chesnut thank you for your posts, I was beginning to have a case of "delayed maternal guilt".

Forewarned and informed has always been the way we have reared our C and they are continuing the same with GC

I thought, recently, about buying my GS a copy of ‘Lord of the Flies’ as I remember reading it as an older child and not being particularly upset by any of the content, but I decided to get a copy from the library and read it again and I decided then that, although he is about the same age as I was, it would probably upset him more than it did me. One or two incidents in it are potentially quite shocking. I discussed it with his mum and she agreed with me, but maybe neither of us are doing him any favours.

Greyduster - if things are the same where you live as for my children, your GS may end up reading it anyway when he's a little older. All three of my children read Lord of the Flies for GCSE English Literature.

We read it for "O" level English Literature when I was at school and that was almost 50 years ago. Not much changes

In my opinion, the best thing is to be absolutely sure of what a movie he has seen.
And that's exactly what you're scared to show your child behind the scenes of that movie.
To be completely convinced that all of them are scenes.

I was taken to the cinema by an aunt at about seven and saw a film that would now be desribed as a really mild horror film, but I woke up in the night crying and did so for weeks. My children watched some age appropriate children's Christmas films and laughted at them; one of their friends went home and cried about the content. It demonstrated that some of us can't cope as well as others so it is perhaps best to err on the side of caution with chidlren. There is clearly plenty of time to watch what I would probably still think of as unsuitable films!

Rosina spot on. People are showing young children movies which are suitable for teenagers. Some 80s films like Ghostbusters and Gremlins are deceptively horrible. They are made with adult humour not suitable for children. Jurassic Park is another which could traumatise young children and I remember plenty of 6-7 year olds screaming in horror at the cinema when it came out.

When I was a very young child my older brother read me a story about a black cat which would turn into a monster at night and eat children! A few weeks later we were staying with an aunt and uncle - who had a black cat! That night the cat came into my room and jumped on my bed - I think my screams were heard in the next town!