I wish I could help you, Aimee, but I was one of those parents that utilized the TV a little too early. I let my 3 and 4-year-old watch The Wizard of Oz recently, cringing because I thought they’d freak out about the witch… NOTHING OF THE SORT. They are a little TOO fearless for my taste.

My Bella is a whole lot like Dex. Recently I showed her a youtube video of a dog caring for a baby kangaroo after the mom kangaroo was hit by a car. Bella couldn’t focus on the great interaction between the dog and the baby kangaroo because she was totally freaked by the thought of the mom getting hit by the car, and why didn’t the car stop, and how is that baby kanagaroo ever going to survive losing its momma. She’s 6 and still struggles with Nemo, even though she knows there’s a happy ending.

We’ve moved on from the Wiggles, mostly at my prompting, and now watch Yo Gabba Gabba and Hi-5 — hardly the Hannah Montana, Harry Potter, High School Musical and Spider Man that have captured the attention of her classmates.

Anyway, I like the fact that Bella is still innocent and sweet but I also worry about her ability to relate to her peers on cultural subjects.

But! The good news: she liked Kung Fu Panda. And so did I. It was a little dark at times and the bad guy is definitely bad but for some reason this movie didn’t send her to tears. Maybe Dex would like it too???

It’s hard to know when it’s going to be appropriate without a little trial-by-fire. Unfortunately, my son (who’s 6) , and his DADDY sometimes watch “the Simpsons” which I don’t think is appropriate for anyone except adults. Sean LOVES Star Wars. I had expected him to be afraid of Darth Vader, but it’s his favorite character! (Maybe I should be afraid!).

We all loved Kung Fu Panda, despite a few scenes showing the “bad-guy” beating up on others.
I wasn’t sure what Sean would be afraid of, since he’s a very sensitive, empathetic child. But, despite the Simpsons-setback, I try to ease him into any new movie or show to gauge his reaction.

Kim from
caesarandlouie.blogspot.com

I feel like we are in the middle…..he’s seen some things, (and some I wish I hadn’t allowed), and yet others we have held back on. We’ve let him watch the Survivorman shows on Discovery……and so when the Tom Hanks movie Castaway was on the other day and we caught it mid movie, and it looked like the survivor shows, we stopped to watch for a little while. And my guy cried when he lost his beloved volleyball on his ’ship voyage’. It ended up being a teachable moment. We could tell him it was okay to cry when you feel sadness even at watching a movie. As for advice for you……trial and error, tread lightly and slowly and pretty soon he’ll be right there next to you in the theaters (pg movies of course). I think as he gets through the next school grade too though, you’ll see a big jump in maturity that will help.

I have not one shred of advice, because we’re in exactly the same boat as you.

So proud: I was so very proud of myself for raising three children in a nearly television-less home, save for They Might Be Giants Here Come the ABCs and an occasional Maisy.

But five years into this gig, we ALL wish they’d tune in and drop out for just a little bit every now and then. (Hello, sixteen-hour road trip.) However, almost every movie we’ve ever tried has gotten the big thumbs-down.

Even Curious George has gotten the big thumbs-down: the lady in the bathtub? The one who screams? “TOO SCAWY, Mommy.”

Cars is the lone exception, but OY, the monotony. And Cars II is still two years away. Sigh…

Have you ever watched the ‘Wee Sing’ movies with him? I LOVED those movies when I was younger. I watched ‘Wee sing in sillyville’ a million times. I couldn’t imagine my childhood without them. and Grandpas magical toys, big rock candy mountains. They all have fun storylines along with the singing and dancing.

http://www.weesing.com

I’ve you’ve never seen one of these, you really are missing out!!!

I too have gone through this. My child is scared to death of Harry Potter, but will watch Lord of the Rings (edited of course). After a lot of trial and error (love libraries) we have discovered that if the characters don’t seem too real, he can handle it. Harry Potter is this small teenager and it all seems so possible to a 6 year old. But dwarves and trees that talk - that works for him. We did a lot of old Disney classics - Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, Lady and the Tramp at first and worked our way up. For a brief spell we had cable, and he watched Bear in the Big blue house and Stanley. Left on his own he would watch the more teen-age shows, so we stick to movies. Lord of the Rings has been an amazing experience, because there are so many lessons - the dwarves are greedy, therefore they have a hard time (simplification, but that’s what he gets), etc. Of course I have always wondered why the mom dies in so many Disney movies? or kid’s movies in general. If you can stand Scooby-Doo, these are good ones to get them used to “monsters” - because they are never really monsters of course - but silly people. I am still amazed at what will seem scary to the little ones, and what won’t - but I do think that the less the characters look like kids the better. I think that’s what makes Kung Fu Panda, Over the Hedge, and Cars easier for them to take. Good luck!

Ugh. I know what you mean, because I was kind of like that as a child myself.

The approach we’ve taken with the girls: Yes, bad things happen - in the movies and in real life. Parents protect their children, and they teach their children how to protect themselves. And sometimes, despite all the protection, bad stuff still happens.

Do you guys watch anything else with Dex? Even American Idol? Something where you can explain what’s going on, and it’s not too adult for him to comprehend - that might be another place to start aside from children’s shows.

But what do I know…we tried to show “The Incredibles” when you guys were here. ;)

It’s sad isn’t it? My heart breaks when I hear my kids ask little innocent questions. Like…Babies die? Mommy’s die? Are you going to die mommy? Uh no baby. I’m going to be here forever.

Even sponge bob gets a little too much. So I sheltered Gabby and the first day of Kindergarten (just last year) she came home and said Mommy! I say flowers. Oh great baby. And she looked at me and deadpanned- There are dead people under there!

It seems she saw a cemetery and her seat mate told her all about it. - Lesson learned. You can only shelter them for so long and then they will be in the real world.

I teach her to pray so she always feels safe. I hope she does.

Oh I’m from http://drcason.org! :)

It’s the same with almost everything - like telling them about sex - he’ll tell you when he’s ready. I think it’s a first born thing too. Keira has been the same way - slow to get it, scared easily, hyper-sensitive. When we watched 8 Below, Keira just couldn’t recover. She cried for two days about the dogs that didn’t make it.

You know, my husband to this day doesn’t like movies or TV all that much and refuses to watch anything that will play with his emotions (unless it is stupid slapstick comedy). Some souls aren’t meant for TV or movies and that is just fine.

I wouldn’t rush him. I don’t see any rush to desensitize kids, but I am one of “those parents” too. One good rule of thumb that has helped me is just to remember that the rating system is there for a reason. PG are appropriate for age 8 and up, PG-13 for 13 and up, etc. …..This helped me realize that I shouldn’t force the PG movies on my 6 year old if he’s not ready for them. I hope that helps. He’ll be ready in his own time.

I agree with the previous comment too, I think everyone is different. My oldest is really compassionate and empathetic, and has a hard time with movies with Drama, he starts crying, so we stopped trying. But those are great character traits to have, and I decided I didn’t want to trade those for a desensitized kiddo.

All great comments and suggestions. Thanks, everyone!

I’m there with you, our son just finished kindergarten and has not yet seen Star Wars, but he knows all about it from his friends.

We’ve had lots of talks with our son about what’s age-appropriate and what’s not, and he seems to be OK with the idea that he’ll get to watch everything eventually, but some things just aren’t OK right now. He’s seen The Wizard of Oz, but that was a little on the scary side for him. We’re thinking we might do E.T. next, we’ve been ramping up to it with several talks about how it has some language in it that’s not appropriate for him to repeat, but we had a setback recently when we were at a sports event and someone in front of us kept yelling “YOU SUCK!” at the other team, and we had a few days where we had to rein that in.

If there’s no exposure, ever, to anything that is questionable, there’s no chance to learn value judgments, but that’s no reason to go whole-hog and show your five-year-old your stash of Penthouse Magazines either. Well, not yours specifically, but YKWIM.

Just on a side note, my husband took my son to see wall-e tonight. It was too scary. Apparently the female love interest gets a little too free with the blaster. I’m hoping they didn’t accidentally sit in on a showing of Wanted instead.