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Kids And Scary Movies

My daughter happened to be at a sleepover a couple of weeks ago while she was out of my sphere of influence, and she was exposed to a really scary movie -- "The Blair Witch Project." I've never seen it, but I know it's scary, and to a 7-year-old, it was *REALLY* scary. She has not been able to be alone for any reason, for any length of time at all, ever since -- not even to take a bath or shower, brush her teeth, change her clothes in her bedroom, etc. Even going to the bathroom, she rushes through it so she won't be alone for more than just a minute or two, and that seems like torture to her, and she begs me to go with her.

She jumps at shadows, at every little creak and groan the house makes ("What was *that*??), and if I walk away from where she happens to be at the moment she immediately asks "Where are you going?" Just this evening, I was clearing off the dinner table and taking the dishes to the sink -- a distance of about 6 feet, and she can see me every step of the way. "Where are you going??" She literally *sprints* down the hallway to go from one room to the other. It's bizarre.

We've prayed about it together, I've prayed about it separately, I've told her that at any time when she is scared she can pray for help, herself. Nothing seems to be working.

What do I do? What would you do?

Movies Scary Kids

FarSeer, I have had a similar experience with my daughter. She was at her grandparents house a couple of days before Halloween and her grandfather let her watch some scary movies on TV such as "Halloween" and others. The next few nights she literally had to cry herself to sleep she was so scared. It took a lot of reinforcement from both of us to convince her that there was nothing to be afraid of. Eventually she got over it, but I can certainly empathize with what you are going through. It will differ from kid to kid, but basically patience and positive reinforcement is what I would recommend.

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Farseer, I'm so sorry what you are going through with your little one, this is just ONE of the reasons I do not like 'sleepovers' AT ALL.
She will get over it eventually, believe me. When I was like 10 or 11 years old I wanted to watch "The Exorcist" and of course my family said no. I sneaked out at night to watch it and it was SOOOO scary. For two or three weeks everytime I have to go to school (I was in walk distant from school) I would actually run! and reached all sweaty...but I could not say anything about it because I know they would punish me for disobeying. It last two or three weeks and then everything went normal but it was a horrible experience, so just support her as long as she needs it, her fears are real.
She is so young to be watching a movie like that...did you talk with the parents of her friend about it?. Maybe next time you should ask for a list of the activities they will be involved in....a little girl of my branch when she has friends over, she makes a list of the activities they will do, she makes some copies, make it sign to her mom as the one that approves the activity and the signature of the child and mom of the child, in this way everyone is happy about what kind of things they will be doing. It's obvious that wherever she went, the parents were not very sensitive about the needs of a 7 years old. *shaking head* You are a very loving mother, just give her as much long and support that she needs at this time.

Movies Scary Kids

It happened without my knowledge, the sleepover. She was staying with her dad and grandparents over the holiday school break, and her dad went to visit some friends and they spent the night there. These friends have 3 girls, 9, 11, and 12, and they stayed up almost all night. There may have been other movies besides the one I mentioned, but I don't know what -- she says none. I didn't find out about it until the next day.

Yes, I did talk to her dad about it, and he said he didn't know they were up all night or that they had watched any movies -- he fell asleep on the couch early. He has apologized to me. But he doesn't have to live with the aftermath. Any hope I had for moving her out of my room this year is pretty much shot.

Roz

Movies Scary Kids

It seems to me that next day she stays by her dad, you need to make sure he details you the kind of activities he and your daughter will be doing. I don't want to sound 'nosy' but I just want to also suggest you to be VERY careful where your daughter spends the night . Hid dad's friends may be good people or may be not. How this world have become, you cannot take any chances or trust blindly in anyone. That's how I feel . You cannot leave in fear but you need to be extra careful.

Don't feel discouraged my friend She will be okay and believe me in a couple of weeks she will be fine and she will not even remember about it and when she grow up she will laugh at this incident.

Kids And Scary Movies

I am very much in agreement that there are way too many movies that are simply unsuitable for most children below a certain level of emotional maturity. Of course, most us here also share similar standards as to specifically what we don't knowingly want our precious children exposed to.

Strange thing is, sometimes even children's movies, television shows, literature, and such can cause them distress. For example, my 4 year old thinks the movie versions of both The Cat in the Hat and James and the Giant Peach are scary. Sure, "Cat" stunk on ice, and "James'" aunts were horrid, but scary to the point of inducing nightmares? Go figure...

Kids Scary Movies

EVER WONDER WHAT TV DOES TO YOUNG MINDS?

Dr. Keith Buzzell's objection to television has nothing to do with the content of the programs. He finds some shows objectionable, yes, but violence and Cialis advertisements are not his main worries.
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...07729%2C00.html

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I found out some years ago when my daughter was younger that she was watching scary movies over at the babysitters when the sitter's daughter who was a teenager would play them. I didn't even know about it until I picked her up one day and she began describing to me this really gruesome sounding movie. Needless to say, I was shocked, and had a long talk with the babysitter, which got my daughter mad at me, but I thought it was for the best. She didn't seem to be affected by it though, but I didn't want to take any chances.