Thank you for your responses. I talked to dh about it tonight, and he said the same thing, that our son is identifying with the characters and that's what filmakers are trying to accomplish. I will continue to talk to ds about this, and I like the idea of discussing that it's ok to empathize and feel this way; in fact, it's what you're supposed to do. If he seems to understand that, I think I will worry less about censoring what he's watching and follow his lead on that. He's pretty good about communicating how he's feeling and if something is too scary or sad. He'll turn it off in a heartbeat if someone dies, if he just thinks someone might die, or if someone is mean to another person. The lip tremble is the tell-tale sign!
We did have to stop letting him watch Ghost Hunters however b/c he did have a couple of scary dreams about ghosts. Then, he swore he saw a ghost lady in our house. Yikes. I'm still not sure what to think about that one, but I do believe he saw something, and so does my dh. He started to get a little preoccupied with that whole topic, so we cut it off, and now it's not an issue. I know, probably not a great show for a kid, but he seemed to really get into the science and technology behind ghost hunting.
I WAS nervous when he said he had a HUGE secret. Scared me to death! I'm still not sure why he didn't think it was ok to feel this way. Thanks again for your insight. As always, extremely helpful!
