The book thread had me recalling a time when I completely failed to see a major traumatizing event coming with my daughter.
She read
Bridge to Terabithia as an assignment for a GT language arts class when she was 8, and that was the same year that the new movie was released. So I took her to see the movie one afternoon.
BIG mistake. This entirely appropriate children's movie left her sobbing in the car on the way home. I felt horrible. Now, in my defense, this is a child that is so steadfast that we
never have to worry about her emotional sensitivity... she is a ROCK and always has been.
A number of factors came together in the movie that hadn't in the book. She didn't identify much with Leslie in reading the novel. After all, Leslie's parents are rather free-spirit artistic types, and we are not. In the casting for the film, however, Disney created a perfect storm by
more or less creating my DD's nuclear family on screen. DD already knew that she could actually die (long story); that was not what traumatized her. She realized very abruptly what her death would mean to us, which had clearly never really occurred to her. She instantly seemed to jump to understanding that when one is LOVED by others, that means, on some level, that taking care with your well-being isn't just for your own sake. The bond of love also implies responsibility-- because you carry another person's heart and dreams with you all the time.
That afternoon took some of her childhood innocence, unfortunately.
It's a lesson that I'd have wanted her to learn, of course-- just not at eight years old.
______________________
So I'm wondering if others have had these kinds of situations come out of nowhere with a child suddenly manifesting an INTENSE emotional response to something that
seemed like it should have been just fine.
What happened? What were you thinking at the time (as a parent)? What did you do to help your child? Do you feel guilty or okay about it now?
