Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Movies and Gifted Children

My DS6 is actually afraid of television. He can enjoy a nonfiction program (Planet Earth, NOVA, etc.), but anything fiction will send him running.

My DS8 would only watch documentaries until this year. He still prefers them, but will watch the entire Star Wars series.

He still flinches at emotional or suspenseful scenes. He's read through Harry Potter 4 but has yet to make it through the first movie.

DS6 is less sensitive, but also prefers documentaries.

They both love Frozen. Not sure how to explain that, as they are both the kind of boys who cringe at anything remotely girly.

DS7 is also mega oversensitive (like his mother). He watches mainly documentaries and those even have to be assessed by me beforehand (which he asks me to do!). The things that we have to keep away from him are anything not age appropriate (obviously) but also anything that is too tense or suspenseful. Typically what he prefers is to learn about the topic beforehand and then to watch the video to reinforce what he has learned. For example, he once wanted to learn about the exodus from Egypt (as he saw a preview of a show that was going to explain the exodus from a scientific viewpoint). He had to read first about how it all worked out BEFORE he saw the video. He wouldn't have made it through the video because it would have been too tense, too scary...there would have been too many what-ifs (what is going to happen to all the children and families if the Red Sea comes crashing down on them?). He watched the show and knew beforehand that everyone was going to make it across.

As far as fictional movies, he sometimes wants to see what other kids are seeing in the theaters. We watch a preview online and I talk to some of his friends' parents who know about DS's sensitivities. They have been great about giving me a sense of whether or not the movie would be enjoyable for DS. (Though DD3 watched Elmo in Grouchland recently and DS7 said to me, "That movie is still too scary.")

My 7 and 8 year old watched "Fly Away Home" last night, about a girl/dad helping orphaned Canadian geese to migrate using a homemade airplane. DS said afterwards how much he liked it. At the very beginning the girl's mother dies in an accident (which is implied more than shown) and there is a scene where a goose is hit by an airplane (the goose was Ok), but otherwise there wasn't anything too disturbing in it for a sensitive kid.

My kids aren't particularly sensitive so I haven't been too worried about it. Obviously, I wouldn't show them something that I knew was inappropriate or rated R at age 7-8. I will probably check some of the posted links from now on though.

From about 2.5 - 4 yo, our DD9 hammered us with the question, "Is that real?" Refining that boundary between reality and fantasy is what has allowed her to enjoy fiction for what it is. The less realistic a story, the more she can just enjoy it. She can even laugh at elaborate death scenes.

The more possible a story, the less she likes it. Current events are still a no-go.

That is interesting. My son at 3.5 also asks often if something is real or pretend...and has for a year or so. He clearly likes things defined and used to tell us he was pretending before delving into pretend play.

For him, knowing something is pretend and knowing something has a happy ending don't help. I am hoping age and maturity will help.

I think you just have to decide what your own child is personally capable of processing. DD who just turned 10 watched Matilda when she was 5 and every year after, and loved it. She watched A Wrinkle In Time when she was 8 and we still watch it periodically and she loves it. At 9, she watched all 8 Harry Potter movies twice and loved them. However, at 9, we tried to watch Life of Pi and she was overwhelmed with emotion and we had to turn that off fairly quickly.

DS2.7 is keen on pretend/real, too. We've had extensive discussions about how monsters, witches, dragons, ghosts, and other creatures are imaginary. DS now understands that some people like the excitement of feeling scared and make up characters for amusement, while knowing full their inventions are pretend.

DD6 is very hit or miss with movies. We did not allow screen time until she was 3, but now we don't limit it, she has always done a good job of self-regulating.

DD is very sensitive and there are many movies she does not enjoy (anything Muppets, anything dinosaur related--she starts thinking about their extinction, and always ends up sad and crying), Brave and quite a few other Disney movies.

Some of her favorites are Charlotte's Web (the one with Dakota Fanning), Mr Poppers Penguins, Mary Poppins, Annie, and Frozen. She watches very little TV, pretty much only My Little Pony and Fresh Beat Band. Occasionally, she watches nature documentaries...she loved Flight of the Butterflies which was at our Imax theater recently.

I saw a few great suggestions by PP, I have now added Matilda and Parent Trap to our Netflix queue.

I love Hayao Miyazaki's movies, but so far her sensitivities are still keeping these off-limits. She did watch Arrietty, and for the most part liked it, but there were a few parts that we had to fast-forward through. She only gave Ponyo 5 minutes before asking if we could turn it off.