Why Were My Kids Were Watching a PG-13 Movie?

By Kirsten on February 15, 2011 in 60 Second Tips, Child Safety, Featured Content, Positive Parenting, Raising Children

NOT Just Another Day in Daycare…

The other day I dropped my kids off at the daycare at the gym so I could go to a Pilates class (it has taken me almost 5 years to get trust other people to watch my kids).

After my class was over, I went back to pick up my boys and head home to get some lunch.  As I was putting their shoes back on, I looked up at the TV and was shocked to see the super-scary T-Rex chase scene on Jurassic Park playing!

All the kids in the daycare (all of these kids were 4 and under) were standing in front of the TV with their mouths open, pulled in by the tractor-beam force of this intense scene.

I hurried and ushered my kids out of the daycare before they saw anyone get chomped.  I contacted the management and let them know this movie was playing for VERY young children and it was highly inappropriate for that age-group.

Here’s My Beef With The Movie

  1. It is rated PG-13.  I remember watching this movie when I was a teenager and it scared the bajeebers out of me then.  This movie has a PG-13 rating for a reason!
  2. Kids that young can’t differentiate movie from reality. At this young and tender age,  kids don’t have the deductive reasoning power to tell the difference between something that is real and a movie on TV.  To them, the dinosaurs are really chasing and eating people.
  3. What goes in, DOESN’T come out.  When you eat spoiled food, you get sick.  Really sick.  Your body is getting rid of the poisons that are coursing through your digestive tract.  A child’s mind, however, does not have the ability to vomit out filth or disturbing movies.  The things that they witness in the first 6-8 years of childhood will be stuck in their subconscious mind forever.  Would you feed your baby a bottle of rancid milk?

Parenting By The Minute Solution:

How do you prevent situations like this?

Well, since this incident, before dropping my kids off, I take a minute to talk with the parent or child care supervisor and ask them to only show G-rated movies.

How to you repair a situation like this once the damage is done?

On the way home from the Gym, I talked with my boys about what they saw.

My 4 1/2 year-old recounted, “Mom, there was lots of blood and the T-Rex had the car in his mouth and was shaking it all over the place!” *I cringed a I heard this.*

We had a discussion about how the movie was imaginary and there weren’t dinosaurs alive today.  It only took about a minute.

So in summary:

  1. Take a minute to be proactive and make sure your kids are in a safe and appropriate environment.
  2. Take a minute and talk to your kids about what they experienced and how it made them feel.

What are your thoughts on letting young kids watching movies rated for an older audience?

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  • http://www.customtattoosusa.com Jen Green

    Wow. Good for you. And thank you for being so proactive, and for taking the time to post your tips. As someone who worked in day care, I am absolutely shocked. One, movies were a monthly treat in my day care, and so, really you never ran out of kid-friendly options like Monsters Inc, or Winnie the Pooh, or anything where people aren’t being eaten alive really… I hope management took your complaint seriously. Good luck!

  • Kirsten

    Thanks for your comment, Jen. I still haven’t gotten over the shock of it (and neither has my 2 1/2-yo who has had nightmares since seeing the movie). I hope that management takes my complaint seriously, too! I am definitely more proactive before I drop my kids off, even if it is just for an hour!
    ~Kirsten

  • Kirsten

    Wow, we’ve had quite the discussion going on in Facebook. Check it out at http://www.Facebook.com/IntentionalParenting

    Here is a taste of the discussion:

    #
    Leslie – I really think that depends on the kids. Maybe not at a daycare setting, but, my son was watching “Halloween” at age 3. He COULD differentiate between real and fake. He loved it. He had also watched “Lake Placid”, “Star Wars”…so “Jurassic Park” would be a cake walk to my son at the age. He was ok with that stuff. I DO know some kids that can’t watch it at 12.
    Yesterday at 7:12pm • UnlikeLike • 1 personLoading…
    #
    Sunshine – I don’t think young kids should be watching long movies at daycare period.
    Yesterday at 7:27pm • UnlikeLike • 3 peopleLoading…
    #
    Mary Ann -
    Leslie, I’m going to have to strongly disagree with you. Why in the world would you allow your 3 year old child to watch Halloween??? Or should I say made him watch it? He could not have went to the video store by himself to rent it. You mu…st have brought it home, or allowed someone else to bring it into your home. HBO, maybe? Shut the T.V. off, if you can’t make better viewing choices for your child. How can you justify it by saying, “He was ok with that stuff.” How could you have known that before he watched it? Just took a chance on scaring your child for life, because You wanted to watch it, and were too selfish to watch Toy Story for the 18th time. I would be really worried that he is ok with it. Does that mean that he is numb to the horror of violence?See More
    Yesterday at 7:46pm • LikeUnlike • 2 peopleLoading…
    #
    Mary Ann – No, young kids should not be watching Jurassic Park at daycare.
    Yesterday at 7:48pm • UnlikeLike • 2 people.
    #
    Maritza – Leslie, with all due respect, i’m horrified that you would allow your 3 yr old to watch such an extremely violent, gory and graphic movie such as halloween?? 3 yr olds CAN NOT differentiate between reality and fiction, sorry to tell ya!! Why would you intentionally introduce such CRAP because it’s nothing but crap (and i’m being nice with my word choice) to your 3 yr old son???????? So baffling to me the decisions some parents make!!!! This is truly disturbing to me and I don’t even know you.
    21 hours ago • UnlikeLike • 2 peopleLoading…
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    Maritza – Sorry, I meant to respond to your question but I was so bothered by the first post…NO, NO NO kids should NOT be watching Jurassic Park @ daycare! I would question that without a doubt!!!
    21 hours ago • UnlikeLike • 2 people2 people like this.
    #
    Emma Beatrice -
    I once knew a 13yo boy whose parents thought it was ok for him to watch 18 movies (not horror, just violence) provided they were good films and they watched it with him. This was a disastrous mistake. He had ADHD and emotional problems, a…nd he used to use the films as a fantasy substitute for acting out the aggression he felt. This was like a “fix” to him, and instead of reducing his aggression it increased it to the point where his family were eventually afraid of him. As a parent I have often noticed how what my kids watch affects their behaviour and mindset. Jurassic Park in daycare??? No way!!! At the very least it desensitizes kids. If they watch that sort of thing at that age, what will they “need” to watch at 15 in order to get the same level of stimulation…..snuff movies??????????See More
    16 hours ago • UnlikeLike • 3 people3 people like this.
    #
    Denali Parent Coaching I am a firm believer in Mr. Rogers–kids 7 and under need to know the world is a safe place, creating a solid foundation from which they can–in later years–discern good from bad, real from unreal, and still feel they are safe and sound. This makes for truly healthy development. So NO to the majority of movies for young children. I found it easy to go by PG and PG 13–need to be 13 before we will consider PG13 movies, etc.
    12 hours ago • UnlikeLike • 2 people2 people like this.
    #
    Leslie -
    And how do you all know MY son? BTW, I watched Toy Story a billion times. LOL He was allowed to watch it on television because I do NOT believe in sheltering my child from the world. I watched it with him and explained it to him. He loved i…t. Not to mention, he loved “Titanic”, “Blues Clues”…you name it. My child LOVED dress up. At 3, he would ask me to paint his face like “The Terminator”…and specifically, he wanted the red eye like he has towards the end of the movie. He COULD and DID understand real and pretend. He was also a child that at 2 was lost at the state fair and was stopped by policemen. He wasn’t scared, he explained his name, my name…what color shirt I had on, what color my hair was and how it looked. My child was NOT the typical still baby acting 3 year old. So, why treat him as such? I gave him the respect he required. I let him see and learn and do as he was able. I am big believe of the quote, “We need to world proof our children instead of trying to child proof the world.” He has never had tv, movies, music, or art censored…I watch, listen or see it with him and make sure I am there in case he needs to ask questions or in case it was too much for him. I feel that by experiencing these things in a safe environment with me in control is far better than sheltering him from it then throwing him in to the world unequipped to handle anything. He is now 14 and is the most intelligent, calm, wonderful boy I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. And most anyone he has come in contact with say the exact same thing of him. He is kind and considerate and takes into account other peoples feelings.
    Oh, and he has not set to” seek out other things to watch to get his fix” Although he does have varied and eclectic tastes, he has VERY great tastes in movies…very refined to say the least. See More
    49 minutes ago • LikeUnlike
    #
    Intentional Parenting: Raising Amazing Children
    ‎@Lesli- You have, indeed, struck quite a chord with some of the other moms. I’m glad to hear you are so involved with your son in these experiences. Many of the studies performed on violence and children have somewhat mixed results (due …to the complexities of researching such a complex topic). Though I (and the other moms who have posted on this topic) may make different choices in our parenting, I respect your point-of-view in raising your son. I do appreciate you sharing your perspective in this area.

    For those of you interested, here are a few articles on the research done on the effects of violent media on children.

    http://allpsych.com/journal/violentmedia.html

    http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm

    http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/BH06.pdf

    @Sunshine- I agree. There are many other things for kids to do during daycare time than watching long movies.

    @Mary Ann & Maritza- Thanks for voicing your opinions. I agree, Jurassic park is not appropriate in a daycare setting…ever.

    @Emma- It definitely is a risk that parents take in exposing their kids to violent media. We simply don’t know our child’s response until they have been exposed. In one of the articles I posted links to above, while research findings are a bit mixed, “Dutch researcher Tom Van der Voot argues that it would be illogical to conclude that ‘a phenomenon does not exist simply because it is found at times not to occur, or only to occur under certain circumstances.’” In my own parenting, I choose not to take such a risk with my kids. I know I am still a bit traumatized by some of the movies I saw at friends’ houses.

    @Denali- I agree in waiting to expose kids to higher rated movies. From all the research I’ve done in the development of the human brain, mind, and psyche, it’s just not a risk I, personally, am willing to take.

    I think the biggest issue I have with my boys watching a PG-13 movie in the gym daycare, is that the choice the daycare worker made by playing Jurassic Park totally overrode my own decisions as a mom and as the person who is responsible for my kids and what they are exposed to in life, especially the early years. I entrusted my boys to their care to keep them safe (not just physically safe, but mentally and emotionally as well) for an hour and I feel that trust was betrayed.

    Thanks for your discussion, Ladies!