Star Wars???

[egmaranian]

My DH is a big time star wars fan(atic). So of course he had to but the full 6 movie blu ray set that was just released. Now he is insisting that he MUST watch it with our 28mo DS. I'm just not comfortable with DS watching those movies due to the fighting violence. DH thinks I'm completely overreacting.

What do you think? Would you let a toddler watch Star Wars? Am I being too overprotective?

Thanks for any feedback you might have!


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[Imakcerka]

Uh... well... I let my girls watch it with their dad. It's the experience thing and don't worry he'll probably get up and do something else. Most littles don't really get into things the way we think they will. And really it's not that violent. I was afraid of Jaba for a long time. And the little guys... eewoks? So you never really know. Might just be better to let him do it then enjoy it when he gets up to play with something else instead.

[Bokonon]

I think that is far too young to watch Star Wars, due to the intensity and peril.  I know my 28.5 month old wouldn't be interested in watching it, but would be frightened by it if she watched any of it.  I mean, Luke's guardians are killed pretty early on.  That's pretty intense.

We aren't even letting our 6 year old watch it yet.  He's very sensitive to violence, and I don't want him acting out what he sees in the movie on the playground, when he doesn't really understand the consequences of the violence he sees.  My husband was thinking that we could probably show him when he's around 8, because we want him to appreciate the story and not just the stylized violence.  He gets uncomfortable when there is intensity in animated movies that are more age-appropriate, and has asked me to turn off Disney movies when it's too much for him.  Star Wars would affect him greatly.

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by Imakcerka 

Uh... well... I let my girls watch it with their dad. It's the experience thing and don't worry he'll probably get up and do something else. Most littles don't really get into things the way we think they will. And really it's not that violent. I was afraid of Jaba for a long time. And the little guys... eewoks? So you never really know. Might just be better to let him do it then enjoy it when he gets up to play with something else instead.

Ewoks aren't until the third movie (if watching starting with Episode 4), and that's already over 4 hours of watching before the cute furry guys (who do their own fair share of killing).  

Darth Vader severs his son's hand.  Luke kills his father.  NOT violent?  I beg to differ.

[Daffodil]

Ideally, a kid that age wouldn't be watching videos at all.  (But my DS did even as a 1 year old, so I can't be too judgmental about it.)  I wouldn't have cared if my kids had seen Star Wars at that age, but neither one of them would have been very interested.  The average kid that age is just not going to be interested enough in those movies to watch more than a few minutes at a time, and probably won't understand enough about what's going or be able to empathize enough with the characters to care when someone gets hurt or killed.  So I don't think it would be a frightening experience for most 2 year olds, at least not because of the violence and killing. (Some kids might be scared of characters that seemed weird-looking or monster-like.)  Maybe the violence would give a 2 year old ideas about violent play that he otherwise wouldn't have had, but I think that would be a lot more of a problem with a kid a couple of years older. 

[Caracol8]

I'm not sure what advice to give.  My DH is a huge fan (we walked beneath a lightsaber archway when we got married) so we'll get to this conundrum someday 

In any case, I thought this was a neat article on the subject from my fave mama blog: http://offbeatmama.com/2011/04/removing-star-wars-movies

Hope it helps! 

[egmaranian]

Originally Posted by Caracol8 

I'm not sure what advice to give. My DH is a huge fan (we walked beneath a lightsaber archway when we got married) so we'll get to this conundrum someday

In any case, I thought this was a neat article on the subject from my fave mama blog: http://offbeatmama.com/2011/04/removing-star-wars-movies

Hope it helps!

Thanks for this!! I emailed it to my DH. Hopefully he'll start to understand my pov.


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[egmaranian]

The thing is...I LIKE Star Wars...a lot! I have no problem with the franchise being a big part of our lives. In fact, I just bought ds a SW t-shirt today. I just think that he shouldn't be exposed to the violence and whatnot in the movies until he's old enough for us to explain that it's fantasy and have him understand. He's just too immature right now.


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[Imakcerka]

All kids are different, some are hyper sensitive some aren't. I tried to keep violent everything away from my kids. Violence isn't the problem in our house. Anything scary is the issue. And DD2 is afraid of any kid of puppet. DD1 Doesn't like us to watch LOTR series and she's not watching it. She got a peek once while getting a drink of water and not it's not allowed in our house. The sounds bother her. At this point none of our favorites can be shared with our kids. I don't mine my kids watching a movie with us if it's not something that bothers them. They didn't like Star Wars either. I don't have to keep much from them. I can't wait til we can watch Pirates of the Caribbean, DD2 thinks it LOOKS scary and thus... we wait.

[P.J.]

We are big SW fans in this house, but I can tell you I wouldn't expose DS to it that young. Granted he's only 16 months now so I have no idea where he'll be at in a year's time. But I can say for sure that I don't think he'll be at the place to digest that sort of thing. It is not only violent, but complex. I am sure we'll all watch it together some day, and I look forward to that! But I just want to make sure we can talk about it as we do, and under 3y.o. is just too young to be able to "get" any of it if you ask me. In fact, I can't really see us allowing him to see that sort of thing until age 6-8....but again that's just an intuitive feeling, we'll see when we get there. But under 3 or 4, no way!

[egmaranian]

Thanks everyone for validating my feelings on this. I talked with DH last night and he finally agreed that it's not the best time.


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[egmaranian]

Looks like the troll got the boot! Yay! Thanks mods!!


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[happy*mama]

I'm glad to hear your hubby has agreed.  He'll be able to share his love of Star Wars with your ds before long.

No way would I let my ds watch any tv or movie as that age. DS is currently 26 mos and would be greatly affected by watching this.  This is too mature for a toddler. Star Wars is right out of question until eight years old in our house.  Besides studies have shown that children that young should not be watching any tv.  Viewing violence desensitizes them so they then feel that violence is normal and they will want to act it out.  And those characters are pretty creepy looking, my son would be terrified and have nightmares just from seeing that alone.  The Halloween stuff in the grocery store freaks him out.  Well, I guess we know where my opinion stands

[MJB]

My 1st grader probably started watching them at 2. Maybe 3. He loved them, and he was a sensitive kid (lots of movies were "too scary" until recently). My daughter will probably end up seeing them by 3 or 4 since my boys like to rewatch them every couple years. I like them myself and have no problem with them. 

[pianojazzgirl]

I love those movies (the original ones), but my kids haven't seen them.  Dd is 7 and I still think it would be a bit scary for her (she's pretty sensitive to anything scary in movies and books).  I'll wait till she (they) ask to see them.

I wouldn't be comfortable with my 2yo watching them for sure.

[seamaiden399]

Interesting. The DH had Star Wars on the other day and my 2 year old DD was interested for about 5-10 minutes and then got bored and wandered off. She didn't get scared, but was very interested in the "robots" (Darth Vader, the storm troopers, R2D2, C3PO). Now when she sees Halloween Darth Vader Masks she says "robot! I like robots!" Born to be a geeky tech girl like her parents, I think.

The only television we've tried to watch with her is Cars 2 for her birthday- she got bored very quickly- and Rio- again, she was bored. We've put aside the intentional movie thing for a while. After the DD turned two, Grandma started renting little toddler ABC's videos that they watch together- I don't love it, but since we (the adults) do watch TV in our house, it seems hypocritical to complain. I do ask that they don't do more than one short clip a day. :(

[philomom]

Nope, too young at 28 months. Wait till they are 7 or 8 at least so you can talk to them about any scary parts.