Sensitive Preschooler?

[Deleted]

Anyone else have a sensitive preschooler? I took DD, 3.5, to Frozen today and we left before it was over. I had asked other parents and all said their kids were fine. She get easily scared with stories/shows but otherwise is a pretty fearless kid (will usually try new things with a little encouragement, almost never cries when she falls). She's also been waking with nightmares lately.

This is normal (or within the range of normal), right? I totally get why she finds certain things scary. I was just surprised that all of her friends have been fine with this movie and she wasn't.

[runner09]

Dd was a little scared with Frozen. We went with friends so I made her stick it out (told her to cover her eyes and squeeze my hand).

I think it's totally normal for this age when their imaginations really start to go wild. DD has started to talk about being scared of the dark, monsters in her closets, etc.

[faith194]

We showed the trailer to DS(3.5), and he was afraid of it. He actually was scared in a lot of parts of Toy Story 2. If it was Cars or Planes, he would be fine. He is sensitive.

[drloretta]

We won't even take DD to see Frozen after we read the plot and saw the PG rating. She just asked us to turn off Ice Age 4. I was actually surprised how many people's kids were ok with Frozen

DD is all about monsters and fear of the dark right now. At the same age my nephew was afraid of everything

[savan]

Yes. DD is almost 5 and she is very sensitive. She did make it through Frozen just fine but there are plenty of stories and movies she finds scary. Usually, as long as one of us is touching her she is okay to watch it. Or she will just hide her eyes until the scary part is over. Though she also has a lot of anxiety in general. We still have to hold her in our laps at the movie theater because she is afraid of the folding seats.

[stealthmom]

Ds1 is the same. He now loves frozen but the second half of the movie was spent hiding in my lap. The only reason we stayed was b/c dh and I wanted to.

I kind of like that he's a bit more sensitive.

[stealthmom]

Feb 15, 2014 21:55:52 GMT -5 faith194 said:

We showed the trailer to DS(3.5), and he was afraid of it. He actually was scared in a lot of parts of Toy Story 2. If it was Cars or Planes, he would be fine. He is sensitive.

our ds LOVES Cars. Like the characters and the toys. But he's never seen the movies. One night we put in Cars 2 and we didn't get 30 sec. In before ds was screaming to turn it off. He was *horrified. Lol.

[ellipses84]

Every time I watch a cartoon movie lately, I realize how awful/scary it is and wonder how I didn't notice it before. Now I have a toddler letting me know! Even/especially the Pixar ones. Watching Finding Nemo at home was rough and we almost didn't make it 10 minutes; the mom dies, there are sharks, etc. I know kids who loved Toy Story 3 and a few others (older than toddler age) who were terrified and crying in the theater because of the garbage scene.

I think fears like that are completely normal for that age, but the trigger may not be movies for every kid. DS started saying, I'm scared/ that's scary recently to things on tv and at bedtime. It may just be a bedtime stall tactic, but I'd rather limit him viewing scary things right now, because I don't want it to cause nightmares. I think movies at the theater can be scarier because it is dark, all your focus is on a huge screen and there's surround sound.

[dcrunnergirl52]

I say normal. Really random things scare my kids lately. They were perfectly fine with Frozen, but DD freaked out watching Lady and the Tramp last night at the Siamese kittens. She also can't handle cartoons that have sharks, and we have to turn them off. She's petrified of going upstairs alone at our house. But, she'll jump right into the pool without hesitation.

[Jem]

Feb 16, 2014 1:36:03 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Every time I watch a cartoon movie lately, I realize how awful/scary it is and wonder how I didn't notice it before. Now I have a toddler letting me know! Even/especially the Pixar ones. Watching Finding Nemo at home was rough and we almost didn't make it 10 minutes; the mom dies, there are sharks, etc. I know kids who loved Toy Story 3 and a few others (older than toddler age) who were terrified and crying in the theater because of the garbage scene.

I think fears like that are completely normal for that age, but the trigger may not be movies for every kid. DS started saying, I'm scared/ that's scary recently to things on tv and at bedtime. It may just be a bedtime stall tactic, but I'd rather limit him viewing scary things right now, because I don't want it to cause nightmares. I think movies at the theater can be scarier because it is dark, all your focus is on a huge screen and there's surround sound.

This! DS loves Nemo but he doesn't understand that the mom dies. But after watching Nemo he mentions sharks all.the.time wondering if they will be in the bath. We also recently tried Lion King and I was horrified. I wanted to turn it off and luckily DS was not that into it. How did I never realize how terribly dark Lion King is?! 

[zarapipe]

Feb 16, 2014 7:33:34 GMT -5 Jem said:

Feb 16, 2014 1:36:03 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Every time I watch a cartoon movie lately, I realize how awful/scary it is and wonder how I didn't notice it before. Now I have a toddler letting me know! Even/especially the Pixar ones. Watching Finding Nemo at home was rough and we almost didn't make it 10 minutes; the mom dies, there are sharks, etc. I know kids who loved Toy Story 3 and a few others (older than toddler age) who were terrified and crying in the theater because of the garbage scene.

I think fears like that are completely normal for that age, but the trigger may not be movies for every kid. DS started saying, I'm scared/ that's scary recently to things on tv and at bedtime. It may just be a bedtime stall tactic, but I'd rather limit him viewing scary things right now, because I don't want it to cause nightmares. I think movies at the theater can be scarier because it is dark, all your focus is on a huge screen and there's surround sound.

This! DS loves Nemo but he doesn't understand that the mom dies. But after watching Nemo he mentions sharks all.the.time wondering if they will be in the bath. We also recently tried Lion King and I was horrified. I wanted to turn it off and luckily DS was not that into it. How did I never realize how terribly dark Lion King is?! 

Lion king is the worst! I remember being scared of it and being way older than a preschooler.

Dd was scared at parts of frozen too. 

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2014 1:36:03 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Every time I watch a cartoon movie lately, I realize how awful/scary it is and wonder how I didn't notice it before. Now I have a toddler letting me know! Even/especially the Pixar ones.

There was this Mickey short at the beginning of Frozen and DD hated it (the cynical part of me wondered if it was Disney's way of trying to continue the copyright on the original shorts by incorporating them into new ones). It was pretty gratuitously violent and she just couldn't understand why they kept hurting Pete. I had to agree.

I am actually happy she's as sensitive as she it. She's also incredibly empathetic, which I love. I guess I was just curious if it was a sign I should be on the lookout for a sensory disorder. She's also incredibly sensitive to loud sounds, but no surprise there - so am I.

[bronxgirl]

Feb 16, 2014 10:14:31 GMT -5 BirdGirl said:

Feb 16, 2014 1:36:03 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Every time I watch a cartoon movie lately, I realize how awful/scary it is and wonder how I didn't notice it before. Now I have a toddler letting me know! Even/especially the Pixar ones.

There was this Mickey short at the beginning of Frozen and DD hated it (the cynical part of me wondered if it was Disney's way of trying to continue the copyright on the original shorts by incorporating them into new ones). It was pretty gratuitously violent and she just couldn't understand why they kept hurting Pete. I had to agree.

I am actually happy she's as sensitive as she it. She's also incredibly empathetic, which I love. I guess I was just curious if it was a sign I should be on the lookout for a sensory disorder. She's also incredibly sensitive to loud sounds, but no surprise there - so am I.

I had the same reaction and was really pissed off by the short.  DD is used to seeing the characters all being friends and I purposefully avoid showing her Tom and Jerry style violence (or Itchy and Scratchy style).  The previews before were really scary, too, so DD was primed to be scared at times during the movie.  She asked a couple times if we could go home and just watch different clips of Frozen on Youtube, but she made it through the movie.  When we watched it again she wasn't scared.  She goes in waves of being sensitive and getting scared by various stuff. 

[dbsk8dance]

Feb 15, 2014 23:11:11 GMT -5 stealthmom said:

Feb 15, 2014 21:55:52 GMT -5 faith194 said:

We showed the trailer to DS(3.5), and he was afraid of it. He actually was scared in a lot of parts of Toy Story 2. If it was Cars or Planes, he would be fine. He is sensitive.

our ds LOVES Cars. Like the characters and the toys. But he's never seen the movies. One night we put in Cars 2 and we didn't get 30 sec. In before ds was screaming to turn it off. He was *horrified. Lol.

Cars 2 is really violent. We are not fans. If DS really wants to watch it, there are parts I skip.

We also start Nemo off after the mom dies.

DS was fine with Frozen, though and isn't overly sensitive. LILO and Stich really upset him, though, I had forgotten about the CPS trying to take her away thing. :/

[Deleted]

I've always been sensitive to movies and had vivid, very frequent nightmares my whole life. It's strange because I'm not actually very emotional or sensitive about my life.

I'm just fine:). I just don't watch horror movies:)

[leshoequeen]

I took DD to the theater right after she turned 3 and she didnt even make it through the previews. I think it was too loud or too overwhelming for her. She said she was scared so I didn't push it.

[Birdie]

Niece and nephew were scared of Brave when they watched it at ~ 6 and 4 years old. Niece still isn't a fan of movies. I think she just gets bored now.

Other niece is about to turn 4 and nothing seems to scare her. I don't think that's normal though.

[faith194]

Feb 16, 2014 16:19:17 GMT -5 dbsk8dance said:

Feb 15, 2014 23:11:11 GMT -5 stealthmom said:

our ds LOVES Cars. Like the characters and the toys. But he's never seen the movies. One night we put in Cars 2 and we didn't get 30 sec. In before ds was screaming to turn it off. He was *horrified. Lol.

Cars 2 is really violent. We are not fans. If DS really wants to watch it, there are parts I skip.

We also start Nemo off after the mom dies.

DS was fine with Frozen, though and isn't overly sensitive. LILO and Stich really upset him, though, I had forgotten about the CPS trying to take her away thing. :/

For the longest time, DS thought that Cars 2 started with Mater towing Otis back into town!  He liked Bugs Life and Nemo(which he never sat though the whole thing, but would have it on in the background when he was about 1.5), and now is absolutely terrified of the sharks and the grasshoppers.  He won't watch The Winnie the Pooh Movie, either, because of the Backson(even though he loved it when he was younger).  We did try Beauty and the Beast once, which I had not seen since I was a teenager. OMG-How can that be marketed as a kids movie?  Very violent. My sister loved that movie when she was 4 or so.

I am happy to have a sensitive preschooler at this point!

[Willis Jackson]

DS is scared of everything.