TheMommyBlog

Saturday, November 14, 2009 Family, Children's Health

DISCLAIMER: I did not let my daughter watch Kill Bill with me! She came in at the very last scene, and when I went to turn it off, she said, no, I want see the swordfight. It was a very stylized, elegant scene, until the part where they each got cut. At one point Lucy Liu receives a wound and her attitude changes and she apologizes for doubting Uma Thurman’s skills. Just I’m explaining the code of honor that requires one master to show respect to another, a trickle of blood falls on the white snow from Lucy’s white kimono. That was the image that startled her. I would NEVER allow her to watch a full movie like that.

Ghosts, monsters, dragons: What to tell kids
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

(CNN)—When Melinda Roberts is watching animated movies with her kids—7, 9, and 11—she’ll help them recognize voice actors and talk about the creation process so they won’t get scared.

“They can get into the story, but feel a little bit safer about it because they know who the actor is,” said Roberts of San Jose, California.

A new study in the journal Child Development suggests that reassuring kids by telling them scary images aren’t real is helpful for those around 7 and up, but for the younger ones it may not be preferred. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that when preschoolers get scared, they prefer to think of the fantastical threat as “nice.” Read more…