Should I skip sad scenes when watching a movie with a child?
I'm searching for a research-backed answer to a question about introducing children to difficult emotions in movies.
There a seemingly innocent titles like Lion King, Bambi, or Finding Nemo which, while being otherwise colorful and cheerful, contain very sad scenes (in particular, all three movies depict the death of a parent in one of the first scenes!).
I know there might be no single good answer suitable to children of all ages, cultures, and all levels of development, but I'd like to know is it better to fast forward/skip these scenes, or watch and discuss them with my kid.
I'm expecting rules like "you shouldn't do that until a kid has ability X" or "you should do that if ...".
So far I've found a 2014 article by Andrea Nair for ymc which suggests that kid below 2 years old, should not watch any screen at all, and that the reason story tellers include these scenes in the first place was not to introduce these topics to children but rather to construct a plot in which a child is on its own adventure (which sounds like a rather not-well-thought-out decision).
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I have to share this story. I had my six year old niece over for an afternoon, and I decided to show her Bambi, which she had never seen. At one point, I went into the kitchen to fetch a snack, and when I came back out Bambi and the old stag were having their "you must be brave and learn to live by yourself" conversation.
My niece looked up at me and asked "Did Bambi's mother die?"
My heart almost stopped. I felt awful, wondering if I had just traumatized my sister's little girl, who loved kittens and puppies and had pictures of my little pony all over her walls. But I didn't want to lie to her, so I said "yes", expecting to sympathize with her over how sad it was when someone you love dies.
My niece paused in thought for a moment, and then asked, in a frankly puzzled voice "Then why didn't we get to see it?"
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