Scary movies: true or false?

Does it really matter if young children go to scary movies?

Try our True or False quiz.

It doesn’t really matter if parents take young children to scary movies........

• because children can tell that monsters and things aren’t real
• so long as it all turns out all right in the end
• because children get used to them
• because children will soon get over it

because children can tell that monsters and things aren’t real

False

• Actually, children under the age of seven or eight can’t tell that monsters aren’t real. They do not yet have the maturity to understand the difference between fantasy and reality.
• Children under the age of seven or eight are convinced by what they see with their own eyes, not by words.
• Explanations that appeal to their logic and capacity for rational thought won’t work because they may not have these abilities yet.
• Even older children, who can tell that certain images aren’t real, can nonetheless be disturbed by them.

so long as it all turns out all right in the end

False

• Many children under seven or eight don’t follow plot lines. They see stories as a series of isolated incidents, and they focus on the immediately scary.
• Young children can’t tell themselves that it’s all going to be all right in the end, as a child over eight often can.

because children get used to them

False

• Many children under seven or eight don’t follow plot lines. They see stories as a series of isolated incidents, and they focus on the immediately scary.
• Young children can’t tell themselves that it’s all going to be all right in the end, as a child over eight often can.

because children will soon get over it

False

• For many young children, exposure to scary images will result in those images staying with them for many years.
• These internalised images can continue to frighten, cause bad dreams, cause fear of being on their own or cause fear of certain situations through childhood and sometimes into adulthood.

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