We watched The Spiderwick Chronicles today. I didn't know if it would be too scary for the boys, since the information I read on Neflix indicated it might be. But they don't seem to be afraid of fantastical scary things. They are much more frightened by realistic scary things. For example, they love Harry Potter and have no problem with Voldemort. But last year when we were having a what-to-do-in-case-of-a-fire discussion, Tyler started crying, covering his ears and telling us to stop. He just couldn't handle imagining our house on fire, crawling on the floor, escaping out the window and meeting across the street. I was talking to my sister Jen about it, and she said she read a book (she told me the name twice but I still don't remember what it was - something about fantasies) which concluded that reading fairy tales is actually important for children because it is a safe way for them to deal with their fears. The stories have unrealistic but frightening things like fire-breathing dragons and wicked witches, and then they have everyday people/children overcome them. It's very empowering. Sure enough, the boys loved the movie and are now watching it again. They couldn't wait to show it to Dave.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Scary Things
We watched The Spiderwick Chronicles today. I didn't know if it would be too scary for the boys, since the information I read on Neflix indicated it might be. But they don't seem to be afraid of fantastical scary things. They are much more frightened by realistic scary things. For example, they love Harry Potter and have no problem with Voldemort. But last year when we were having a what-to-do-in-case-of-a-fire discussion, Tyler started crying, covering his ears and telling us to stop. He just couldn't handle imagining our house on fire, crawling on the floor, escaping out the window and meeting across the street. I was talking to my sister Jen about it, and she said she read a book (she told me the name twice but I still don't remember what it was - something about fantasies) which concluded that reading fairy tales is actually important for children because it is a safe way for them to deal with their fears. The stories have unrealistic but frightening things like fire-breathing dragons and wicked witches, and then they have everyday people/children overcome them. It's very empowering. Sure enough, the boys loved the movie and are now watching it again. They couldn't wait to show it to Dave.
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2 comments:
My boys loved that movie, too! They wore it out (can you wear out a dvd?) until we returned it.
-MaryRuth
The book we were talking about is called: The uses of enchantment--the meaning and importance of fairy tales, by Bruno Bettelheim. I liked the parts about helping kids dealing with fear, real-world danger, and their own imperfections, as well as giving kids the benefits of their own cultural heritage. I kinda skipped over the Freudian psycho-talk.
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