# 2 year old watching Finding Nemo and crying!



## robin4kids (Jan 20, 2004)

So I take care of a very adorable 2 year old. My dd is also 2 and they are best buddies. I have to say though this little boy is VERY ADVANCED for his age. He have been speaking full sentences for a year now. He is very thought full and can tell me all kinds of information. He knows all his colors, can spell his name out loud and can count past 10. Needless to say me dd is child #5 and NONE of my kids have ever been this advanced. This child is also very advanced physically. He can motor a tricycle and jump off very high places. If I did not think he was so darn cute I would stop watching him, because he makes my dd look so slow in every respect.

Anyway he is an only child. His parents are older and kind of clueless. I have told them that he is special. Most kids don't do all these thing at the tender age of 26 months, but they don't get it. They have been renting movies for all of them to sit and watch. The most resent was Finding Nemo. This little boy LOVES his daddy. So mom says this morning we watched this movie and it was probably not a good idea, because he was afraid Nemo would not find his dad. When Dad came to pick him up he also mentioned the movie, saying that ds cried through the WHOLE FILM! I finally said something like, "Oh, If I were you I would watch what you let him see. Unlike my dd he really understands the plot of movies, and because he is so sensitive he really can't handle it." Is it just me or would you let your 26 month old child watch something that made them cry?








My dd does not even like t.v. If the older kids are watching a cartoon, she may sit for a minute or so, but she usually leaves. i NEVER sit her in front of the t.v. I just think 2 is too young to have a favorite t.v. show.








O.K. I have gotten that off my chest. These are very sweet parents, really they are. The mom is still nursing!!! We nurse together when she comes to drop ds off.







I just hope they stop showing ds scary shows.


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## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

TV issues aside (because we are not a no-TV family), I would not like to see my daughter upset, scared, sad, or otherwise that affected by a movie or TV show. At that age it's really mindless entertainment, not something that should cause attachment issues or nightmares, you know?


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## robin4kids (Jan 20, 2004)

We let our older kids watch t.v too. We do limit it a lot. No t.v on school nights and limited t.v on other days. I guess my issue is a little deeper. 12 years ago, I was a new young mom. i was home all day with my beautiful spirited ds and he watched endless t.v. It got to the point that he never wanted it turned off. I finally unplugged it and stopped cold turkey. I refuse to have another t.v head for a child. I also refuse to let my kids watch a show even if other parents are letting their kids watch it. My 12 y/o still argues with me about wanting to see such shows as Heroes, but I don't care. He will see it when I think he is ready.


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## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *robin4kids* 
We let our older kids watch t.v too. We do limit it a lot. No t.v on school nights and limited t.v on other days. I guess my issue is a little deeper. 12 years ago, I was a new young mom. i was home all day with my beautiful spirited ds and he watched endless t.v. It got to the point that he never wanted it turned off. I finally unplugged it and stopped cold turkey. I refuse to have another t.v head for a child. I also refuse to let my kids watch a show even if other parents are letting their kids watch it. My 12 y/o still argues with me about wanting to see such shows as Heroes, but I don't care. He will see it when I think he is ready.

That's about all you can do in your own home. You've mentioned it to them, it's kind of up to them now.


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Finding Nemo is not OK for a 2 year old!!!!! All that separation! My 2.5 year old couldn't even cope with Curious George without serious tears.

I've just gotten happy feet from netflix to vet it before she sees it. I do NOT need the nightmares if it's a sad one.


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## ann_of_loxley (Sep 21, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wannabe* 
Finding Nemo is not OK for a 2 year old!!!!! All that separation! My 2.5 year old couldn't even cope with Curious George without serious tears.

I've just gotten happy feet from netflix to vet it before she sees it. I do NOT need the nightmares if it's a sad one.

Happy Feet _is_ sad. I cried like a baby watching it. It has a nice ending though. It still made me cry quite a lot though!

I dont know - if he could understand it and wanted to watch it....I would let him. I would then use it as an opportunity to talk about it and how it made us feel, etc. We cant put our children in a bubble so when we do discover bumps along our road, its a good opportunity to make it a learning experience. But I am one to take my sons lead. If he is insisting on it - okay then. If hes not, I wont purposly subject him to things that would make him upset. We never plan on owning Bambi - I cant watch it myself without ending up in tears, but if DS wants to watch it one day - then so be it. I talk about my feelings a lot with my DS too. I think its a very healthy thing to do. Even I cry at the begining of Finding Nemo! (we are quite a sensitive bunch in our house! hehe)

Do not ever watch Grave of the Fireflies. It is an anime but I cried for two hours after watching that film. I have never seen a more sad film in all my life! It doesnt even have a happy ending - it just ends leaving you in tears for hours on end.


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## elmh23 (Jul 1, 2004)

My kid who could handle Finding Nemo as long as we skip the beginning where the mom dies and LOVES Curious George, CANNOT handle Happy Feet. It had some really scary parts and was just too sad for her. With Finding Nemo and Curious George she yells at some characters and gets sad at other parts, but Happy Feet was just bad.

OP, I'm obviously not tv-free (right now my kids are watching Atlantis: The Lost Empire) but if my child is reacting that negativly to a movie, we turn it off. If she doesn't want us to turn it off right away, she'll sit on my lap and we'll talk about the plot (great thing about most of the great kids movies coming out when we were kids is that we know the entire plot) until it gets better and she's better or until it's clear it's not getting better and then we turn it off.


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## Jessy1019 (Aug 6, 2006)

Bottom line, if it's not your child, you don't get to decide. The parents do.

My very advanced daughter had no problem with Finding Nemo at 2yo and hasn't really had a problem with any of the movies she's seen since (and she's seen things with all kinds of ratings in theaters and at home). Also, I wouldn't take crying from emotion as a sign that the movie is going to cause problems for the kid . . . as long as it's not making him fearful or hysterical. Recognizing a sad story and responding to it is a pretty normal reaction; that doesn't mean one can't still be entertained by what they're watching.


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## Poogles0213 (May 18, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ann_of_loxley* 
Do not ever watch Grave of the Fireflies. It is an anime but I cried for two hours after watching that film. I have never seen a more sad film in all my life! It doesnt even have a happy ending - it just ends leaving you in tears for hours on end.

That movie IS incredibly sad...but SOO good. DH and I both cried like babies


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## EviesMom (Nov 30, 2004)

You might also suggest fast forwarding through parts of the movie. That works for my also sensitive DD. She hadn't ever seen the beginning of Finding Nemo and she'd been watching it for a year. DH said "You know, they're gonna do a Finding Nemo 2" with Dory and Marlin getting married someday and we're going to have to explain this to her." She would assign us each roles, so she was Nemo, DH was Marlin, and I was "Nemo's Mama" for a long time. She now fast forwards it herself and skips the beginning pre-credits; the sharks; and the "scary fish" in the dark depths (but only some of the time).


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## Cherry Alive (Mar 11, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *North_Of_60* 
That's about all you can do in your own home. You've mentioned it to them, it's kind of up to them now.









:

It really depends on the child, and TV alone doesn't really have that giant of an impact on a child -especially if the child is watching it with parents.

When I was 2 my folks were very young and took me to Jaws. I laughed during the entire movie (obviously I wasn't able to understand what was really going on).

My sister, on the other hand, bawled when she saw Bambi at 4. Did either of us end up screwed up? NO.

My mom and stepdad didn't censor most of our television. They always made a large effort to be with us when we watched things and talked to us about it afterwards. It really helped us develop communication skills with them, and learn the difference between fantasy and reality.

So, if that little boy's parents want allow him to watch Finding Nemo, it's really their call. If they talk to him about it and are there with him when he watches it, they can actually use it as an opportunity to talk about things like loss (on his level) or even what to do if he ever gets lost. It can become a positive experience. If they do that kind of thing already, perhaps this is part of why he's more advanced, and maybe his parents aren't that "clueless."

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ann_of_loxley* 
)

Do not ever watch Grave of the Fireflies. It is an anime but I cried for two hours after watching that film. I have never seen a more sad film in all my life! It doesnt even have a happy ending - it just ends leaving you in tears for hours on end.

I own a copy of Grave of the Fireflies. I've only watched it once. It's a movie that is really good to see, but it is very painful to watch.

It is one of the few movies I think is best for someone to watch when they are much older (even past high school age for a lot of people). Even though it's an animation, it's very scary how realistic it is... The voice actors and the animation are amazing.


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## riverscout (Dec 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *robin4kids* 
His parents are older and kind of clueless.

What does his parents being "older" have to do with anything? Just curious why you would mention a detail like that. Surely you weren't implying that "older" parents are "clueless," right?


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## 4evermom (Feb 3, 2005)

Maybe the parents don't really know what is out there that is age appropriate for a 2 yo. If you think they would be open to suggestions, Little Bear and Blues Clues are both very gentle shows that would be more suited to a sensitive temperament. Even Sesame Street used to freak out my ds when he was 3.


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## Minxie (Apr 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *robin4kids* 
I have to say though this little boy is VERY ADVANCED for his age. He have been speaking full sentences for a year now. He is very thought full and can tell me all kinds of information. He knows all his colors, can spell his name out loud and can count past 10. Needless to say me dd is child #5 and NONE of my kids have ever been this advanced. This child is also very advanced physically. He can motor a tricycle and jump off very high places. If I did not think he was so darn cute I would stop watching him, because he makes my dd look so slow in every respect...

...Anyway he is an only child. His parents are older and kind of clueless. I have told them that he is special. Most kids don't do all these thing at the tender age of 26 months, but they don't get it. They have been renting movies for all of them to sit and watch. The most resent was Finding Nemo. This little boy LOVES his daddy.

This could be my boy!







We watched _Finding Nemo_ together and discussed how Nemo's Daddy was looking for him very hard because he loved him so much. He didn't really find it _sad_ though he was a touch concerned about Nemo being lost. He understood and enjoyed it very much, and still talks about it now. I think it had the potential to be very sad and there surely are some sad parts in it, but we focused more on love and less on separation, if that makes sense.

He used to adore _Sesame Street_ but has since moved on to _The Magic School Bus_ to provide a frame of reference. Right now, he is particularly enamoured of the shows on friction and sound. It's neat watching him make connections.


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## MommaFox (Jul 21, 2008)

It's all dependent on the personality of the child. My son is 6, and watches all manner of things that my MIL doesn't think are appropriate (but she doesn't think many things other than Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine are appropriate) He's seen Star Wars, Roger Rabbit, Ghost Busters, and the like. I'll let him watch PG-13 movies, even. As long as I pre-screen them first. Actually, I pre-screen all my movies. But we were watching Animal Planet, and there was a kitty on there who'd been neglected, and it ended his little world. He's very sensitive about animals, especially cats.
My son was also speaking in sentances at 2, counting, knew his shapes, even hexagon and octogon. Now he struggles in school with ADHD, and if I say so myself, complete and utter boredom. This kid sounds like he needs some interesting stuff to do. Set him up with puzzles and such. When he's in your care, watch what you feel safe with. Beyond that it's the parent's decision.


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## ebethmom (Jan 29, 2002)

My ds watched Finding Nemo without any issues. His has a low functioning "sensitivity chip"! My dd was 2 when she first saw part of it. I ended up distracting her while ds watched it, since it was too intense for her. After she saw Marlin's grief over losing Pearl, she said "He's having a BAD day!" She talked about that for a long time.


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## maliceinwonderland (Apr 17, 2005)

Your post made me lol because Finding Nemo isn't even allowed in our house, by SO's orders, and our dd is eight. It's not even because she can't handle it (although it does upset her) it's because he can't stand it! He calls it a sick mommy snuff film and says films like that, Bambi, Lion King etc etc are horrible and shouldn't be considered entertainment.

There's really not much you can do, since it's not your kid, but I wanted to say ITA that it's not appropriate for a young child who "gets" the plot of the movie. I don't think dd watched any of the "horrible" movies until she was six or older, and even then it was only because her dad got them for her.


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## GSMama (Jul 26, 2006)

Nemo doesn't sit well with my DD either and she's 2.75 yo. At the end of her school year the teachers were showing her class Disney movies and she started telling me about a shark eating the fish and someone's Daddy looking for them...I knew right away which movie she was talking about. She ended up being sick the next day and stayed home, her teacher mentioned when she came back that it was a good thing she wasn't there that day because they watched Lion King. I think those movies are completely inappropriate for children of that age and I was peeved that her school thought 2-3 yo's could handle them.

DD doesn't like anything on tv where there's too much action or someone gets in trouble or is scared so we're really careful about what she watches. She tells anyone who will listen to her that she doesn't like movies.


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## guestmama9915 (Jul 29, 2004)

I don't know... I wouldn't want my chidlren watching something they were so sensitive about regularly, no.

We made the mistake of watching one of those newer barnyard movies, I don't remember which one. Main character is a cow? Anyway, his dad dies in it. EEEEEEEEEK! My 4yr old could NOT handle this and kept crying, "Where's his daddy?" Big mistake on my part, I had no idea. These movies have WAY too much inappropriate stuff in it, it's incredibly shocking. I thought it would be cute the other day to watch the Smurfs because I found it on demand. OH MY GOODNESS, that stuff is insane. And I grew up on that stuff. Yikes.

Now if only my kids could get into Happy Feet.


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## ginadc (Jun 13, 2006)

"Mommy snuff film"--I love it! What is it with all these cartoons, Disney especially, and killing off the mothers, anyway? Name me one animated feature that actually includes a living mother or mother figure who is not evil. The only ones I can think of are Happy Feet and the Shrek sequels.


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## prothyraia (Feb 12, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ginadc* 
"Mommy snuff film"--I love it! What is it with all these cartoons, Disney especially, and killing off the mothers, anyway? Name me one animated feature that actually includes a living mother or mother figure who is not evil. The only ones I can think of are Happy Feet and the Shrek sequels.

It goes right back to fairy tales.


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## JamesMama (Jun 1, 2005)

My DS is fairly advanced and it wasn't until recently that he 'liked' Nemo.

We let him watch DVD's occasionally...but Nemo really upset him. From about 2 until just recently.

At 2, with a fairly advanced child, while he may understand the plot he may have a hard time distinguishing from real and pretend.

When DS got upset we turned it off and it was only recently he requested to watch it and actually enjoyed it.


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## OhDang (Jan 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *North_Of_60* 
TV issues aside (because we are not a no-TV family), I would not like to see my daughter upset, scared, sad, or otherwise that affected by a movie or TV show. At that age it's really mindless entertainment, not something that should cause attachment issues or nightmares, you know?


but...people cry in movies all the time!! thats what makes them good!
Like..in The Notebook. Tell me one person who hasn't cried at the end of that movie. I think crying over a movie makes it good. Movies are the best when you get attached to the characters and the stories..same with books.

i dont see anything wrong with that.

But, in the OP's case i think i would have a discussion about how movies are not real. And all of that stuff.
After that i would be careful of what i would let him watch.


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## LindyLou (May 4, 2004)

I cry at the beginning of Nemo myself. I feel so bad for the dad. I always skip that part.


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## OhDang (Jan 30, 2008)

i agree Lindy, i dont even like watching that movie because it makes me stress out


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## Mom2Boy&Girl (Aug 25, 2007)

We don't watch Nemo anymore ... my 3.5 yo son is fine with it, but my 2 yo DD bursts into tears when Nemo is taken by the boat. Nemo is back on the shelf until she can understand it better.

And FWIW, I don't think my DD is advanced at all -- she's just your average 2yo who is very, very attached to me and is very empathetic.


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