I’ve been trying to carefully navigate this. Got her into Totoro when she was really young, like 20 months. Then a little after 2 we started watching Spirited Away. She loves them. I can’t always control what she watches but I’m gonna do my best to imbue some of my tastes into her.
We have “family film nights”. We all have dinner together, then get out some beanbags, on the floor. We then all watch a film together, cuddled up on the beanbags.
The films are ones our daughter hasn’t seen, and can often push her boundaries. E.g. we watched “Monsters Inc” together. She was a little bit scared, but with mummy and daddy there, she loved it.
It’s definitely one for building memories together. We are too often distracted, even when present. Having dedicated family time makes a huge difference.
Oh, and she also doesn’t watch much paw patrol, even when around friends. Apparently “Daddy doesn’t like it” is quite enough to put her off it. A classic “respect over fear” situational win for me.
On a side note. The screen time correlation goes away, when you correct for the child’s parenting and lifestyle situation. It’s not “screens are bad” but that kids in worse situations watch more TV, etc. The causation is backwards.
The main characters’ age in Ghibli movies give you an idea of the minimum age of the audience… So Ponyo and Totoro are for young kids, Spirited Away isn’t… Grave of the fireflies is the exception, no one is ever ready for that…
I watched Grave of the Fireflies and couldn’t shake the feeling of “half the problems he’s facing are his own fault, and his little sister is being dragged down with him”
Iirc it’s based on a real experience, so that’s probably true. I haven’t seen it in forever, nor do I intend to, so I say probably because I don’t recall all the nuance.
I tried the same thing. I had my daughter watch Spirited Away when she was maybe 6. It traumatized her. She was scared of us turning into pigs and being left alone.
I’ve been trying to carefully navigate this. Got her into Totoro when she was really young, like 20 months. Then a little after 2 we started watching Spirited Away. She loves them. I can’t always control what she watches but I’m gonna do my best to imbue some of my tastes into her.
Try treating it as family time. Like i know they say minimize screen time but cuddles and time with family makes good memories.
We have “family film nights”. We all have dinner together, then get out some beanbags, on the floor. We then all watch a film together, cuddled up on the beanbags.
The films are ones our daughter hasn’t seen, and can often push her boundaries. E.g. we watched “Monsters Inc” together. She was a little bit scared, but with mummy and daddy there, she loved it.
It’s definitely one for building memories together. We are too often distracted, even when present. Having dedicated family time makes a huge difference.
Oh, and she also doesn’t watch much paw patrol, even when around friends. Apparently “Daddy doesn’t like it” is quite enough to put her off it. A classic “respect over fear” situational win for me.
On a side note. The screen time correlation goes away, when you correct for the child’s parenting and lifestyle situation. It’s not “screens are bad” but that kids in worse situations watch more TV, etc. The causation is backwards.
The main characters’ age in Ghibli movies give you an idea of the minimum age of the audience… So Ponyo and Totoro are for young kids, Spirited Away isn’t… Grave of the fireflies is the exception, no one is ever ready for that…
I watched Grave of the Fireflies and couldn’t shake the feeling of “half the problems he’s facing are his own fault, and his little sister is being dragged down with him”
Iirc it’s based on a real experience, so that’s probably true. I haven’t seen it in forever, nor do I intend to, so I say probably because I don’t recall all the nuance.
I tried the same thing. I had my daughter watch Spirited Away when she was maybe 6. It traumatized her. She was scared of us turning into pigs and being left alone.
Ngl I was scared of it as a kid too. Totoro is a waaaay safer entrypoint