25 Month old Cries During Movies??

Sophia - posted on 08/08/2010

I don't know about this one, but I get a lot of advice from Baby Center.com about issues like this one with my own kids, it helps sometimes. Maybe you might wanna check that out. It was an article that express some advice about how to deal with a sensitive toddler, I found that to be helpful to me.

Lisa - posted on 08/06/2010

I agree with Christie. I don't believe in censorship in general, but most especially right now, as they're just learning about emotions and how to acknowledge them and cope with them. Personally, I'm embracing these moments. My toddler just started this phase, mostly towards movies, but sometimes towards real life situations too. Right now she cries during 'Finding Nemo', every time (so far, the only movie she really gets upset during). She will start to scream in tears if I'm not next to her when Nemo is taken by the diver and his dad is freaking out. It's normal, in my opinion. I just offer comfort and try to explain what the feeling is and why it's there and what's happening. Sometimes when things happen that she doesn't understand, it's a lot scarier to her, so I will be redundant and tell her what's going on in words I know she understands. It only takes a few minutes of this for her to stop crying, but she still talks about it through the rest of the movie and sometimes after it's over. It tears at my heartstrings to see her so upset, but she honestly loves the movie and I wouldn't deny her the opportunity to watch it if she wants to. I think it's possible that she's interested in it, if only for this moment, because she likes to learn new things and emotions are still a pretty big new thing. They don't watch movies and TV the way we do, but I think these phases are the stepping stones towards really comprehending what they're seeing.

Christie - posted on 08/02/2010

My son isn't overly empathetic but he definitely has his share of strong toddler emotions. :-) I learned about a technique called "emotion coaching" in a toddler group that I attend and I've had great success using that with him. The basic idea is that you talk to them about the emotion, naming it "It made you feel sad (or scared too maybe?) when Lumpy couldn't find his mommy." Then you talk about things that she can do to help her feel better when she's sad or scared. Maybe hugging a special blanket or lovey, getting a hug from mom, etc. Basically the idea is to help them acknowledge the emotion (because to a 2 year old a strong emotion can be really scary and confusing... hence the hour plus crying after the incident is over) and then give them the tools to move past it. This is just a really basic overview of the concept, but there are some really good books on it. The one I read was by John Gottman. Good luck!

Sharan - posted on 08/02/2010

It certainly does sound like you have an overly empathetic toddler there, i would just try and only let her watch programes or films that are happy with no sad bits in at all, maybe watch them first yourself to see if there is anything in them that may upset her and if there is dont let her watch them.

If she is getting upset at other things like people getting hurt or upset, i'd try and reassure her that they are ok maybe get them to laugh and make a joke so she see's they are ok and there is nothing to worry about, or try and divert her attention away from whatever is going to make her sad, make a big song and dance about something you see, like oh look at that big plane in the sky, wow what a pretty flower, just to take her attention away from the situation that may make her upset.

Good luck.