Are your children still having nightmares after the season finale of Doctor Who?
So this season of Doctor Who is over. Did you watch it? We now finally know who River Song is, which was pretty mind boggling, and we now have to wait until the autumn for more adventures of the time travelling lord and his companions.
This series seemed pretty scary and dark. We’ve had Amy kidnapped, give birth (I thought she’d been impregnated by aliens but it looks like it was just Rory), a young girl in a terrifying orphanage with 'Help Me' scrawled on the walls, pirates and man-eating mermaids, headless monks …The stuff of nightmares. I think this season had the scariest baddies of them all - The Silence. The ones with swollen heads in Reservoir Dogs style suits who are always there at the corner of your eye, who you can’t remember so you never know if you’ve seen one or not.
The weeping angels spoiled our holiday
When the weeping angels first came on the scene, (the ones who only move when you blink like a sinister game of creep mouse) my son who was seven or eight at the time refused to walk past the local church because a lot of the graves had angel statues, he saw them in gargoyles, and on holiday he point blank refused to sleep in his hotel room because some carvings looked like them.
They’ve really been going for the things that scare all children; the darkness, breathing under your bed, the crack in your bedroom wall. That’s the psychological stuff that freaks them out.
We used to all sit round the telly on a Saturday night with a plate of crumpets and watch the companions get chased by green slugs or fight off monsters wearing seaweed wigs. It didn't seem to do me any harm!
Has it lost the plot?
There’s been a lot of criticism that the writers have been too clever with story lines, obviously worked out over months if not years, that this series went above many people’s heads. Mine included. Writer Steven Moffat has hit back saying that you have to concentrate hard and his own kids understand it. My son, 11, said ‘I’ve sat with my nose pressed up to the television screen and I still didn’t have a clue what was going on.’
Being scared is good for them
Kids like being scared don’t they? Not so scared that they won’t go to sleep, but scared enough to have to cuddle on the sofa or peer out from behind a cushion. They see good triumph over evil, the Doctor defeats the monsters, the right people are saved. Although not always.
Did your children understand what was going on this series? Does it matter..and can they sleep at night?
Photo: Alison Percival.
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09 June, 2011
Dr Who has always been psychologically terrifying. Even now the moment when the policeman turns around and has no face is SEARED into my mind.
Son was not remotely scared by the season finale. It wasn't that scary for a small child. What has given him nightmares for weeks was not the angels, but the episode with the Adipose. The little white jelly babies as he called them. He didn't get that the woman was their 'foster' mother, and was ripped apart by grief at the end when he thought that the babies had been separated from their mother. Also there's a scene where a taxi drives into them and altho you can't see them you can hear the squishing noises. He was really upset by that too.
mum
09 June, 2011
Oh that's awful! How perceptive of him that he thought that. Isn't it funny how one thing will scare one child and another will laugh? My son was not at all scared by the Adipose and thought they were silly and just animated blobs,although he may be older than yours. He was scared of a scribble made by pencil in an episode which came to life though. It was an episode about a violent father being in a wardrobe and when the mother sang that song 'Kokkabarra lives in the old oak tree' he was beside himself. He still can't hear that song without thinking of that.
expert
09 June, 2011
We LOVE Doctor Who in our house, though some of us do watch it from behind the sofa. I think that children today are on the whole too protected from negative emotions, which is not necessarily what's best for their emotional development. It's OK to feel scared, expecially when you're in the safe environment of your own home with your own family. If nobody ever felt scared, when would they get the opportunity to be brave?
mum
09 June, 2011
Great comment Joanne. Yes, I agree on the whole. Being scared and learning what to do with those feelings is a vital emotion. It's a great programme to all sit round and watch it as a family. I do have a few concerns though - I've always felt able to explain things away (they're puppets, it's not real, he's doing that because....it will be all right ) but in this series I felt less able to do that. Mainly because the story was left so hanging in the air! When an episode was all wrapped up at the end, and good had triumphed over evil, it's less scary. Or maybe I'm being simplistic!
editor
09 June, 2011
My girls are losing interest now, but the episode called The Empty Child (I think) inspired lots of hiding behind our hands! We still talk about it now - we enjoyed being scared.
mum
09 June, 2011
Oh that one scared me too! Although not my son. I think it was because of the whole 'Are you my Mummy' line. It really played on adult fears - because you would totally go to help a child who wanted to come in your house, wouldn't you, looking for their Mummy? Shudders.
09 June, 2011
We also LOve Doctor Who here, and have to download it each week to watch. the girls even dressed as the weeping angels a couple of years ago for halloween! They do sometimes get scared but that's why they love it. Luckily there have been no long term effects.
They have also become interested in history because of it and have learned a lot. Including how to shut up and pay attention, so they can attempt to work out what in the universe is going on!
They also get to see me cry quite often... i cried during the Van Gogh episode because it was just SOOOO lovely when they took him to the gallery... and that got them interested in Van Gogh, as well as how depression can effect anyone- even geniuses, and we should help each other and not give up hope. I also cried last week when we found out who River Song is, and obviously when David Tennent left ;)
In fact i am now wondering if my comedic blubbering isn't the perfect antidote to the fear that is induced earlier during each episode. Maybe you should give that a go...
mum
09 June, 2011
I absolutely bawled my eyes out at the Van Gogh episode - I LOVE the fact that you used that to teach your girls about history, and depression and that even geniuses get it. That's brilliant. About to blub all over again. I do miss David Tennant....