Movies, Books & Kids

I just watched a movie called The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. Angus has to read the novel for English next year. I bought the movie so that we could watch it but I thought that Angus should definitely read the novel first (not that I have it yet as I purchased it from overseas & I'm waiting for my postie to deliver it).

The story is about an eight year old boy called Bruno who strikes up a friendship with a little boy on the other side of the fence in a concentration camp. The story is more or less told from Bruno's point of view. I wont give away too much of the synopsis but lets just say it doesn't end the way you would expect it to.

Today I finally had the time to sit down and watch the movie, mainly because my PVR didn't play nice and wiped off all the shows I had recorded :( Anyway I thought I would watch this movie to see if I needed to be in the room with Angus when he gets the chance to watch it. As an adult I knew basically what the story line would be about before I even watched it but golly I didn't think watching it would affect me like it did.

Right now I am just thinking they're going to get my 14 year old son to read this book? Do I really want him to know how horrible things were all those years ago? Do I want him to know about that kind of history? Will learning all of this stop him from being my baby boy? These are just some of the questions running through my head.

I would have thought that this story would be more appropriate for children in Year 10 (or older) when they are just that little bit more mature but not for Year 9 kids. Then again, I also thought about something that Mark had once said to me about how he would let one of his kids read a book that has been classified as horror because what they visualise as they read it is limited to their imagination and their life experiences. Which is completely true. I remember when I read Stephen Kings The Stand a few years ago it gave me nightmares because of what my mind conjured up but I can watch the DVD I have over & over again and it doesn't scare me at all. In fact it is one of my favourite DVD's.

I guess I shouldn't worry too much about Angus watching or reading this novel. He has no idea about the history behind this story so he wont be as affected by it as I was. Although I am expecting him to ask a lot of questions about it. As far as being in the room with him, you bet. I'll definitely be close by when he watches this movie.

Have you ever read a book or seen a movie that makes you wonder whether you should let your kids, younger siblings or family members watch? Did you end up letting them watch it? I would love to hear about it.