Tips for my child who has watched a scary video

I’m just commenting to see if anyone has any advice! My child hasn’t seen anything yet - but I was deeply traumatised (still now at 40 years old) by something I watched that I shouldn’t have seen at a young age. It’s definitely a concern of mine. I would guess do whatever makes them feel safe right now, a nightlight, nighttime soft music, cuddles on demand and hopefully she’s young enough that the memory will pass soon x

How old is your child?

She’s 5!

I’ve cuddled her to sleep tonight. I did originally move her mattress to the bottom of my bed but then the door wouldn’t close and she wanted it closed. She has slept in her own bed for 2-3 years too 🥺 she keeps asking are the windows and doors locked. Truly heartbroken

This is why i absolutely HATE youtube. It’s not safe for kids including youtube kids even!! I would just try help her take her mind of it and maybe explain that it wasn’t real and have a conversation about the video may help. Its a hard situation your in but with lots of love im sure she will overcome it! It may just be a hard week or 2 until she doesn’t think about it anymore! Stay strong mama. & dont beat yourself up about it too much, mistakes happen for a reason and im sure it will keep you more aware of things like that for future x

I’m not a fan of the idea of my kid having YouTube at all, (not saying that with judgement just saying in general) However some hope & maybe help; I was raised watching sci-fi and stuff like mild kids scary adventure (like the dark crystal) and I’d wake up to horror movies playing sometimes if I fell asleep on the couch, I do remember a few times where I was spooked, but I never got majorly scared or scarred by anything I saw mainly cause my parents focused on emphasizing that it was not real, and my dad would show me like behind the scenes stuff from how scary things were created from the artistic & production perspective. (: helped my brain actually compute that it was not real & I have been majorly invested in film making my entire life as a result

Thanks guys! I’ve read online a few things and I didn’t really know the full effects of YouTube on kids. I don’t ever watch it myself. I don’t even know how it came up as she can’t search for anything! It was about a kid who goes missing in the park and some boys come back at night with a light and see blood on the slide etc. I don’t even know how to show her it’s not real 😭 I have explained so many times about saying it’s not real and she is safe. I guess it’s only night 1 so will have to keep going. This is just something I ever wanted for her as I know what it feels like. I feel because it was quite realistic it will be hard to pan off as fake. I really hope talking about it tomorrow with her might help a little.

Think it probably depends on exactly what was in the video as to how I would handle it/explain it

I’ve just explained above thank you! It was by a creator called “Andreas Eksander” and it was called “if you see blood in a playground, RUN!”

The thing with youtube is it comes out with suggestions to watch next and will just play random things after which is why for kids especially it’s really unsafe. There is also acount on the youtube kids telling children to kill their parents etc. & im sure many more disturbing thing! its unfortunately a very sick world we live in 🙁

I definitely think it’s best to talk about it. In a way that’s just very reassuring- he got lost at the park, I’m always with you so that won’t happen to you, or would you know what to do if you couldn’t find me etc. and the blood, I’d personally downplay, ‘it’s easy to have an accident at the park and hurt yourself, remember when you cut your knee! I bet that little boy found his way home to find a plaster’ etc. My son is pretty gullible/naive though!

Oh my goodness!! To kill their parents I’m absolutely terrified I might just take her tablet off her 😭

I will have a chat with her in the morning. Those are really good ideas Chloe, thank you! Thank you all for your help! I feel so so bad. I just read that children need therapists after stuff like this and it’s really made me upset. I hope tomorrow is a better day ❤️

Trying not to sound insensitive but don’t you think 5 is too young to be given a tablet? There is tonnes of research out there to the damaging effect on children, a good book to read on this is ‘the anxious generation’ it really shines a light on this. Definitely recommend regardless of views on screen time it’s always good to be educated on scientific evidence on how it affects kids!

No I don’t necessarily think it is too young. Her screen time is very limited and she also has homework which is to be completed on a smart device/computer. I don’t have a computer and I can’t expect her to do her homework on my phone where the screen is very small. There definitely are damaging effects as I’ve just seen but I do believe there to be some positives also as long as the screen time is managed well. This is my first time being a parent and I’m just learning as I go!

They are making 5 year olds do homework on smart devices/computers!? My god that is so terrible!!

https://delaysmartphones.org.uk/

Yeah I thought at the start it was very strange. She gets written work/ reading one week and then the next it’s online!

There is a number of schools following this ^ which I really hope becomes nation wide. It’s getting better in the Greenwich area but hopefully! France, Australia, Denmark have thankfully took action. Come on UK!

Some of these facts are truly devastating.

I’m so sorry. This is totally relatable as I was terrified of scary movies and traumatized as a young child. It for sure affected my sleep.

Was this on YouTube kids?

Can you show her the making of the movie? The behind the scenes to prove it’s NOT real? Maybe that would help?? So she can see it’s just people in makeup/costumes

This happened to me when I was young. I watched something with vampires in it. It was never actually addressed or worked through properly. I ended up (to this day) not being able to watch anything remotely horror, I was afraid to go to sleep which turned out to not being able to sleep on my own, and became obsessed and scared of those close to me dying. I absolutely wish it was talked through with me that what I had seen was not real, they are paid actors and that some people like watching scary things for fun, that I was safe and that I would always be protected. I had a teddy bear that gave me comfort, and I made up in my head that he was there to protect me and be my friend. I also have a friend who experienced something similar and their mum would “sprinkle” fairy dust (it was just an empty bottle” on them each night to make sure they were safe and had a good sleep. As others have said YouTube is a really dangerous place for kids for so many different reasons.