Disney Oceans

This, like so many of the documentaries we watch, is very soothing.  Mikey watches these over and over.  Disney Nature has one called Bears, which is relatively tame. There are a few fights between bears and the bears do catch salmon. Oceans is mostly quite calming, if I recall correctly (we haven’t watched this one in a while).

Nature

Although these are created for audiences including kids, not all of them are tame.  These are wild animals filmed out in their natural environment, so there is some tough footage in these documentaries.  As you might imagine, the one on lions is brutal.  That said, I misjudged the one about monkeys…Monkey Kingdom.  I thought it would be cute and fun, but it is rough.  There is even a part where one of the monkey children is rejected from the group.  I can imagine this might be triggering for some kids. It was probably a little triggering for me too (wink).

Although Mikey can’t express these complex feelings verbally, he has watched Monkey Kingdom once and has never asked for it since.  He has voted with his feet and walked away from this upsetting documentary. Despite my poor parenting call, he has protected himself from this one.

What I Learned

If your child is very sensitive, watch movies first without them – or, choose gentle animals as the subject for family viewing.