Parenting advice sought - Old Yeller

TMetzinger

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Tim
How old should my daughter be before we sit down and watch "Old Yeller" together? I remember seeing it at a young age, but can't remember how old I was when it came on "Wonderful World of Disney" on Sunday night.

She's five now, and made it through Bambi's mother dying when she was younger. Still, she might be too young for the end of Old Yeller.

Advice from parents who've seen the movie with their kids is preferred over opinions of non-parents. (Nick, your "uncle" role qualifies you as Parentis Loco, if not in loco parentis, so chime on in.)
 
Radio DJ Steve Dahl mentioned it when his kids were like 6 and 8. They kept asking him to tell them it couldn't be.

He said Disney puts in the ray of hope in that they sing about the new Old(?) Yeller.

Nick's gonna say the kids need to see the world as it is. :D
 
Well the DVD does come with "Savage Sam", the sequel, which teaches that (as George Carlin said), "Life.... is a series of Dogs."
 
Well the DVD does come with "Savage Sam", the sequel, which teaches that (as George Carlin said), "Life.... is a series of Dogs."


Our kids were older (10 and 8 -- 5 year old son wasn't interested) and the two girls cried like babies.

I suppose it teaches some lessons, but maudlin sentimentality is certainly a big one.

When dogs, cats, and people really die, there is no swelling musical score, no sunset, no lifting of the camera to take in the somber scene.

We thought kids need to be able to separate the fictional from the real. At 5 ours weren't ready.

I saw Bambi at 4 and living in Brooklyn, was my only exposure to deer until I was 14 or so (deer were rare in the late 60s early 70s). I'm glad I was able to be exposed to reality while still in the formative years and join the NRA, rather than PETA.
 
I saw the movie in first grade. I also owned the sound track album. It was my favorite, right up there with my Alvin and the Chipmunks album and the Burl Ives christmas album.

Barb
 
Regardless of when you show it, its going to be hard to watch. If your daughter can understand that movies aren't real, that is, she has developed that separation, I'd say she's ready.

That said, I watched it when I was 15, and it still messed me up for a few days.
 
My wife is over 29 :)...and won't watch it with me. She saw it young and only remembers the more dramatic scenes. My three kids were all over ten, the boys didn't seem bothered (but they had been exposed to deer hunting since five), but my daughter was upset by the ending. Only you know the maturity level of your child and what will be upsetting.
 
Think I saw Old Yeller when I was about 12 or 13. Then again, I was shooting at floating bodies in the Mekong River with a sling shot when I was 6.

Monk
 
i saw it when i was probably about 5-7, but I was surrounded by death as a youngster. by the time I was 10 I lost 2 great grandpas, grandpa, and mom. also had had a dog put down. so it didnt really bother me.
 
My girls are 8 and almost 5. I can't IMAGINE playing it for them yet. Really, it's the 8yr old who would be the problem. My 5 yr old might deal, but on the other hand she's still asking questions about our cat who died almost 2 yrs ago.

Me, i say wait - 10yrs old should be old enough.
 
I think I was 12 or 13 when I read the book. Wasn't ready for it then. I think boys can handle it younger. Maybe I'm just sexist.
 
hell, I'm afraid to watch it myself, and I'm 56. :eek:

wait, I'm 56?? How in the hell did that happen???? :eek: :eek:
 
Maybe I am just in touch with my feminine side, but I am easy to mess with in movies; I like to give in to the story, I guess. So, Old Yeller does me up pretty good (I did not see it until I was Old Married Guy.

Tim, I'd think 5 is a little young, but 7 or so would work. You'd want to be there with her, of course, and be ready to explain that, "...it's something in my eye, sweetie."
 
How old should my daughter be before we sit down and watch "Old Yeller" together? I remember seeing it at a young age, but can't remember how old I was when it came on "Wonderful World of Disney" on Sunday night.

She's five now, and made it through Bambi's mother dying when she was younger. Still, she might be too young for the end of Old Yeller.

Advice from parents who've seen the movie with their kids is preferred over opinions of non-parents. (Nick, your "uncle" role qualifies you as Parentis Loco, if not in loco parentis, so chime on in.)

Having seen that at a young age (6 or so), I'm not sure that kids ever need to see that movie. It's not like Old Yeller is on the required parenting syllabus...there are probably better ways to convey the learning lesson these days.

Interesting timing for the discussion - it was one year ago today that we had to euthanize our elderly cat that diabetes had gotten the better of.


Trapper John
 
Interesting replies. My recollection of Old Yeller was that it did a good job of getting these lessons across:
That you repay your pet's devotion and affection by treating them well, and that sometimes treating them well means putting them down.
That a pet is still an animal, and that it can be a dangerous animal if it contracts a disease like rabies (and I think Old Yeller is better than Cujo for that lesson).
That sometimes people have to do things themselves because there aren't any vets/doctors/cops/etc. around.

Anyway - I'm gonna hold off for a few years.
 
If Old Yeller had been a cat, everyone would have cheered at the end.




:D
 
When I have shown "old" movies to my kids, they have failed to become engaged simply because they reject movies that are not paced like modern ones, with fast camera angle changes, short scenes, and wiggly camera shots.

I personally see nothing wrong with trying to introduce any kid to the films of our youth, although truth be told I've never seen Old Yeller, nor have my kids, nor have I ever really thought about it one way or the other. (I'm waiting for the right time to unveil The Rocky Horror Picture Show, though.)
 
Old Yeller died at the end? :confused:
That a pet is still an animal, and that it can be a dangerous animal if it contracts a disease like rabies (and I think Old Yeller is better than Cujo for that lesson).
Oh now I remember. All this talk about Old Yeller and I didn't even remember the ending. I can barely remember seeing it although I can recall it was in a theater so I must have been pretty young. I'm going to go with another theory that older children (and adults) are sometimes more bothered by death and other unpleasant things than younger children. But, even children are individuals so it's hard to make a judgment without knowing them personally.
 
Friday at 11pm. 31 Oct 08 with popcorn and dad all dressed up as Frank-n-furter! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
Well, my house will be filled with a gaggle of middle school girls at that time, so perhaps I'd best wait ...

Actually, we're thinking of shipping off the kids and inviting over adults for an audience participation version, now that we have the home theater done. And my manhood would not be threatened by doing a Tim Curry impression.


I hope.
 

Your wish is my command
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:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 

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Ken, you are a brave feller.

I wore my hair parted in the middle, with a leather thong for a headband to keep it out of my eyes. I thought it was cool. It was not.

Notwithstanding all of that, though, I was ahead of many of my contemporaries, who not only wore their hair really long, but also eschewed washing it.

Long hair went by the wayside when I went off to college. Good riddance.
 
I wore my hair parted in the middle, with a leather thong for a headband to keep it out of my eyes. I thought it was cool. It was not.

Notwithstanding all of that, though, I was ahead of many of my contemporaries, who not only wore their hair really long, but also eschewed washing it.

Long hair went by the wayside when I went off to college. Good riddance.
The 70s was a scary decade, no way around that! But fortunately the weird fashions and tasteless hair styles were not permanent and we were able to outgrow them with dignity (until posting old pix on the Internet). What I think is sad about the tattoo craze is that some folks are stuck with things they will regret for life.
 
Way back before Victoria's Secret, a "Thong" referred to: a strip, especially of leather or hide.

Thong sandals (now known as "flip-flops") were named this because the original strip between your toes and around your foot were made of leather.
 
Friday at 11pm. 31 Oct 08 with popcorn and dad all dressed up as Frank-n-furter! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Popcorn? :confused: Since when?

Try water guns, rice and plastic bags at midnight. :thumbsup:

Do it right or stay home and watch Snow White. :nono:
 
I'm 21, and have never seen Old Yeller, or the Rocky Horror Picture Show for that matter. Although I hear there's a good place around here (Cleveland) that the latter oversight can be rectified.
 
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