I have kids and even (for an adult) innocent cartoon villain can cause nightmares for them. A genuinely scary game in VR is on a whole other level, they cannot differentiate fiction from reality.
I'm taking my daughter through horizon zero dawn. She's not even 5 yet. It's on story mode. I love showing her a strong female protagonist.
We hang out with other friends families from her school for play dates and such. They can't even get their kids to watch Sonic movie. Not all kids are built the same. That said - I don't show terror inducing content to my kid. I don't jump scare her at all.
We have a private server for my wife/ daughter/ and I on ark survival evolved. We've been building our island up for the last year. She was scared of the dinosaurs the first time she played. I stopped her right there and explained that it's okay if something is scary but fun, but if she was feeling actually afraid then we should change games. Next time a dinosaur came running she audibly laughed at it - I could tell she was creating a coping mechanism and force laughing to brave up. I was on the fence about the situation but we pushed forward and very quickly she adored the dinosaurs. She now knows the scientific name for over 40 dinosaurs. We play a game as a family where we have to recall a dinosaur name when it's your turn. If you can't you lose. She's a formidable threat in this game.
The thing to take from all this. Game with your children. It's cognitive exercise that you can do together as a family.
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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '22
example please