![]() Eventually, they worked their way up to horror comedies and gorier fare. When Jones’ children expressed an interest in the genre, he started them on the family-friendly “Monster House” and Tim Burton’s twisted fairytale, “Edward Scissorhands,” movies that aren’t necessarily scary but nod to the horror genre. Of course, now that her children’s love of all things “Halloween” is documented online, some parents have accused her of exposing her children to horror too young.īut introducing kids to horror at a young age doesn’t have to traumatize them - it can even make them more resilient people, said Stephen Graham Jones, a bestselling horror author of books including “The Only Good Indians” and “My Heart is a Chainsaw,” as well as a professor of distinction at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “Some children may be more willing to expose themselves to potentially scary things, perhaps because of the gratification they think they will experience from being able to conquer those things,” Sparks said.īeing a horror buff can build resilience, says one dadįor as long as her kids have loved him, Myers has been an irreplaceable member of the Lopez family, so much so that the kids watch his films regularly - on Wednesday, they had a living room matinee screening of “Halloween Kills.” When a young child overhears friends, parents or other loved ones discuss how terrifying a film was, they might try to brave it themselves to prove their courage. “White-bread behavior,” as Farley puts it, isn’t interesting to the “T” types, who seek adventure and aren’t afraid to take risks, he said.Īnother reason some kids might prefer the company of vampires and zombies to, say, the animated cast of “Paw Patrol” or the Muppet neighbors on “Sesame Street,” is so they earn a badge of bravery among their peers, said Glenn Sparks, a Purdue University professor who studies the social impact of mass media, including scary movies. While most of us are at least slightly interested in the scary, only “T” types will actively engage with it, whether it’s riding a mammoth roller coaster or marathoning horror films. The Lopez kids have what Farley calls “type-T personalities” - the “T” stands for thrill-seeking. There’s no doubt we’re interested in that.” “It’s pretty amazing that we have Halloween,” he said, referring to the holiday as a “national day of horror.” “It bespeaks, in my view, the deep human interest in the dark side of life. Hence the true crime boom, the horror genre’s continued success and the popularity of authors like Stephen King. “By exploring scary things from a safe place, children can also learn more about how they respond to feelings of fear and anxiety,” he said.Ĭhild horror buffs aren’t that different from us older folks, either: Frank Farley, former president of the American Psychological Association and professor emeritus at Temple University, said that humans are naturally fascinated with horror, both real and fictional. Getting into scary stuff at a young age isn’t usually cause for alarm, Scrivner said - young horror fans are braver than most children their age, to be sure, but they’re really just exploring the complexities of their world, which is scary enough in real life. “That is, we have to be scared but also be sure we are safe.” “Scary experiences are only fun if they are couched in the context of play,” Scrivner said. But a child’s interest in horror is “almost always a harmless fascination,” said Coltan Scrivner, a research scientist at the Recreational Fear Lab at Denmark’s Aarhus University. The Sumner family of Idaho, whose matriarch Kailee posts on TikTok as recently went viral when their youngest member, still in the babbling stages of babyhood, was filmed growling at his older sister in a decrepit witch mask.Īdorable kids and horror paraphernalia seem like an incongruous pairing. The Lopez kids aren’t the only youngins interested in the macabre: Briar Rose Beard, a cherubic 3-year-old from Florida, recently enchanted the internet by falling in love with a Halloween prop baby doll named Creepy Chloe and toting the demonic-looking doll everywhere. Attempting to scare each other has become a treasured family pastime. ![]() Oftentimes, Aubriella and her little brother will just stare at their mother from underneath their creepy rubber masks. Lopez documents their scary shenanigans on TikTok: Sometimes Dominic will hide under beds dressed like Pennywise the Dancing Clown from “It” or reveal a hockey mask à la Jason of “Friday the 13th” beneath his beloved Myers facade.
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