5 year old can't tolerate tv moments

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My son seems to be running away whilst watching tv. he has been doing this
Alot now. He can watch monsters, ghosts and scary films no problem, but
He can't cope with scenes when someone is caught lying or someone is about to lose or left feeling embarrassed. he simply runs out of the room. Has anyone experienced this? What can I do to help him?

Any suggestions please.

thank you

I can't say I've seen this in my kids but I personally share his feelings. I HATE watching the typical sitcoms where you know one character did something they weren't supposed to and that it is going to catch up with them sooner or later. I feel incredibly uncomfortable and would just really rather watch something else.

I experience exactly the same feelings.
I dont watch tv any more except for programes, mainly factual,on the i player. 2 a week at most.

People interacting is one of the worst things.
I find that animated characters arnt so bad.
I catch up on the news by reading not watching etc.
I've found other ways of staying in touch with 'life' without watching the tv.

I'm the same. Usually I just go to make tea and keep myself busy until the awkward bit is over. Sorry I can't give any useful advice. If anything I'd just leave him to it. I can't think of any way to make it feel less uncomfortable (for me anyway) and generally I feel happier as soon as I turn my attention to something else.

My 10yo - who is all about weapons, mass destruction and death - can't watch movies because of the highly emotional music. We watched Temple Grandin the other day, and he spent most of the time with his eyes closed and his ears covered because he misinterpreted the extremely emotional score as being similar to a horror movie (surprisingly, he had no serious difficulty with the content of the movie.)

I remember as a child, spending most of my time at movies with my eyes and ears covered. Both my son and I are mimics, sometimes unintentionally - so extremely manipulative emotional content - as is common in movies - is very hard for us to take. In my case, it becomes very difficult to separate my own feelings from those of the characters in the movie. As a kid, I used to hide when Candid Camera came on for much the same reason - I understood public embarrassment, and I couldn't tolerate feeling it for one instant...nor could I understand how people could laugh so cruelly at a joke (it never occurred to me that the recipient of the joke might be less rigid than I and enjoy it, too.)

So much for the "no empathy" theory.

I don't understand why this needs a solution. Why is it a problem? He should be free not to watch things he doesn't care to watch.

I can relate. Certain sitcoms such as Frasier for example seem to be written around a script template that builds up the main character as a smart Radio Psychiatrist then the script writers contrive a way for the smart man to be humiliated or show him to be a snobby buffoon out of touch with the common man he is supposedly trying to help. It has a strange effect of coming off as anti-intellectual in a way.

IMO to many shows are based on the main character being a comedy punching bag. The most extreme example being Homer Simpson.


However back in the day there was of course Al Bundy from Married with Children. While he did have a lot of crap dumped on him his character still had a shred of dignity and he could dishout revenge and defend himself. At least he had some small victories.


I used to have a job in a Television Station Control and I probably think about this s**t way to much. I worked nights running awful reruns in syndication and I really do understand why a person could find it so intolerable they would flee the room. Most of this stuff is total garbage.

My son reacts the exactly same way to this sort of thing -- an episode of Word Girl that had the eponymous heroine accused of a crime she didn't commit literally sent him running out of the room with his hands over his ears, screaming "I don't want to watch this!"

His mother and I have a similar sort of issue; I can't watch most of the "special reports" on the Daily Show, because it's agonizing for me to watch someone making an idiot of themselves.

I just respect his wishes, and change the channel. I sometime try to sound him out, get him to talk about why he's upset by this stuff, but he'll generally just shut me down. Frankly, I'm glad to see that he's this empathetic.

I think its bc a lot of aspies are very visual minded. I have a hard time with more intense scenes on tv or movies and we have had to just turn things off bc for me it was more like having a panic attack or just overwhelming anxiety. The same with books really.
Typically anything that includes a lot of 'suffering', pain, torture, etc. No mind you I am a horror movie fan though as most do not really go on and on with the painful suffering.. so go figure..

My daughter has this issue too. It is very difficult to find movies she enjoys. She doesnt like the emotional scenes at all whether warm and fuzzy or intense. She doesnt like anything with curse words, violence, anyone dying, etc. Documentaries are good as long as they are of a topic of interest and she 'agrees' with them.. lol Comedies and some dramas work well. She likes movies that are very goal oriented .. this is the problem.. we will do this.. it worked.. the end.. hahhahaaa

Personally I do not think you should try to work with this at all. And I would also take it as a sign that you should be very diligent about what your child is exposed to. Children like this can be traumatized by what they see in a movie or tv and you cant 'unsee' something. I once begged and begged to watch the body snatchers as a child (about 10-11yrs) and had nightmares for months. It caused me anxiety during the day and at school.. the whole concept that what you see could be something you dont expect or whatever. It was horrible.

We are very very conservative with what my daughters sees/ reads/ hears.

Last edited by squirrelflight-77 on 05 Jul 2011, 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

I agree with Chronos, I don't see why this is a problem. Many parents would love to have a kid who watches LESS television, rather than seeking out a way to make the kid able to watch MORE. It is possible to be a functional human being who doesn't have a taste for sitcoms, game shows, or farcical comedies. He may grow out of the sensitivity, but you should be glad he's showing empathy at his age, as others on this thread have pointed out.

<<<This. Definitely.

I agree.

I think the mom was hoping to get inside her child's head a bit and there are some fantastic posts on that score. It is really useful inoformation, to have observed what bothers him on TV, because that can extend into knowing what bothers him in real life. He sounds like he is a "rules" Aspie.

I think that edcuational programming (particularly specialized videos and DVDs) can be very valuable--as a tool to teach reading, speech, math concepts, manners, social skills, etc. Particularly if the child is visual and a slow learner who benefits from a lot of repetition and use of close captioning or English subtitles.

However, most stuff on TV is not appropriate for young children, children who are particularly sensitive, or children with delays who may not really understand everything that is going on. A lot of kids on the spectrum have a natural tendency toward anxiety, also.

I would just see that the child has enough books, toys, crafts materials, etc. to keep himself enterntained in another way and stock up on age-appropriate educational material for him to watch.

I have asperger's and i do that too, when ever an awkward part happens i will ether hide my face and plug my ears or change the channel then change back when i think that the awkward part will be over.

I can't watch humiliation either. Especially 'comedy' movie where humiliating someone is supposed to be funny. I have a difficult time with injustice as well.

It is a matter of learning to not internalize those situations. If it is something you personally have experienced and reacted negatively to, it's quite difficult to not re-experience those feelings when being exposed to them again - realistically or not. I suppose its rather like PTSD but with a personal emotional state. Not a particular event.

In my case it takes quite a bit of internal scripting to talk myself through it. In the case of humiliation, I just choose not to watch it. That is always an option.

I also happen to love horror movies too. It is a much MUCH different dynamic.