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I just had to get this off my chest. Tonight I decided to take some time to finally catch up on some of the animated DC films, mostly The Dark Knight Returns.

It was a pretty good movie, but there was a scene in the first part where a 2 year old boy was kidnapped by thugs, still in his sleeping clothes, crying as they tossed him around. They implied that they were going to kill him once they got the money they were after, setting up Batman coming in to save the day. Which he did thank god.

This scene before Batman showed up utterly destroyed me. I am serious. I was on the floor nearly weeping in terror and rage. Over a fake animated movie.

Just over a year ago I could watch shows that involve death or destruction without a care, disturbs but not broken up when it involves kids. Hell, I laughed at the brother getting killed in IT, I could be sick like that.

Back then I only worried about myself and my wife, and I knew she could take care of herself just as well. Now that I am a father, even the implication of these events cause me to go into near panic attacks.

Is this something a new parent experiences, or am I just being overly emotional? I just want to protect him, and all these implications of child abuse and death make me keep imagining what would happen if he was caught in these situations. He is not even 8 months old.

Don't even get me started on the two back to back baby killing scenes in Game of Thrones. I still have not forgiven my wife entirely. I just can't handle it anymore.

I completely agree. My daughter's just over 8 months old, and I can barely watch/play things with kids getting hurt in them anymore.

It's terrifying how much more those things affect me now... So no, it's not just you. I don't know if it goes away or anything, but my daughter... I'd give anything to keep her safe.

One particular example that got me was an episode of Titus, a sitcom based off a standup comedian. It was one of the few serious episodes of the series, about his niece getting molested. In his inner monologue part, he talked about how we could beat the hell out of whomever did it, we could kill them, send them to prison forever... But it wouldn't make what happened to them go away. After that, I had to turn the TV off for a bit, it hit that close.

I love my daughter more than life, I just wish we lived in a world where I didn't have to worry so much.

ScytheRexx said:

Is this something a new parent experiences

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Yup. It gets better, but I don't think you ever really outgrow it. My stomach still does flip-flops for some scenes of that nature, and ever since I had kids I've become generally more emotionally vulnerable to the filmmaker's heart-string-tugging in a variety of scenes, but I'm still most vulnerable to child abuse/loss/etc.

Pussies.

Jay said:

Pussies.

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I only hugged you because the laugh made me feel better.

I'll probably be a mess myself soon enough.

She's due in 66 days man.

66 DAYS.

Jay said:

She's due in 66 days man.

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Get as ready as you can man. It will be one of the most terrifying yet wonderful days of your life.

Good luck, man.

You'll be holding the single biggest source of worry/joy of your life before you know it.

You wuss.

During such scenes I like to turn to my wife, who is likely getting emotional as well, and say in a very determined voice, "Don't worry dear. If someone stole one of our children I would definitely... help you make a replacement."

Fortunately she doesn't hit very hard.

stienman said:

During such scenes I like to turn to my wife, who is likely getting emotional as well, and say in a very determined voice, "Don't worry dear. If someone stole one of our children I would definitely... help you make a replacement."

Fortunately she doesn't hit very hard.

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You were Caterina Sforza in a past life, weren't you.

It gets better, but yeah. There's the occasional thing that hits you like an axe handle between the eyes. But you gradually start shifting from "Oh shit, I've got something to WORRY about now," to "What helps protect my family better?"

It's also a hell of a motivator to get back in shape. One can't help one's family if one is on the ground breathing heavily.

You'll do fine, brah. You're being a dad.

I remember when I was pregnant we watched AvP:Requiem.

That went as well as you can probably imagine.

Oh Christ did I do this. It's gotten better by a long shot, so now I can detach from almost any kind of entertainment. For me the the only real remnant is the waking nightmare: I'm lying in bed, when my imagination goes "Hey, what do you suppose it would actually look like to see your son get hit by a car, like right in front of you? I mean, really look like. I bet that would be just awful."

Fuck you, brain. Just...just fuck you.

Yup. New parent here, totally horrified by how anything involving kids now leaves me a mess. Ugh.

I don't have any kids yet, but after my nephew came along, I am much more sensitive towards kids in danger. Movies don't bother me as much, but news footage or actual kids in trouble eats me up. I am sure it will be much worse when I do have kids.

Yah. I used to watch/hear news reports about babies being killed by stray gunfire, that sort of thing, and think, "Oh, what a tragedy." Now it's more like, "Oh! What a tragedy!" I might pour 4 years of labor and sacrifice into a car restoration project, but I doubt having that car stolen could possibly impact me as much as having my son kidnapped, or when I see that CSI episode.

Seriously, I don't know what happened in there, but I completely get now why people who get paid to sway public opinion like to pull that "Think of the Children!" card so much, and why it works so often.

--Patrick

I like to think I have a pretty even keel, but when I hear stories of yet another heat death due to a child being left in the car I become very, very angry.

If you guys are super worried about kids, can always go to Japan. Little 3-5 year olds walking around crossing streets all by themselves. Shit like that is unheard of here.

Edit: Neverminding the loli complex