A teacher showed 4th graders the 'Winnie the Pooh' slasher film: Why that's a terrible idea

It's Halloween season, which means it's time for candy, costumes and horror movies.

But experts warn only two of those things may be appropriate for kids.

A teacher in Miami landed in hot water this month for showing fourth graders a portion of the 2023 horror-slasher "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey," according to reports from CBS News Miami and 7News Miami. Though based on the classic children's character Winnie-the-Pooh, the film contains gruesome images. It is unrated.

An outraged parent at the charter school where the film was shown told CBS News Miami the film made her children "distraught." The head of the school said in a statement to the outlets the administration has addressed the issue with the teacher and a mental health counselor has met with concerned students. USA TODAY has reached out to the school for further comment.

According to mental health experts, horror films can have serious, long-term effects on children, and this debacle serves as an important reminder to stay vigilant over what media kids are exposed to.

"While it may be a thrill for an adult to see a horror film, for kids, it can produce severe anxiety, panic. It can increase stress, and it can even lead to depression," mental health counselor Catherine Del Toro says. "Their brains are not fully developed, and so they're not processing things the same way that we do."

How do horror films affect children?

Horror films have the potential to seriously disturb young children, who, unlike adults, aren't as easily able to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

The severity to which a horror film hurts a child's mental health, however, depends on several factors, such as the kid's personality, whether they've been exposed to scary movies before and their sensitivity to gore.

"Some kids can watch scary stuff, and they're OK," psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis says. "Some kids will not be able to sleep for about a week. It varies."

Signs a child was greatly impacted by a movie include excessive rumination, trouble sleeping, nightmares, fears of the dark, anxiety, distrusting others and increased aggressiveness.

Repeated exposure to horror may also desensitize a child to violence.

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Psychotherapist Chelsey Cole says that, while horror movies can certainly generate anxiety and fear if a child is exposed to them at too young an age, sometimes films with darker or more serious subject matter can be beneficial for kids who are developmentally ready to handle the material.

Cole encourages parents to honestly weigh the pros and cons of showing their child this type of material in order to determine if doing so is appropriate.

"Is watching this movie going to cause harm? Is it going to be helpful in any way?" she says. "If the potential negative side effects outweigh the good, that's probably not worth it. But is it going to be a scary movie, but one that would bring up an opportunity to have conversations about hard subjects or what to do in dangerous situations? Then maybe it is worth it if your kid can handle those sorts of things, and they're developmentally ready to have those conversations."

Looking for a good horror movie?We ranked the century's best scary films

What to do if horror movies are haunting your child:

If your child saw a frightening film and it's taking a toll on them, experts offer the following guidance:

• Validate your child's feelings: "Empathizing is always the first place we start, that it really scared (them) to see that, so we're not going to make fun of the kid. We're not going to minimize," says Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a clinical psychologist and author of "Growing Feelings: A Kids' Guide to Dealing with Emotions about Friends and Other Kids." "You can never go wrong by reaching first for empathy."
• Show how the movie was made: Giving kids a behind-the-scenes look into how horror movies are made can make these films less scary and help kids tell the difference between fantasy and reality. "Find a YouTube clip or just talk them through it, and ruin it for them," Kennedy-Moore says. "Emphasize this is not real, no one was hurt, some people like this stuff because of the thrill... but you don't have to like it."
• Make your child feel protected: Assure your child that you will do as much as you can to ensure their safety. "We can't promise kids that we're always going to be able to protect them, but we can say that we will always look out for their best interest and always try to protect them from things," Sarkis says. "The zombie, or whatever the character is, is not real and is not going to get them."