Disney is known for so many of our childhood cartoons such as Mickey Mouse and all the classic fairytale movies like Cinderella. Children love the animation and music that usually accompanies Disney movies.
While excessive screen time is definitely not encouraged, many Disney movies can often present an opportunity to teach children many life lessons such as managing stress or emotions.
Lessons in Disney’s Movies
Many Disney movies managed to convey important life lessons. For example, the animation “The Princess and The Frog” talks about working hard in order to achieve success. Even adults love watching Disney movies!
While Disney movies have received a fair amount of criticism, most of the movies aim to deliver life lessons. Children can benefit from these lessons especially if parents need additional help to better impart life lessons.
When children are unable to cope well with their emotions, they tend to become aggressive and disruptive.
Why not use movies to teach children about stress, coping strategies, the importance of self-care as well as managing relationships? It can also help to improve family bonding by watching a movie together. All you need is to browse through the content library of Disney+ in Singapore and select a movie!
Here are five Disney movies with great lessons:
The Lion King
This classic movie offers great lessons on family dynamics and how to manage strong feelings of rejection. The plot follows Simba, a lion cub cast out by his evil uncle after his father is murdered.
Children can learn about bravery, listening to their elders, and trusting wisely. On top of that, they will also learn that friends come in all shapes and sizes and understand that everyone is different in their own way.
Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo will help children learn about coping strategies for managing stress. The characters in this film travel the ocean looking for the missing Nemo who has been abducted by a scuba diver. There are scary scenes with sharks, jellyfish, and storms that might cause young children to feel overwhelmed or frightened so parental guidance is advisable!
The most important life lesson from Finding Nemo is definitely “Just keep swimming!”
No matter what happens in life that got you down, you just need to keep swimming and not give up. It’s also important to remember that even if bad things happen, families stick together as a team to solve problems.
The Incredibles
This animated movie teaches great lessons on managing anger. When Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) feels he can’t live up to his idealized family image, he becomes stressed out which leads him to lose control of his temper.
You can use this movie as an opportunity to talk about anger management with your child. It is hard to control our emotions when we feel that life is hard or unfair so dealing with anger in positive ways is important.
Toy Story
This Pixar classic will teach children that everyone has different coping strategies for managing stress and it’s okay if one way isn’t the best choice every time. Some characters in this film avoid their problems instead of facing problems, which can become problematic in real life.
Discuss with your child how it’s important to talk about feelings and to take responsibility for solving problems. Sometimes there might be no one around who can help us solve our issues, but that doesn’t mean we should pretend they aren’t there or that they don’t matter.
Acknowledging that you need help is the first step towards solving problems.
Frozen
While many movies focused on the princesses relying on princes to save them, Frozen teaches children about the importance of love between families. When Anna sets out on a journey to find her sister, Elsa, she must embark on a dangerous journey to find her. Along the way, Anna learns to cope with her fears and anxieties.
You can watch this film with your child to talk about managing feelings and expectations of ourselves. It is not healthy to bottle up your feelings and nobody is perfect. The movie also portrayed selflessness in a tear-jerking scene when Anna sacrificed herself for Elsa.
Conclusion
As you’re watching these movies with your child, keep in mind strong emotional scenes where strong messages on coping strategies for managing emotions are portrayed. After each movie, have meaningful conversations with your children about what they have seen and what kinds of lessons they have learned from these films.
You can also sing songs or play games related to coping strategies while watching these Disney classics!
It’s not always easy to find an appropriate movie that is also in line with your family’s values, but movies are a great way to interact with children during times in their lives when they are struggling. You can use this time to make sure they know you care about them and demonstrate ways to cope with difficulties in healthy, productive ways!
We hope that this article has been helpful for you.
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