Don't talk about UFOs around children!

Hell, I used to watch this and I was three years old. It without a doubt had a strong impact on my interest in UFOs/Extraterrestrials today. That kid is almost in middle school if not already. I used to go look for books on UFOs in my elementary school library or the city library when I was there. Sure, there was some fear in my mind over these things, but it was the type of fear of the unknown and it kept me coming back for more. Sheltering him from these harmless topics is doing no good at all.

You know, the timing here is unbelievable. It's pure coincidence..has to be...My son is in too much trouble today to be seeing anything online, let alone ATS. However, it was just a short time ago I went to make sure he was doing his work when he'd asked about Contrails and what made them...how it could be possible. Well, one thing led to another in explaining the science of contrails....a perfectly normal and understood thing of course....when guess what I found in Google result imagery? Up came several and very different images of the 'Donuts on a Rope' contrails associated with the Aurora or Phoenix or whichever 'UFO' project is making them with new propulsion technology.

Just an idea...but if you want to help the child explore the real and 'not scary' side of a scientific mystery, that could be a path in from a direction that doesn't require tin foil hats to enter. Why not point to something mysterious enough for even a kid to get lost in imagining....and let him carry himself into the area from there?

(Gotta outsmart the skeptics sometimes... )

My girlfriend is actually more scared if I talk about demons than aliens.

Vampires are about the closest depiction of demons as they have very similar characteristics, so falling in love with a vampire or the idea of being a vampire is close to loving demons and wanting to be one. From a short religious, being religious or not, and subconscious analogy, I can see this creating confusion in the minds of the masses up to a certain level.

I believe in demons almost as much that I do believe in aliens visiting earth.
Visitors from this dimension and some from other dimensions to put it another way.

My dad let me watch "Communion" when I was like 5 or 6. I had night terrors for years because of that movie. I was afraid aliens were going to abduct me. For several years I would run into my parent's bedroom and sleep in a sleeping bag beside their bed.

As I got a little older, I began reading every book our school library had on UFOs and aliens. I knew about the Betty and Barney Hill case before I was 11. Knowledge to me then was indeed power. As I learned and read more, the more I became less and less afraid. I was one of those kids that knew everything about a subject. For some kids its Dinosaurs, for me was aliens and UFOs. This was all in the late 80's into the mid 90's before the internet.

Aliens are very much like "monsters" to small children. They come unannounced and are "unknown" and scary. I would be very hesitant to expose a child younger than say, 12 to material about UFO's and aliens. To my father's credit, I don't think he really thought anything of it at the time.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


When I was growing up,sci-fi books and comics were my interests.

All the HG Wells books,all the Jules Verne books.
I moved on to Chariots of the Gods,and I was hooked.
I think I was about 14 years old then.

With all the sci-fi movies out,I don't understand an 11 year old being scared of aliens because it's everywhere,even kids cartoons.
Must be very sheltered,but thats just a presumption.

Originally posted by SLAYER69

Originally posted by grayeagle
I am wondering is it that subconsciously people know that UFOs are real and therefore possibly pose a real threat while witches, wizards, demons, vampires and werewolves are seen as pure fantasy. What do you all think?

"Not discussing" it would be respectful of a parents wishes. No argument there but I'll go the other way and suggest that the parents have a sit down and explain that UFO's and possibly "aliens" are a subject of debate and not a threat.

Children are scared of many things they don't understand. If it was explained to them then they'd have a better understanding of the topic as it is now they haven't learned anything of value to make any sort of judgement for themselves which is exactly the traits we as parents should try to instill in our children.


If they had a fear of Dogs the parents should address it so as to prevent life long fear of dogs.

Two pennies

I agree with what you say.

When I was 9 years old, I went to see "Earth Versus the Flying Saucers" with my older brothers. When we were walking home, I remember how excited I was by the idea of aliens and flying saucers. But over the next several nights I became terrified by the idea that aliens in flying saucers might see me in my bedroom and decide to come and take me away. I was at that time sleeping on the top bunk by a window that had no curtains that overlooked beyond our backyard, nothing but empty prairie and tumbleweeds to the horizon. I got so afraid that I was scared to go to bed at night and broke down crying.

My dad got mad and angrily denied there was "no such thing". I replied "No, I know they are out there". My mother was more sympathetic and when she found out that I was essentially afraid because I thought they could see me through the uncovered window, she got my dad to temporarily cover up the window with a bedsheet. That eased my fears, and I seemed to forget about these fears after a few nights.

It was only a few years later that the TV show "The Invaders" started broadcasting. Although the aliens and UFOs were presented in a dark and sinister manner, I was by that time much more curious and intrigued and really had no fear reaction. In fact I told my dad I wanted to become a "UFO investigator" when I grew up. He thought that was a stupid idea. (maybe he was right!) But anyways, I think the way to deal with kids fears of UFOs and aliens is to try to assure them that if there are aliens, that they are really not much of a threat and that people who make scary movies, just do that for entertainment, not because it they are an accurate depiction of what is really happening.

EDIT: I should add that watching a TV show like "The Invaders" is much more entertaining if you are open to the possibility that there are possibly aliens than if your mind is totally closed to that possibility.

Originally posted by theMediator
My girlfriend is actually more scared if I talk about demons than aliens.

Vampires are about the closest depiction of demons as they have very similar characteristics, so falling in love with a vampire or the idea of being a vampire is close to loving demons and wanting to be one. From a short religious, being religious or not, and subconscious analogy, I can see this creating confusion in the minds of the masses up to a certain level.

I believe in demons almost as much that I do believe in aliens visiting earth.
Visitors from this dimension and some from other dimensions to put it another way.

Demons and vampires is what scared me the most when I was a kid.
And witches.
Til this day I still sleep with the cover over my head due to some movie I watched in the early 70's about a witch,don't remember what it was.

Maybe because I thought aliens were fantasy and posed no harm to me,whereas demons and the such were more real.

Yes people don't talk about Ufos around Children!!

But what if the Easter Bunny,Santa Claus, and the tooth fairy were all aliens?

Doh!

reply to post by grayeagle


Why oh why don't you just tell the child the truth?

Here I'll do it 4 ya......

There are these people called the mayans, and they're magic. At least their ancestors were magic because they made a magical calandar. This magical calandar has told us that the world as we know it is going to end on December 21st of this year.

Some people think we will all die. They think there will be big storms and earthquakes and volcanoes and floods but they're all wrong. Other people think there will be a war and we'll be nuked but they're also wrong.

What is going to happen is the ufos are coming back with the aliens. They're on their way right now and there's nothing we can do to stop them. We don't know if they are coming back to help us or if they want to eat us but either way in about a month we're gonna find out.


You see it's that easy. I'm always available to babysit.

For me it was the aliens in the movie "This Island Earth" they had their brains showing and these great big crablike pincers for hands......I was 7 or 8.......
I was scared SNIPless.....it lasted for a month or two, but like the above i dove into the subject like a kid possessed....
Cut my reading teeth of science fiction, and the encyclopedia.....
The probabibility is that far more abductees exist out there that DONT remember at all...........!!!
They are the Sleeping Abductees, and will not remember anything till the right time......they all have a part to play, but remember nothing .
The Aliens are not perfect mind control masters, and the human mind/spirit is so powerful it can nullify the Alien conditioning, if the human involved is strong enough mentally......
Those who remember nothing are the vast majority of abductees........

reply to post by grayeagle


I willing to bet the way you and daughter talk about UFO's is not the same as other fringe subjects such as witches, demon, vampires and such.

I reckon your grandson has picked up on what youre saying hearing the tone has realised you take the subject seriously therefore his imagination has gone wild and is somewhat more real to him.

In a few words...you take UFO's seriously so why wouldnt he ?

If this was my 11 year old son i would speak to him hopefully this will ease his distress.

I'm flabbergasted at how vulnerable and scared people can be. I was never scared of a movie, I was always allowed to watch any movie from a very young age. Maybe this hardened me or something. You guys all sound like sheltered babies. And now the sheltered babies are sheltering their babies. Don't shelter. only makes men weak and women victims. My 5 year old is gonna know how to dissect an alien, let alone be afraid of one. People should teach their children other people are more dangerous then aliens. gah end rant

reply to post by nrd101


Your comment made me laugh im from the video nasty generation so was exposed to all sorts of horror at very young age but i agree the kid should not be sheltered.

Scare the tar out of them when they're young and they'll be tough as nails for life.

reply to post by grayeagle

Now here is the rub, she has allowed him to read every Harry Potter book and watch every movie

Oh i was agreeing with her until i read this line. Cant stand harry Potter...hes such a noob. Please get the dvd of independance day and make them watch it lol

I would start off easy with the Godzilla movies.
There are many video trailers on the vid below,let it play out.



What ever happened to creature feature on saturday nights?
I grew up with all those b movies on the tv.

It's simple: UNidentified flying objects, UNknowns, UNannounced visitations, etc. - we fear the unknown.

Harry Potter, Vampires in love, good-cop-bad-cop, good-guy-bad-guy, and all that are 'entertainment', and children, who are far more perceptive than we give them credit for, can easily tell the difference.

With UFO's/Aliens, they are also part of the Hollyweird "Biz" and "Buzz",; with one conspicuous difference: We know, all of us know, even children know, that Spiderman, the Werewolf, Harry Potter, etc., etc., are ALL figments of our imagination, invented by human minds for our own amusement ('legends' to their actual existence to the contrary).

Yet, with the UFO/ALIEN enigma, we ARE NOT YET certain that they are only fictitious characters in the movie theater. That's the problem. The parent's in question CAN NOT definitively and honestly reassure their children that ALIENS DO NOT EXIST and can never hurt you. They would be lying, and they know it. You can comfort an anxious child by convincing them that vampires do not exist, and the goofy sewer-monster will not crawl out of toilet in the middle of the night to eat you.

But an Alien? There is not an adult on this planet that can pull that one off with a straight face. Sure, you can try to lie to your kid. Tell you children "they don't exist". They'll see right through you.

Look at it this way: The governments of the world have been telling us adults the same thing for decades.

Do you believe them?

reply to post by kdog1982

They watch all that Spongebob, Transformers cartoon garbage now.

Cartoons used to make sense. They were actually funny and educational. Now they're just plain stupid.

Basically, what it comes down to is there are probably aliens, who are we to think we would be so important? Just look at our history....At one point we thought the world was flat, that we would sail right over the edge....we also thought the sun revolved around us....we were wrong about those two factors, so who is to really say there isn't life out there? Star Trek had a big influence in my life, perhaps there are beings among us, with just as many different personalities as us, both good & bad...just depends on which one you meet first, the aliens that will help you or the ones that want to harm you...I'll take the gamble on the aliens over having Obama as the President any day though. I just figure, to sum it up, who are we to be so arrogant in thinking that we are alone? Why wouldn't there be other life out there, & to tell you the truth, I don't think I would want humanity to be exploring more in space, we don't have the capability as a whole society or culture...yet to responsibly navigate Earth, the moon, & space. It almost seems we are too primitive of a species to do what is best for the ultimate good of the universe...just look at what we do day in & day out to our own planet & each other, how can anyone (alien or human) deny that? When we aren't even really capable of maintaining our own survival & well-being here on Earth? Now, we have enough technology to travel in space, we very well could interrupt the whole well-being of the Universe (especially being so new to space travel....We are probies or newbies at this & we should slow it down a notch or two, to be sure that we don't mess up something that we are so unfamiliar with. Just because we can build something, or do something doesn't necessarily mean that we should build or do it....Just my opinion,,,But Godspeed everyone & God Bless to you & yours!

Originally posted by grayeagle
snip
I am wondering is it that subconsciously people know that UFOs are real and therefore possibly pose a real threat while witches, wizards, demons, vampires and werewolves are seen as pure fantasy. What do you all think?

No, people do not "subconsciously know" that UFOs are real. Only those having a credible sighting know, everybody else either believes or doesn't. And those others that you mentioned are pure fantasy. So is Santa Claus, Jesus, the boogeyman, etc. I thought you would know better than to ask.

I think it's ridiculous to avoid talking to children about UFOs, they're here, there, everywhere. It would be best if you were to have a discussion with the child (and his parents!) and give him intelligent info and leave aliens out of the conversation in a pro-manner stating that there is evidence for UFOs but not for aliens and that what people believe about aliens is mainly fueled by media and hollywood. Take the child to a planetarium and ask to speak to the person in charge to explain to the child how it's impossible to physically travel from the vast expanses of space to a planet that is meaningless in the grand scheme of cosmic things.