Frozen, Ratatouille, My Favorite Mal, Looking for Nemo ... children like to watch the same movie several times without getting tired and sometimes without even blinking. It is always a good time to put a movie and leave the child in front of the television. They remain hypnotized, ecstatic with pure pleasure and fun. Parents, exhausted, love the moment but often wonder what is behind that strange obsession.
Some time ago many people were surprised with a very curious news. A Netflix user had watched the same movies 357 times over the course of a year. Most longed for the answer to two questions: the film was talking and that this person is obsessed. Finally, the famous movie platform contacted the user to get to know him and then be able to divulge his story.
A child may have seen a movie that has a great predilection more than 100 times. However, regardless of how many times you have attended it, your level of attention will be the same as the first time.
Children like to watch the same movie several times because their brain needs it
The story of this Netflix user and her children may surprise us maybe because of the age of the protagonist. We know that children today have a contact with the audiovisual world from very early on. Moving images, colors, music and voices are very attractive stimuli for the brains of children. When children attend the same movie several times, however, there is more than just that sensory attraction.
We are forgetting for a moment to look back on our own childhood. We also had our favorite movie, and we also had, how to forget, our favorite story. The one that we always wanted to read or that we expected our mother or father to tell us every night before going to sleep. We also loved that our grandparents told us a story or story each time we went to visit them. We are delighted to be around familiar, predictable, family stories ...
The repetition as a means of learning
The child's brain learns and consolidates information through repetition. Therefore, it is not strange that children see the same movie several times and that they ask us to sing the same music always, or that they always want the same book or story at the time of sleep. In this sense, studies like the one published in 2011 by the University of Sussex in Brighton, United Kingdom, show that children integrate these stories as a standard. They are chains of meaning that become better and better.
While this is happening, the child improves his / her language, discovers new words, understands the arguments better and deciphers the data, achieving greater personal satisfaction.
The repetition brings comfort and security
Children need habits, rules and routine. In this way, not only do they manage to better organize themselves to discover their world, but they also manage to do so in a scenario guided by a sense of security. Therefore, we should not be surprised when children attend the same movie several times and still experience great pleasure and well-being.
Knowing what is going to happen next allows them to validate their expectations, reinforcing their brain and bringing relaxation. There are no contingencies that must be immediately processed, there is no contradictory information to put the child on alert. By having in front of them that movie already known, that story or that book already so read or so listened to, what happens is an aid in the scope of security so pleasant and in the feeling of being under control.
Improves logical thinking
Logical thinking refers to the relationships we make between two or more objects or situations. It is to make comparisons, infer information, combine and draw conclusions from separate elements. This important cognitive process, which Piaget told us in his theory, is a key point for the intellectual development of children.
Therefore able to have a point of reference, as in a film with a certain history, allow the child to find these same relationships, helping to establish cause and effect relationships between the factors, including incentives, stories, gestures, words, characters, behaviors, etc.
To conclude, although we, as adults, see these experiences as dying repetitive and we remain tired, we need to know that children need them. When children watch the same movie several times, they are maturing. Not only are they taking advantage, they are also growing.
They feel competent when making predictions, they love being in front of those familiar stimuli. We allow ourselves to enjoy their favorite movies, because the time will come that they will want new experiences, from what they already know so well.