Discussion Guide:
- How do you think Scooby feels when he first sees Shaggy?
Caregiver Note: This is merely a fun question for you family to explore the feelings of the main characters at the beginning of the movie. While you, the caregiver, might be able to readily name some emotions and given reasons for why you are seeing those emotions, children from trauma backgrounds cannot always read the emotions of other people. If your children can pick out emotions, take this question one step further and see if they can identify facial expressions, tones of voice, or actions that back up their answers. - How do you think Shaggy and Scooby felt after being bullied on Halloween night? How did their new friends help the situation?
Caregiver Note: As we mentioned in the above “Cautionary Point,” it is possible that some children might be bothered by the scene of Shaggy and Scooby being bullied by the two skateboarders. It is very beneficial for caregivers not to treat this as the “elephant in the room,” or to merely wait for a child to come to them with their concerns. These questions are being asked to so that a caregiver can be proactive in creating an atmosphere where the topic can be discussed. It could be that your child didn’t have an issue with this scene. It is still beneficial to discuss how other people might feel during situations to work on empathy so that we, ourselves, do not ever treat people in negative manner. It could be that your child might not discuss the topic at this moment because they haven’t had time to process the situation; it might become a situation for them in the next few days after they have had time to process. These questions help your child to see that this is a topic that is safe to discuss with you. - How do you think main characters felt after their first unmasking of a villain? Do you think the kids would have wanted to solve mysteries had they failed to stop their first villain?
Caregiver Note: This is an achievement that shapes the children’s future. Through this accomplishment each character was able to discover their own talent or ability while working in a team. After this initial success the kids are excited and proud of themselves enough to want to continue solving mysteries. It would be good for caregivers to talk about success and how we can use it to discover our own strengths. It might be good to ask your child when they have felt success and see if, together, you can discuss what they success show as their strengths. - How do you think Shaggy felt later on in the movie when Scooby removed the collar Shaggy had gifted him as a puppy?
Caregiver Note: The collar was a symbol of not only the two character’s friendship but also a symbol of their deep concern and love for each other. Scooby promised at the beginning of the movie that he would never take off the collar because of the deep emotional connection it held. Thus, when Scooby chose to remove the collar to be fitted for his superhero outfit, the situation hurt Shaggy deeply. Children from traumatic backgrounds might feel equally hurt and abandoned. At the very least for those children in foster care or who have been adopted commonly feel betrayed by their parents and abandoned by their birth family. This question will allow you caregivers to simply begin to explore those feelings and emotions that some children might be feeling. You may not find that you have a deep and emotional conversation here BUT simply openly talking about this topic will at the very least subconsciously let your child know that a conversation like this is okay to have in the future. - Why does the superhero, Blue Falcon, feel like he needs to be just like his dad? Was he a better superhero when he was trying to be his dad or just being himself?
Caregiver Note: For some children from traumatic backgrounds they might feel as though they have to behave a certain way or be a certain type of person to be accepted by their new foster or adoptive family. Caregivers would do well to discuss the character of the Blue Falcon as a model for how someone cannot be something that they are not and that people can only be their best when they are being themselves. it would be good to expand this question and build off of question number 3 by discussing the talents of your child and specifically how you see them uniquely accomplishing their strengths. - Would you rather be a member of Mystery Inc. who solves mysteries, or Blue Falcon’s team which fight supervillains? Why?
Caregiver Note: This is simply a fun question designed for you to have a discussion with your child. Hopefully, you will be able to learn about each other’s thoughts and likes through it. - How did Shaggy and Scooby feel at the beginning of the movie when Simon Cowel called them “dead weight?” Have you ever felt like other people at school are more accepted or make friends easier than you? How does that make you feel? What would you have said to Shaggy and Scooby?
Caregiver Note: As we mentioned above in the “Discussion Points,” children from traumatic backgrounds can feel as though everyone somehow magically knows about all of the difficult situations in their past. This might not be in actuality but the feelings are still very real. It is important that you begin this conversation by diving into Shaggy and Scooby’s feelings. This will start the conversation off in the atmosphere of safety because we aren’t asking anyone to be vulnerable to share their actual feelings. After you and your child have been able to talk about the movie in a manner that you feel is thorough, it would be good to begin asking the other parts of these questions which ask them to share their feelings. It is important for you, the caregiver, to be sure to validate their feelings – “That must be difficult for you,” or “I can see how you would feel that way,” or “I have felt that way myself sometimes.”
The last part of these questions might give you an insight as to what your child wants to hear from you or others to make them feel less isolated or alienated. - Have you ever felt that you are important? Have you ever felt like you were not important – like Shaggy or Scooby? What make you feel important? What are things that make you feel unimportant.
Caregiver Note: While it is natural that we all might feel unimportant or have feelings of insignificance from time to time, children from traumatic background might fight these feelings more regularly due to feeling as though they were given up by their birth family. Again, this may not be reality but the feelings are real. When discussing these questions with your child it will be important to valid the feelings that your child is sharing in order for them to feel safe while talking with you. Also, neglect can make children seek out attention or attempt feel important in ways that are not healthy or productive- for example, sometimes children may try to get attention by getting into trouble or hurting themselves. It can be important to talk about healthy ways for a person to feel wanted or important. - Were Shaggy and Scooby good friends? How can you tell? Were Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Velma and Daphne all good friends? Why do you think that?
Caregiver Note: As we have mentioned in the “Discussion Points,” above, children from traumatic places commonly have difficulty making and maintain healthy relationships. It would be good for caregivers to utilize these questions to discover qualities which make good friends. If you can, find examples of how you see these qualities in the interactions and emotions of the friends in the movie. Throughout the discussion of these questions keep the focus of the conversation on the characters in the movie. This allows you to discuss the topic without anyone feeling as though their friendships are being judged. - Do you have friends that are like Shaggy, Scooby and the other kids? How do you know you have good friends?
Caregiver Note: The last thing anyone, let alone a child who has had trauma happen in their lives, wants to be is alone. However, it is not only important to have friends but to have healthy friendships. Since we have already talked about some of the qualities and examples we have seen of good friendship qualities in the previous question, it is not time to turn the question to talk about real life friendships. You might want to get the ball rolling by answering this question with your own friendship examples.
[Donate to this Project]
About the Author: Jasmine Fink
Jasmine Fink is a high school student. She was adopted out of foster care when she was very young and currently lives with her family in Orlando, Florida. She is 16 years old and loves to write poems and sing. She loves to go to the parks with her family and spend time with her family.
About the Overseeing Author: Darren Fink
Co-founder and Program Director of Transfiguring Adoption. Darren is a graduate of Illinois State University where he studied fine art. He offers foster and adoptive parents over a decade of experience in parenting foster and adoptive children, as well as his introductory to counseling training. Darren enjoys visiting amusement parks with his family.
**Transfiguring Adoption is a nonprofit organization seeking to nurture growth in foster and adoptive families by giving a HOOT about their families. Transfiguring Adoption does not intend for its reviewers nor its review to be professional, medical or legal advice. These reviews and discussion guides are intended to help parents to better be able to connect and understand their children who come from traumatic backgrounds.
