Do you let your kids watch soaps?

[Pivoine]

I ask because my sister just told me she's never allowed her kids to watch them. The eldest boys are grown up and have moved away and can watch them now if they like but my niece has recently expressed a desire to watch them.

To be honest I was surprised this was an issue (although I do also sort of get it), but should my niece at 11 be allowed to watch soaps? Or is my sister BU?

[PomBearWithAnOFRS]

It's not that I don't allow them to watch, but I don't watch any soaps (anymore - I used to love them all years ago but weaned myself off them as they got so bloody depressing) at all now, so the subject never really comes up.
DD is almost 14 and has never expressed any interest in any of the popular soaps, and no3 and no4 son are 11 and 9 and don't seem to even know soaps exist.
If DD expressed a desire to watch any of them I would probably record them for her to watch at a convenient time (when I wasn't there ) but I wouldn't forbid her.
I remember when I was her age, if we hadn't seen The Young Ones, or East Enders or Neighbours, we hardly dared show our face in school so if it mattered that much to her, she could.

[ProcrastinatorGeneral]

Mine don't watch because I don't. In for I think the satellite box has been unplugged for months as it's never used and I needed to plug something else in.

If they wanted to I'd probably veto it anyway, as they're utter tripe and I have no desire for the only to in the house to be belting out that shite seven days a week.

[coffeetasteslikeshit]

It's not something that's come up in our house. We don't have the soaps on and they've never asked to watch them. I certainly wouldn't encourage them to watch soaps. I used to be addicted to watching all the soaps and it was a complete waste of time.

[FeckinCrutches]

Mine don't because I don't. But I wouldn't be letting them watch them till they are older anyway. My mum watches them and I'm often agog at the kind of storylines shown at 7.30

[That1950sMum]

My children don't because nobody in our house does. I wouldn't be happy about an 11 year old watching them. Why expose children to the worst in people (murders, affairs etc etc) when they are plenty of more pleasant things to watch on TV.

[RhubarbAndMustard]

I know it's a cliche but I watched soaps as a kid (watched Eastenders through a haze of my parents cigarette smoke from a very young age) and it didn't do me any harm. That said the storylines now are very graphic and I wouldn't expose young children to them. When my DS's are older (secondary age maybe) I'll probably let them watch if they really want to. They need to know the difference between reality and fiction.

[Asheth]

My DC aged 14 and 11 watch Neighbours with me and I wouldn't object if they wanted to watch others. I've found it makes a good starting point for some conversations and we can laugh at the more ridiculous stories!

[RedCrimson]

No, mine don't because I don't watch them myself, I haven't got a clue who's in them.

[KondosSecretJunkRoom]

I don't watch soaps so the kids don't watch soaps. I can't imagine that they'll ever be interested tbh but then what do I know, my eldest is only 9.

I think I would be concerned that a child/ teenager would miss the pantomime nature of the genre and would miss the humour in the drama and see it instead as a window on how other people live but I guess on the other hand you can use the storylines as a starting point for conversations about serious stuff. So, I'm sitting on the fence.

[TheNaze73]

I think there is no right or wrong here. Some of the content of Grange Hill in the 70's/80's was far more controversial than a lot of say, Eastenders and that was aimed at kids.