13 yo & Squid Games 3?

But why? What is she gaining from being desensitised to mindless violence?

No way. Squid Games is dark and stayed with me for a long time.

I’ve watched it. My 12 year old hasn’t because, you know, he’s 12.

It is also not as you describe and you’re critiquing it from an adult, experienced perspective. Your children can’t do that and that is why you are meant to protect and shield them from certain things until they can effectively understand, process and make informed choices about the content they consume.

I can’t actually believe someone allowed it because her lax husband said yes first. Lazy and irresponsible parenting.

I am not boasting and I don't know what you mean by family position. I am not sitting down and watching Dexter or The Walking Dead with my children. Squid Game OTOH is not nearly as bloody, bar a couple of vivisection jumpscares. It is mostly lots of cartoonish shooting and over the top K-acting from the stuntmen playing the victims. I have watched it, though, not merely regurgitating the hand wringing I have seen about it on sites like this.

@Iwillclasptheeagain Hmm. Is that something to boast about? Fairly horrible family position to take.

It's honestly not even in the top twenty goriest programs I have seen.

Mine is 12 and DH said she could watch it. I said no but he’d already said yes. She was fine though. She also said all her friends had seen it.

@Barbadossunset Had to watch that at a friends house. No itv in ours.

Absolutely not.

To think my mum banned me from watching The Man from UNCLE! Laughable!

So did mine! Iirc it was on the same evening as Captain Pugwash which was permitted.

Parents fail dc don’t they. Of course dc can go round to a friends house to watch it. To think my mum banned me from watching The Man from UNCLE! Laughable!

I don't understand why it's not an 18, i think it's absolutely crazy. The violence is constant and graphic, there's sex and sexual assault. Parents see it's a 15 and probably think it's not too bad, I'd let a 13 year old watch Alien (also a 15, and actually an 18 originally) without a second thought - but Squid Games, no chance.

If they've already watched series 1 and 2 without you even knowing though then really you're just shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted and you need to be far more aware of what your kids are doing. You're clearly not strict if they've managed to watch two whole seasons (15 hours) of it without you even realising.

Absolutely not. I’m a true crime lover, fascinated by serial killers etc and I couldn’t even stomach this.

Completely agree. The kids I know who have watched it, at around 11 and 12 years old, have “cool” parents. In actual fact they are scared to death of saying no to their kids and actually parenting them.

One of the girls is 15 now and she had free rein of Netflix etc. She’s really struggling with her mental health. Her mother is telling anyone who
will listen that it is the fault of the school, the lack of help for children with mental health issues, her moody ex husband. No love, it’s your complete failure to actually parent your kids that has caused this!

Absolutely not. I have a 12yo and a 9yo. The 9yo has known the songs since S1 and they play versions of the games in the playground which is bad enough in my eyes.

DH and I watch it and it's in no way appropriate for children. We're pretty lax on a lot but not on age appropriate tv/video games/social media. Apparently ALL (ofc) the friends of my 12yo play GTA/RDR and have snap chat and Tik Tok etc. I definitely judge the parents. I recently messaged one of the parents about RDR to see how bad it was because my eldest was feeling really left out when his friends played together. I wanted to check if I was perhaps being too strict, they replied they didn't know the content but their kid begged them because "everyone" had it. Needless to say I didn't cave and they've moved onto another game now that's more suitable but I did have a wobble.

Go with your gut OP.

Nor me. Which rules out quite a lot of films and TV. If you add in that I’m not interested in crime as entertainment, whether it’s shows about perpetrators or investigating them, real or fictional, then that rules out an astonishing amount of tv, film and podcasts.

It's shite.

The first season is well done and has strong writing and a heart that make it worth watching.

There was a Squid Game themed parade in Seoul yesterday and a number of Koreans have objected to it on the grounds that such a violent and disturbing series should not have a parade as a family event - though scenes from the series weren’t shown during the parade nor at the fan event featuring actors from the series.

13 is too young. Even an 'old' 13 .

It's very violent, very bloody, very gory, very distopian.. There's no let up or hope.

It's rated a 15 for a reason.

Why do people like watching extreme violence? I don’t get it.

My DD was about 13/14 when the first season came out. She didn’t want to watch it as doesn’t really like graphic violence but all her friends were.

As I had watched it we agreed I’d tell her enough of the story that she didn’t feel totally left out. Worked quite well!

Definitely not. DS, who is 13, was all enthusiastic about the second season because apparently everyone at school was watching it, so I watched a few minutes of an episode with him with my finger on the remote, and he said ‘You’re right, this is way too disturbing for me’ and hasn’t mentioned it since.

@Wordsmithery Entirely agree. What on earth has happened to sensible parenting?

It's a hard no from me. It's not just about whether your DC can 'handle' it. It's about what watching violence and sadism does to young minds. In fact, if your DC can watch it and not feel uncomfortable or shocked, that might suggest they are already inured to screen violence. And that's hardly something to celebrate.