How old are your children for them to be able to watch a 12A?

[Soubriquet]

Personally I think it depends on the child.

My two are 5 and 7 and happily watch things like Jurassic park and they even watched the Meg last night.

However, I think something like coraline would scare the crap out of them.

It’s a 12 and not a PG for a reason..... I don’t get what the rush is to get children to watch some films. Plenty or PG/U films

DD was 6 before she actually saw a full length movie and enjoyed it. Before that she got bored so we watched box sets of TV series most of the time. We stuck with PG for years.

12A is there for a reason and I think it very much depends on the child and the child. DD would happily sit through Murder on the Orient Express and several Star Wars movies but would get nightmares from Marvel.

She sopped her heart out in Charlotte's Webb but watched historic documentations with re-enactments of executions without battling an eyelid.

She was allowed to watch 12A/12 at home as long as one of us was in the same room or it was a movie she saw before. It meant DH or I sat through a lot but normally read a book or played on the computer.

She is now 13 and we apply the same for any 15 movie.

Generally 12. We tend to use common sense media, and other research, but we're quite strict with it compared to others. I just don't see the hurry. Age ratings are generally there for a reason, though for me there's a big difference between rated for language, than violence for example. I've never treated 12 as a PG though, age ratings are there for a reason. I've always read up on the PGs too before choosing a film although if at a friends or something then I've let that go.

I do watch any 12A before letting the dc see them so I usually know if I think they will traumatise them or not

Ironically, most 12A films are fine...yet many pg are actually ones that would upset or scare my dc the most

@TeenPlusTwenties

I don't really care what age you let your child watch a 12A.

What I do care about is that you don't let my child watch one under age without checking with me first. Also, that you don't organise one for a birthday party / sleepover with multiple children where it puts us all in an awkward position if I want to say no after 3 other parents have said yes.

Yep, completely agree with this. 14yo dd is a hard core horror movie buff. She happily watches shit that terrifies me, & I'm a goth ffs 😂.

Her 12yo sister won't watch anything spooky, & 16yo ds is a bit wary too.

So I do agree it varies, but 'nothing above age ratings for visiting kids' has always been my rule.

I mean, I know that dd1 & her equally video nasty mad mate are quietly downloading something ghastly when they think I'm in bed, but I also know friend's mum is as relaxed as I am about it.

12

My 14 yo DD was very sensitive about scary/creepy content and would usually refuse to watch it herself.
Agree with the PP who said some PGs are more inappropriate. We went to watch the new Pinochio film and left halfway through as it was horrible. How they thought repeated and protracted views of the main character being hung were appropriate for a PG I will never know!

It depends very much on the child and the individual film.

DS (9) has watched Hot Fuzz (15). The swearing is language he has heard occasionally in real life, and having an autistic fascination with weaponry (usually fed through WW2 documentaries on the Smithsonian Channel) He loved PC Nick Angel trotting into town on the horse and telling me the calibre of the rifle as he hooted with laughter. He did however cry when the beloved pot plant was smashed and needed reassuring that Nick would be able to repot it without lasting harm

Meanwhile DS(7) still struggles with Us like Trolls due to themes of small cute characters being eaten.

We were slow to take DS1 to Star Wars at the cinema when he was 5 as we wanted to gather a range of views and be happy that it was more suitable than the scenes where Anakin becme Darth Vader. He was ready to watch that when he was sufficiently interested in the volcano and not bothered about Anakin's injuries. He can't stand Harry Potter though because he finds Voldemort a more terrifying enemy to understand than the Sith.

I've enjoyed few 18s and can be cagey about 15s. I loathe repetitive gunfire in films and can't be in the same room as films like The Dark Knight or Transformers because of the awful grating sound effects.

Mine are 8 and 6. We have only introduced PGs in the last 12 months - Frozen, Brave, etc. My 8 year old has only just started watching CBBC rather than CBeebies!

I was terrified by Jurassic Park as an adult! Granted it was in the cinema but still. Bloody terrifying.

My 2 are 4 & 6 and will watch 12 movies quite happily but only ones DH or I have seen first so we know what they’re getting, and we watching it with them the first time as well. They loved Guardians of the Galaxy but they were totally unimpressed with Jurassic Park (apart from the bit where the guy gets eaten on the toilet, they were so busy laughing at that they missed the rest of the movie).

Dd can wait until she is 12. I did, and it made it more special.

I agree, it depends on the child and the film.
I explained it to mine in primary by laying out half a dozen films and saying ‘This is a PG, but more like a U. This is a PG, but it’s almost a 12, this is a 12, but closer to PG...
They knew that some were scary, some had swearing, some had violence or sex. As they got older, they learnt what they could and couldn’t handle, and they’d ask my opinion. Or ask me to watch it with them.
DD still hates the Evil Queen transformation in Snow White and she’s 30. GOT? No problem.

It really depends on the film. Some PGs are scarier than 12s. My eldest struggles with films. 'Mild Peril' terrifies her (she's 9). She's just managed HP and the Philosopher's stone. But she's seen a couple of 12 comedies. (12 usually for language, which goes over their heads really).

I probably let PFB watch a 12A when he was about 15, and would still check the content now even though he's 19. The younger ones were watching them from birth well before they were 12.

I think the certificates have got a bit more conservative with the introduction of the 12A certificate. We've got The Goonies on dvd as a 12A- that certificate didn't exist when the film came out so it was a PG. I think lots of older PGs would be 12A these days.

If something is a 12A we tend to Google to check why, but most of them we allow the DCs to watch and have done since about 8 and 5. Neither of them gets scared or worried by films. Thanks to a few children at their school they've known most swear words for a while anyway

If they've had friends round I always check with their parents first if showing a 12A, though now my elder one is Y7 I'd just ask the child if their parent would be ok with it (since they're either 12 or nearly 12). We had to sign something for SECONDARY school to say they were allowed to watch PG rated films at school

I have a 7 year old and he has watched all Harry potters/avengers/Jurassic world and was fine my DH generally watches them first and as said no to a few of the marvel ones. I put him witches on a couple of weeks ago and he was petrified the mouths on the witches scared him to death. He hasn't slept in his own bed since so I think the ratings are a load of rubbish. Obviously he wouldn't be watching any horror or anything like that though.

Well 12 obviously 🙄

Mine love Marvel and Jurrasic Park films they were probably 5ish when they watched them. Nightmare before Christmas is too scary for my eldest who is 9 but my 6 year old will happily watch it.

It depends on why it’s that rating and also I always watch them first, my kids aged 4-8.

Bad language, will let them watch if it’s not the F word or stronger. My kids know what a swear word is and that they can’t swear at home or school.

Violence - not that a 12A would show too much violence but would depend on what was shown, but probably ok.

Mild threat - my middle kid wouldn’t bat an eye lid and loves it, other two get scared at Moana so it’s a no for them. Although the eldest will watch marvel (possibly because of Thor)

Sexy / nudity - no chance, although we had the birds and the bees conversation the other day with eldest, she’s not ready for films mentioning it.

Some of the really old U films have lots of outdated stereotypes and I won’t let them watch them, or I might do if I use it as way to initiate a conversation about how wrong it is now.

Personally I’d rather they watched a marvel movie with Black widow kicking ass, than some dumb princessey movie from Disney. I think I know which will do more harm in the long run!

The 12A rating was brought in because it was recognised that children have different levels of maturity. It was meant to mean that it might be ok for your 10 or 11 year old to watch a 12 rated film at parent's discretion, not that parents could ignore the certificate altogether - otherwise there is no point in having a 12A certificate, and it may as well just be PG.

I suspect those with much younger children saying "they were fine with a 12A film" are missing the point. If your young child is "fine" with a film that is judged not to be suitable for under 12s, it's probably because a lot of it is going over their heads. And why would you want to show a film to a child that goes over their heads? There are so many age appropriate films for children these days, that they can fully appreciate.

Laudemio why 12 obviously? Did you never watch a film underage? Have you never questioned a films rating? Do you think everyone has the same tolerence level as each other?

REdskyatnight, my children love the Simpsons but there is alot that goes over their head. (historical, political/sexual, sarcasm). Does that mean they shouldn,t watch it. No because there is a lot they do get out of it.

a lot going over their heads

Most children films have a lot of adult content that kids don’t understand. They look confused when adults start laughing

Does that mean they shouldn’t watch those films because they don’t understand the adult themes?

"There,s something there that wasn't there before"

DS was 8 for Marvel films or similar.

However, I think something like coraline would scare the crap out of them.
DS still doesn't like films like this at 14. We walked out of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children when he was 10.

It depends.

Things I have seen I’d be comfortable much younger. Marvel and stuff like that is fine.

We went to see Ready Player One when it came out, I’d read the book and it was a 12 (or maybe a 12a I can’t remember) so I was fine with my then 7 and 10 year to see it. Hadn’t counted on The Shining portions which do not happen in the book! Surprisingly they were all totally fine with it, but that’ll teach me!