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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

That my children don't watch EE/Corrie/Emmerdale etc?

117 replies

crazygracieuk · 10/09/2012 14:07

My children are 11,9 and 6.

They watch plenty of rubbish on TV but other children and parents seem surprised that they don't watch Eastenders, Corrie, Emmerdale, etc.

They've been perplexed when asked their opinions on story lines like who Kat is having an affair with.

Their usual TV viewing is programmes on Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nick etc.

I am ready to be told that soap viewing is normal at primary/first year at secondary but back in the 80s I watched programmes like Neighbours, Home and Away and Grange Hill which was aimed at kids.

OP posts:

Kidsdrivingmecrazy · 10/09/2012 17:23

Totally agree with you thunderbird. Kids are watching it thinking it's normal to behave like that. You surely have to be a bit thick to let young kids watch it. If you have to watch the crap do it when the kids are in bed. (we do have sky+ - its not like you have to watch it when the kids are around.)

Kidsdrivingmecrazy · 10/09/2012 17:27

Oops pressed post twice!

BackforGood · 10/09/2012 17:28

No-one here watches any of them either.
Indeed, when an English Teacher set my (then Yr7) ds a homework based on him having had to know what was going on in Eastenders, I wrote in his planner it wasn't something he watched, nor would encourage him to watch, so could he have an alternative homework please

Boggler · 10/09/2012 17:32

No one in our house watched EE Corrie or Emerdale so my children have no idea of the story lines either - and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible. X

Darkesteyeswithflecksofgold · 10/09/2012 17:35

thunderbird i think you are doing both adults and children a diservice by saying that.
If people are influenced by what they see on tv then there is something wrong in the first place.
When i was growing up there was no watershed and it hasnt hurt me. I was a kid in the early 80s. I was 11 to 13 years old when i was watching miniseries like Lace,Mistrals Daughter and Princess Daisy. Themes such as rape were often covered in these. Now my parents were strict about me going out as i got older (my mum didnt like me going out at all) but as far as i was concerned if i (and DB) were parked in front of the TV we were IN the house.

Darkesteyeswithflecksofgold · 10/09/2012 17:37

i meant as far as my mum and dad were concerned if we were watching tv we were IN the house not messing around outside of it and that was the way they saw it.

Darkesteyeswithflecksofgold · 10/09/2012 17:38

Kane and Abel and Till we Meet Again. Two more miniseries from the 80s that contained fairly adult themes.

leobear · 10/09/2012 17:38

I watched Corrie from the age of 4, and I can remember the first episode of Eastenders.

I also have an Oxbridge degree, and a reasonably high-flying job...sorry to disappoint you! I do have a regional accent, though, so I guess those of you who have used words like "chavvy kids" can be reassured.

auntpetunia · 10/09/2012 17:41

My 2 are 10 and 14 and neither of them watch any soaps, neither me nor dh do so its just not going to happen. They are happy to just laugh at any friends who ask them about story lines ds was reported by friends daughter as saying saying to a girl in his class..."why are you asking me do I look stupid enough to care!" Very proud mum I was...

Darkesteyeswithflecksofgold · 10/09/2012 17:41

The repressive Cathoilicism i had to endure as a young teenager/woman has done me far more damage than anything i have EVER watched on tv.

BegoniaBampot · 10/09/2012 17:56

do daughters watch soaps more, i wonder, than sons, especially if the parents don't watch. Would have thought they would appeal to women/girls more than males.

When i was growing up the Uk soaps seemed more gentle and less controversial than todays. Eastenders came along and seemed to up the anti or am i just remembering the past through rose tinted glasses?

OhNoMyFoot · 10/09/2012 18:00

I can remember my mum and dad have a huge argument about me watching soaps with my mum.

If there are not something that you watch then I'm not surprised they don't watch them, IMO children just get used to watching them as the parents want them on.

GoldPlatedNineDoors · 10/09/2012 18:05

I never watch anything 'live'; everything is sky+d so cant ever imagine a time where dd will watch Corrie until she is watching her own tv in her room (16 age limit on that).

She does like Pointless though and the Chase.

MoreCrackThanHarlem · 10/09/2012 18:10

Dd is 11yo and loves Corrie.

Sometimes the issues raised provide interesting discussion points, actually.
And of course she doesn't think it's real. It's drama. I don't consider myself to be 'thick'.

Much better than the Disney channel and it's endless stream of canned laughter. Hideous.

Kidsdrivingmecrazy · 10/09/2012 18:20

Leobear, so what if you have a degree? It is possible to be intelligent & chavvy. And the EE & Corrie 20 years ago is a bit different to what it is today. If you watched an EE episode from the 80s and one from today you'd probably find its a lot more violent than it used to be.

leobear · 10/09/2012 18:30

Kids - that was sort of the point I was making, although I think it would be better to say it is possible to be intelligent, and enjoy working class culture (which, let's be honest, is how most people would define soaps). In fact, Coronation Street is very sharply observed, and often well written (although going through a dodgy patch at the moment!). That's one reason why actors such as Ian McKellan were desperate to appear in it.

Anyway, what's with this "chavvy" business? That's what people on this thread sound most worried about. If you're all so worried about violence, I assume Shakespeare will be banned from the house

2girls2dogs · 10/09/2012 19:03

PMSL at soaps being "working class culture" do you feel "right on" and "down with the kids" when you watch it?? I am working class (although i do have a degree and a PhD but neither are from oxbridge and my life is, and never has been anywhere near as dramatic and sordid as those depicted on these programs. Dallas is a soap, is that working class culture too??

Its just brain dead telly and escapism for some people, it doesn't mean that if you watch it you are brain dead! I used to watch them both, 'stenders and corrie, but only because i wanted to join in with the conversations in the tea room both in my working class job as a vet nurse and in my "high brow" tea bar for post graduates and staff when i was doing my PhD! I don't watch either of them anymore - i was "trapped" into watching them when i was BFing and i found that 'stenders upset me (i can't cope wih the shouting!) and corrie was just laughable. I haven't watched either for 7 years.

I go on mumsnet in the evening instead.

nokidshere · 10/09/2012 19:09

I don't watch the soaps - although I watched corrie for years and occasionally catch up when i cant sleep and the omnibus is on in the middle of the night!

I have two boys who dont watch the traditional soaps either - but they watch Big Bang Theory which is a soap! Although obviously an intellectual one :) haha

SoleSource · 10/09/2012 19:14

I like Corrie abd EE. My.mind is not small enough not to see them fpr what tbey are. Soap anobbery is syrange. I love the afternoon drama on Radio 4 too.

leobear · 10/09/2012 19:24

2girls, nope, I'm from a working class background myself! I don't need to feel down with the kids, I practically grew up on Coronation Street. By "working class culture", I meant activities working class people often enjoy, rather than a true reflection of working class life. So yes! Dallas and Dynasty would fall into that category, and I liked them, too.

The bit of this thread that I find so annoying, is people feeling smug that their kids don't like them, cos it's only "chavvy families" that do.

Wish they would bring back Dynasty.....(tangent)

3monkeys3 · 10/09/2012 19:26

I wasn't allowed to watch Eastenders growing up (my mum though it was common ) and it has done me no harm. We don't watch soaps at all, so I doubt my dc will when they are older either. I think it's unhealthy to be so involved in the lives of fictional people!

2girls2dogs · 10/09/2012 19:31

They have brought back Dallas though and for some reason i can't quite bring myself to watch it. I must have been about 11 when the whole "who shot JR" business was going on, and it was the MUST talk about thing at school i remember. Even though there was "adult" themes and violence, it all feels pretty innocent compared to the stuff that goes on in the more "realistic" of soap operas.

My DD is 7 and wouldnt even know what eastenders and corrie is, but that because she is too busy watching recordings of the simpsons

Secret7 · 10/09/2012 19:37

I'm loving the snobbery on here with regards to soaps.

WhatYouLookingAt · 10/09/2012 19:41

Why would Shakespeare be banned? Usually to be found in school books, not eleventy billion times a week in full colour high definition. Really daft argument. If EE was a film it would have a 15 certificate, so why let kids watch it on tv?

The problem with soaps is that they are utter horseshit and totally unsuitable for children, not that they are linked to any particular class.

glastocat · 10/09/2012 19:43

I was brought up on Corrie and still love it. Some of you sound pretty unpleasant going on about chavs and people who watch soaps being stupid. I am pretty well qualified, left leaning guardian reading member of the middle classes, but thankfully I don't feel the need to bring my child up to look down on people who enjoy a bit of low brow culture. Life isn't all trips to the opera after all!

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