How firm are you with age ratings on films/games?

[BowieFan]

DS1 and DS2 are both 14 (15 in two weeks) and I've pretty much let them watch anything up to a 15 since they were about 11, as they were both sensible kids and most of the time they were watching the films with us anyway.

18 rated films are kind of an approval basis. DS1 is a horror nut and I have no issue with him seeing things like The Exorcist or Friday the 13th. Anything like 50 Shades of Grey, they'd have to come to me first to have a discussion on why it's not a healthy relationship and all that, and if they understood it I'd probably let them watch.

Games don't come up that often but I've pretty much let them have GTA and CoD since they were 12 as me and DP are both gamers and understand what they're playing. We wouldn't let them have horror games until this year though because we're aware they affect you differently to horror films.

How firm are you on age rating things?

ParadiseCity

Don't dare. Do not dare to suggest that my DP and kids are incapable of thinking for themselves, or that they're misogynist. They are not.

They are smart, funny and lovely people. That is why they play GTA if they want to. They are capable of realising that some games can be incredibly fun even if you disagree with things in them.

If anyone is incapable of independent thought, it's you. You seem to be firmly of the belief that anyone who plays GTA is a misogynist, which is just untrue.

Besson not lesson

I'm very strict. Was horrified to hear mist of DD's class had watched Titanic. In year 2

Most. Sigh.

I wasn't very keen when DD1 did 'Bouncers' in drama age 14.
I know they need to do interesting, challenging stuff yadda yadda yadda but I was still not overly happy.

1. I have forbidden anyone from watching Loose Women in my house because it's shit.
2. Letting a 9 year old watch game of thrones is horrific.
3. Yeah you could watch Pride at 7 or whatever. Maybe you'd get more out of it if you watched it when you were 15 though, why the rush?

This is a really good explainer on 12A vimeo.com/101286399

Ratings are nothing but bureaucratic bullshit.
Superhero fight scenes -- violence! Slap 12+ or 15+. Somebody says an F-word, automatically 18.
But some sleazy dramas about murder, rape, child abuse -- only PG.

I shamelessly ignore ratings. If i don't allow certain films or games, its not because of age.

I'd follow the ratings unless I had already seen the film. Not that I have to deal with this yet really as DD is incapable of watching movies!

DD is 14y.

No 18s at all yet - films that is. She isn't into computer games at all, but it would be a no if she was. I,m not happy for her to watch 18s at all as yet. She has agreed to this at the moment.

15s - allowed some in the last year or so. It has always been on a film by film basis, and never just a 'you can watch any 15.' First one she saw was Gremlins when she was about 12. And then many of the 15s she has seen are older films and tbh most seem tamer than most 12s she sees. She's always asked in the past though in recent months we've ind of given her the go ahead to watch any - she sell checks with us though, maybe through habit.

She saw a lot of 12 rated films before she was 12 - Harry Potter, etc. And played 12 rated games such as Sims before then too.

Stricter than religious.

My idea of what's suitable for my DCs is widely different to what the film boards think.

I always check www.commonsensemedia.org before my DCs what anything.

watch

Meeep

The reason I felt so strongly about Pride was because a film similar in nature like Suffragette gets away with a 12. Anything remotely challenging like 12 Years a Slave or Pride gets slapped with a 15 despite them being no worse than stuff that's been passed at 12.

It was also important for the Year 8s to watch it as it tied in nicely with the book we were reading (GB84) and it's a very important story I thought they should know anyway.

I make up my own mind. Films aren't rated nearly as strictly here in France as in the UK. I censor quite a lot of children's rubbish and am more relaxed with adult rated quality films.

" I suppose me being an English teacher means I'm in a better position to be able to break down media with the kids and we can talk about the meaning behind things and how stuff makes you feel. "

If you say so... rest of us must be useless at this parenting malarky and not able to analyse things we see/read and decide if we would be happy letting our own children see/read them then. After all, we're not English teachers.

I also tend to use iMBD parent guide and common sense media sites, esp if it is a film I haven't seen. DH makes a lot of the judgements too as he is more likely to have watched them - and watching and discussing films is very much something DH and DD have in common and do together, either at the cinema, on a plane or at home.

DD watches films and programmes that I have no desire to watch - I don't like anything vaguely scary, even a lot of thriller type stuff is a bit too intense for me. I am just not keen at all. I am sure there are some 18s she would enjoy and be perfectly fine watching - but as I haven't seen them beforehand (and unlikely too) for no we say no. I am sure in another year or two things may change, as she gets older. Again we will then use ratings as a guideline, and use our own judgements based on if DH has watched beforehand, or parent guides online.

It does surprise me what some of the Y2 children I teach - not English teacher though - watch and play.

www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/12a-and-12

Explains why, in the UK, a 12 is a 12, a 15 is a 15 and so on

14 yr old can watch 15s, I wouldn't condone 18s, but I know her & 12 yr old has watched at friend's' houses.
12 yr old can watch 15s with me at home within reason ie, depends on film. He won't look at an even mildly sexy scene though!! Games - up to 15.

GTA is a disgusting game. Why on earth would you let a child play it?

I watch The Walking Dead with dd. She is 11. She is counting down the days until Season 7 starts. However I don't let ds watch it as he even though he us two years older he scares easily. I did too at his age and couldn't watch Ghostbusters or Gremlins until I was mid teens. I was shakey with E.T until I was 12. I wouldn't let them watch GoT's though. Very sexually explicit.

sjg1703

Have you played it? If not, don't judge. 12 is not a child. 14 is not a child. I wouldn't let an 8 year old play it, but when my kids were 12 they were very wise and were quite aware of the differences between games and real life.

In GTA there's a whole scene where you have to torture someone and a lot of it takes place in a lap dancing club, where you are able to inappropriately touch the stripper as long as you hide it from the bouncer.

I don't remember the rest of the game but those are not isolated incidents at all. Also it's known that people go around running people over in cars for fun, shooting random pedestrians and so on.

I definitely wouldn't let a 12 year old play it. When I was at school, only the kids from rough families/ones with parents who didn't give a fuck were playing GTA at 12.

Hulababy

Did I say that? I said I am better equipped to break things down with DS1 and DS2 so that they see a scary/sexy film as a text and not something to be scared of/ashamed by. I'm not saying other parents don't know their kids, just that if a kid does watch something and is scared by it, I'm more able to break down something so they can see that it's fiction.

I encourage them to discuss films/TV after watching as well. I think that's why I have no problem with them watching certain things underage. DS1 knows that Schindler's List is harrowing and awful, but he's glad he watched it despite not being 15. Sometimes, age ratings are ridiculous.

I have no issue with people wanting to police what their kids watch, I just don't know why people would automatically go off what the box says instead of making their own decision. Ghostbusters is a primetime example - it's a PG and yet has more swearing and sexual humour than a 12 would get away with now. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a 15 purely because a man gets his finger's chopped off (non-graphically), someone says "fuck" and it's implied that a man slept with an old woman. It is incredibly tame and yet got a 15. Carry on Camping, featuring nudity, sex and a very awful message? Rated U.

Point is - watch films and decide for yourself, the ratings are actually useless.

GTA banned in this house. My brother passed on a game to ds behind my back. I snapped it in half. Ds is 12 but was 10 when it was given. He begs me. Tells me he's the only one in his class to not play it etc etc. I told him in no uncertain terms that the day he freely plays a game where the aim is to murder, torture and sexually abuse prostitutes is the day he is living in a home of his own. I'm pretty liberal. I let my 11 yo dd watch the Walking Dead too. But that game will never be played in my home.