7 year old watching an 18?! AIBU

[TheoandArchie]

I may sound completely unreasonable and I know it's not my child but it's absolutely insane to me!

My younger son is 7 and is in year 3. On Friday he came bounding up to me after school asking if he could watch Rambo. Obviously, I said no because it's not exactly a children's movie...
He said that his best friend, let's call him Johnny for reference, had watched it. I presumed that Johnny had maybe just heard about it and hadn't actually watched it (because what parent allows their 7 year old to watch incredibly violent 18s?)
But Johnny came over to play today and when his dad dropped him off, I asked him about it. Johnny's dad said that he'd 'only' seen the newest one and I was absolutely shocked. Apparently Johnny's older brother, who's only around 11, had watched and their dad allowed Johnny to as well.
I then made it clear that I didn't want my son watching any movies like that, as my son is having a sleepover at Johnny's next weekend.
I'm still a little unsure about actually letting him go round for the night! He's assured me that he'd ask before letting them watch anything but it just seems like a reflection on his actual parenting in my opinion... AIBU?

I'm not condoning it, and wouldn't let my 12 year old watch an 18 rated film, let alone my 7 year old.

But, it is not illegal to do so, just ill advised.

I'm not condoning it, and wouldn't let my 12 year old watch an 18 rated film, let alone my 7 year old.

But, it is not illegal to do so, just ill advised.

My 4 and 5 year old have watched Jurassic World - although we watched with them and had already seen it so told them when they may find something scary.
5 year old loves it that much that he'll put it on in his bedroom on nights he's allowed to watch a film!

He also watches superhero films. His favourite is Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. We have no issue with him watching them. He hasn't watched Deadpool! We do have a line! We haven't even watched it but I know it's 100% NOT suitable.

Jurassic World didn't scare them.. but Voldemort did! So they haven't watched Harry Potter. Which is a shame for me because I LOVE it and can't wait for them to finally want to try again!

I can't comment on Rambo as I haven't actually seen any of them.

In case you hadn't noticed, some parents seem to have zero clue what's healthy or appropriate for a child.
I'd be grateful the school put this kind of thing in a newsletter - means there's an easy way to bring up the subject if sending a child for a playdate etc.

I don't go around observing and judging other peoples' parenting so wouldn't know. And who sets the bar at what is and isn't appropriate? It's a matter of common sense and opinion in most cases and the state interferes way too much already

Um, not really. Yes, to an extent but where do you draw the line.

Exposing children to inappropriate material is a safeguarding issue.

The line should be drawn where the parents decide within reason not by some egotistical head teacher. Like I said who decides what's appropriate and where's the evidence that the head teacher is the one in the right? The websites he listed weren't porn or violence etc.

I don't go around observing and judging other peoples' parenting so wouldn't know.
You can't really help but observe parenting that's in public (e.g. how parents react to their children when at the school gate. So unless you walk around with eyes closed and headphones in, you must be observing parenting.
I can't observe how parents treat their own children in their homes but if my child goes into that home I want to know what they'd be doing with them.
who sets the bar at what is and isn't appropriate?
For my DCs, me. Which is why it's handy to have a way to bring up with e.g. a playdate parent, what they might consider appropriate for their child.

The line should be drawn where the parents decide

Even if those parents are abusive and are exposing 6 year olds to porn or extreme violence?
Or are all parents perfect according to you?
And it's perfectly fine for a child to see pornography or physical attacks on TV but not for an adult to expose themselves to the child or for a child to see Daddy hitting Mummy so hard she has to go to hospital?
Or maybe you think those are both OK too?

You've obviously decided to intentionally take my post out of context and exaggerate it for the benefit of your own agenda, all but accusing me of saying DV, porn etc are ok. Your problem not mine

No yanbu. Someone I used to be friend with let her boys ages 12 down to 6 to watch 18 films and then complained as to why they were all swearing, making sexual references and acting out violence on each other. Perhaps because the tv says that's ok!

Some parents are just really slack. Mine were, and I am. I personally owned the entire collection of nightmare in elmstreet videos when I was 7.

StopCopying

If you don't mean "the line should be drawn where parents decide" then don't say that.

I don't want other parents making parenting decisions for me, maybe you do.

The line should be drawn where the parents decide

Really? So would an 18 with very sexually explicit content be ok if the parents were ok with their kid seeing that? And if not (and I can tell you it's not because that would come firmly under the umbrella of 'sexual abuse') then why would an 18 with very violent scenes be ok? And as the previous poster said, if an 18 with very violent scenes on the TV be ok, then would it be ok for a child to see that in real life?

There is a reason these things have a certain age certificate and it is because the content is just not suitable for young children. It ain't rocket science. Like I said, why would you even want your kid exposed to that stuff at such a young age?

Argh Poltergeist! That film scarred me for life - still can't watch horror films now! I was 7.

If it's the first Rambo, then I would definitely not want a 7 year old watching it!!
I have a 10 year old sister and I wouldn't want her to watch it after reading this..

m.imdb.com/title/tt0462499/parentalguide/violence

I can’t comment on Rambo itself because I haven’t seen it but I am genuinely surprised so many people are saying they wouldn’t let a 14 year old watch a 15 do you think something magical happens between 14 years and 11 months and 15?
I am on the stricter side compared to a lot of my dc’s friends and even I am not as strict as that on film ratings. If I am letting them watch something that is rated above their age I am doing it because I’ve seen it myself and don’t believe there is any content in it that they shouldn’t see. My boundary for that is of course different from other parents and I would possibly let one child watch something I wouldn’t let another watch at the same age because all my dc are different as well.
They haven’t watched an 18 because there hasn’t been an instance where I’ve needed to consider it but I’m not saying they never would below 18 either. I take each film on its own merit and it certainly doesn’t make me a shit parent. I’d also never show something higher age rated than the age of the child to a visitor.

It’s not Son of Ranbowhrs seen is it? It’s a PG...

link to IMDb here