AIBU not to understand the “ friends “ for kids hype.

[Whattheactual20201]

A lot of people recently saying how much their young kids ( 6-8) love watching friends. Lots of clothes for children appearing. I don’t understand it I mean I don’t allow mine to watch as I don’t think it’s appropriate and if the kids don’t get the inappropriate bits then what is funny about 6 adults lives if they actually have no idea what the funny bits mean 🤣🤷‍♀️

Sorry I am stressed and can’t sleep so a debate is always helpful haha !

@tenlittlecygnets

Some people just want their kids to grow up too quickly and have no idea of what's appropriate.

Maybe some parents have different notions of appropriate, and are ok with letting their kids watch gentle comedy, in a supervised way, where they talk about how gross Joey is, the sexism, etc.

@tenlittlecygnets.
My 11 year old loves friends, he isn't in a hurry to grow up and I know what's appropriate for my own child.
It's actually offered us lots of opportunity to discuss why this show is outdated in in regard to jokes about weight, gay etc. My 11 year old is capable of understanding that these jokes are not appropriate anymore the same for The fresh prince of Bel Air, where Will is very mysogynistic.
He can still find other relevant parts funny.

@user68634 I brought my daughter a jumper and leggings from Tesco a few weeks ago that is friends themed, it is age 12-18 months lol. Obviously it's for the parents benefit at that age, i think she looks so cute in it.

My DS expressed an interest to watch it at age 9/10 ish, i remember he was once watching an episiode where they mention santa not being real and i sat up straight thinking oh god now he's going to know the truth but it sailed right over his head thank god!

I remember watching it when I was 8. Rewatching it as an adult has really made me understand alot of the jokes that I just didn't get when I was younger, but yet I still enjoyed it.

The one with the Kips.
Quote:
Joey Tribbiani : Hey, you don't know how long where going to be in here. We may have to repopulate the Earth. Chandler : And condoms are the way to do that?

I didnt even know what condoms were, or sex really. So I just didn't get it. Its the one that sticks in my mind but I imagine there's loads that just didn't click with me at all.

I would class Friends as an adult programme and I don't understand why it is on during the day.

I agree about Friends being for adults, but surely the 'being on during the day' is completely irrelevant these days, when programmes and content are available at any time on demand?

This is really interesting.

When I was about 11 I had a friend (same age) from a slightly more edgy family sneering at me that the only comedy I was allowed to watch was children's comedy, like Friends

@PenguinErector. I'm with you my young child went through a stage where he adored Chicago Fire. I'm pretty sure that it's much more to do with the fact that fire fighters are amazing and cool and run into burning buildings. Made him want to be a colorectal surgeon and part time firefighter 🤣🤣🤣

There was a reason why Friends was never on before the TV 'watershed' - quite a lot of it just isn't appropriate for tweens. Teens a different matter.

I had no idea that such little kids were watching friends! Seems totally inappropriate, I cant even imagine them enjoying it much. My 8 year old just watched The Worst Witch series and is now watching Polly Pocket....even if she wanted to I wouldn't let her watch friends.

I was born in 85, so was about 9-10 when Friends became massive. I loved it, I watched it every week from the point it started. The more adult jokes completely flew over my head.

I think I liked it because as a kid, it appeared they all had the "perfect" adult life. Living with and hanging out with their best friends every day, having loads of fun, doing whatever they wanted. It's the ultimate fantasy adult life for children.

Wasn’t Friends aired on channel 4 at 9pm on a Friday night? It’s not a kids show 😂

Tweens and teens are mostly still up at 9pm on a Friday night!

I've enjoyed watching it lately but it is SO dated and loads of inappropriate comments in it. I cringe if my kids walk in at some of them, I tend to watch it whilst cooking dinner on my own or with dh.

I suppose for 6 year olds it goes over their heads but my nearly 12 year old I wouldn't want watching it proper. Theres loads of porn references, homophobia and dodgy comments about women.

My DD (just 10) has been asking to watch Friends for a while. I think I'd spend a lot of time trying to explain things though as she doesn't like to let things go over her head.

More parents just acting like sheep and saying something that seems to be trendy. Their kids can't possibly understand Friends.

I understand marketing clothes to parents. What I don't understand is why there's a thread about Friends on here almost every month. There are so many shows to watch and yet, like clockwork, it pops up. I guess that speaks to its popularity and why there are kids' Friends' clothes and not Press Gang branded clothes or Buffy 'stylish yet affordable boots'.

I watched Friends when I was 7-8, it was my favourite TV show as a kid and the most popular show in school, everyone watched it. There were a few jokes that flew over my head (the one where Chandler talks about Ross overinflating his girlfriend springs to mind) but I'd say I 'got' a decent chunk of it. We also acted out scenes from it in our primary school leavers assembly (one of which included one of the jokes we definitely didn't get).

I let my nearly 12yo watch it as its a 12 on Netflix. I forgot how inappropriate some parts were. Porn is basically mentioned in every single episode as though it's just a part of every day life.

The 'gay' jokes.

It did spark discussion and I gotta say, we both love it, but, to quote Chandler, 'could it be anymore inappropriate for little kids'

With that said my daughter has seen pretty much every episode of E.R, Chicago Fire and The Goldberg's which probably aren't particularly appropriate either

The Goldbergs is family tv, made to be watched by children and adults together. Similar to shows like Family Ties or The Cosby Show (I know) when we were kids. There may have been topics we couldn't fully understand, but on the whole those topics were more alluded to, than directly spoken about, and then someone would do a silly dance or fall down the stairs and kids would just enjoy that.

Though, The Goldbergs, even for a show made in this day and age has some really dodgy messages. The two main teenage relationships involve a boy pursuing a girl who is utterly uninterested in him and repeatedly tells him she isn't interested. But he keeps on and on and on at her until he wears her down and she loves him back. Literally twice, with two couples on the same show. My son actually really enjoyed The Goldbergs but I stopped us watching it because that is not a message I want him taking in. There are plenty of dodgy episodes of Friends but at no point do we ever see a man harass an uninterested woman for years and years until she loves him.

I’ve noticed this, and for the people asking primark is full of children’s (yes children’s) not teens “friends” clothing. I’ve seen 7/8 8/9 clothing when looking for my daughter, and yes I did find it really odd.

My son used to come downstairs when we were watching Friends, and we would sometimes let him watch (6yr old). There's a lot of slapstick in it, which he really appreciated. I probably would have drawn the line at the "Free Porn" episode though - there's a reason that one doesn't get repeated! Most of the humour goes over his head though, and that's fine too. I remember watching films like "Airplane" when I was a kid, and not getting most of it - but really enjoying the bits I did get. Mind you, watched that one recently - still love it, but you wouldn't get away with rather a lot of those jokes now!

My DS likes Friends but I have to sift through the ones that are ok - never realised how many porn references there are! 6-8 year olds though? Don’t get that.

When I was 10 I was obsessed with Dirty Dancing! Abortions and multiple sex scences...I seem to have turned out (almost) normal.

Friends is TAME compared to something like that!

My 11year old watches it and whilst they wouldn't have it as a programme of choice, he doesn't mind if it is on and knows the faces of the characters.
Yes there are some pretty racy jokes on it but I think on the whole it is harmless. The adults are dressed in certain clothes but whenever there are kids on the show they are normally dressed age appropriately
I think much more worrying are the kids programmes where everyone seems to be living out their dreams ( whether its work or sport or academically) without putting any effort i or hard work in.
You also see kids behaving badly with no repercussions.

My kids are older now but I couldn't imagine them having any interest at all in friends when they were that age, I wouldn't stop them watching but they really wouldn't have wanted to anyway