So you let your kids whatch 12/15/18 programmes when they are only 10???

[Cantcook842]

AIBU here or not? I'm not a complete rule follower. I'm sure my child has watched the old older thing occasionally.
But I'm hearing from family members and school friends about what they watch and play and it just confuses me. Do people not want their kids to be kids anymore? Are they quite happy to expose them to violence etc from a young age?
Some recent examples :
Kids in my sons class are age 9 and 10. For at least two years a lot of the boys have been playing Grand Theft Auto. This is a 17+ game due to violent content /crime /rape/prostitutes. My son constantly asking to play and join in. We say no. His cousin also plays it who is 8 years old.

Watching films such as deadpool (15) contains sex and violence. Horror films such as IT, Halloween and Chucky.

The girls in the class are all on tik tok adult accounts and most of them have phones that they bring into school and show each other very grown up videos whilst walking home.

The new recent Netflix programme Squid Games is also 17+. My husband and I watched it and enjoyed it, but it is full of violence and death. Son goes into school, kids all talking about it because they've watched it. My 7 year old daughter loves to play on Roblox, she shows me that there have been squid games created on there, aimed at very young children!

Girls at school watch love Island and think that's a good example for a how a woman to be and aspire to be influencers.
Am I the mean one for not letting my 10 year old watch adult rating programmes and games?

I think by rushing through things like HP before old enough to actually understand it actually spoils the overall enjoyment of them because you may be watching it but your not actually “getting it”

I agree I think it depends on the reasoning behind the rating
For example hamilton is a 12 because of some swearing, grease is a 12 and both would be okay with me. Some other 12's not eg a quiet place

Some films that are 12 but more horror focused are worse for children (imo) then 15s for swearing

I'd have to watch or have a good sense of the film to decide. Equally some kids are more sensitive then others, and everyone gets scared by different things than others .I don't find gory 18s that scary, but thing like signs and a quiet place did scare me, very little gore happens and it's mostly implied and I find that scarier! Equally my nephew doesn't deal well with things like parent death, and my neice its mean animals (like dogs in up).

Grand theft auto I wouldn't be encouraging below 14.

My DD is 11, and she's been allowed to watch 12s for a year or so. Not allowed to watch/play 15s or 18s, but it seems like she's the only one at school who hasn't seen certain programmes/films.

I look at what they are rated that age for, eg swearing, violence, sex. I don't mind swearing but sex and violence or scary stuff is the stuff that is not good for their developing brains IMO. I always use commonsense media but generally they just don't watch stuff that's not rated appropriate for their ages

This seems to vary massively depending on school. My niece is rising 12 and at her naice primary none of the kids were allowed phones or were watching tv/films too old for them. The only "adult" tv programs they seemed to watch were strictly & bake off.

What I kind of feel sad about is the sheer amount of telly some of my DS friends watch. You go round there and the telly is just never ever off!!

Depends on the child and the film. I watch some 15s with my DCs - they’re not allowed to otherwise. Swearing is fine as they know the character is under stress and they’re not allowed to do it irl. Slapstick violence is fine. eg I would let them watch a monster from the underworld eating a human (if they don’t seem upset) but I would not let them watch a man hitting a woman. I would let them watch blurred nudity in a consensual loving adult context but not two teenagers going hard at it or girls/women overly focusing on trying to attract men. I would let them watch a clearly unrealistic murder but not realistic torture or any kind of animal cruelty.
Look at some of the older James Bond movies which I watched from the age of 5. Women fling themselves at Bond who slaps them across the face. Also, as a pp mentioned, Pretty Woman! I do think you have to watch stuff with them though. Mine are really enjoying squid game but only with me and I have fast forwarded a couple of times with no apology.

We have always stuck to the age ratings as it gave dc something to wait for which didn’t seem like a bad idea to me. Kids seem to grow up too fast these days and I personally don’t think it harms them to wait a while. Ds is now an adult and it doesn't seem to have affected him at all!

Neither of mine were interested in gaming so that wasn’t an issue in our house.

No I don't.

On the whole I don't care too much what other parents let their own children watch/play.

What I do care about though is parents who let/encourage my child watch/play something over age, especially at a birthday party where peer pressure would make them less likely to say no.

@TeenMinusTests

No I don't.

On the whole I don't care too much what other parents let their own children watch/play.

What I do care about though is parents who let/encourage my child watch/play something over age, especially at a birthday party where peer pressure would make them less likely to say no.

You’re right! That would annoy me too. I’m always careful with visitors.

I usually went with the guidance, unless I had seen it before, some mild swearing or innuendos that would go over their heads was OK but any blood and gore was a firm no. I was taken to see Jaws when I was 9 I started watching sat at the front seat, by the time it had finished I was right at the back cowering behind the seats. I'm the wrong side of 50 now and still have nightmares about sharks. I refused to put my kids through the same ordeal.

I fought for years to keep my DCs tv and film viewing age appropriate. However, it seemed everyone around us allowed their DC to watch anything.

At her Infant school, mothers took their 5yr old DDs to Ma Mia because it was a ‘mother-daughter’ film… by yr 1, boys playing GTA, my SiL took her 8 yr old DD to see Hunger Games and by 11 she and her school friends was watching horror films that in turn she’d show to my DC… Friends at her school watching AHS at age 12 etc etc

Now at 16, the stuff she watches on Netflix makes me feel sick, but this is our bright shiny world of streaming. I didn’t realise that Squid Games was so violent. She’s watching that now.

The more twisted (American Horror Story), the more violent, the more ‘out there’ the better to drive ratings. This is simply about making money. It sounds so old fashioned, but I strongly believe that our children and young people will suffer the price of those violent sexual images staying in their memory and in the subtle and insidious ways affecting their thinking and values.

I certainly wouldn’t, and am lucky that most of DD’s friends’ parents don’t either. I really worry for our daughters in particular growing up with a generation of boys who have been allowed to watch content and play games with extreme sexual violence - and the kinds of ways women are represented in social media.

No wonder they are all obsessed with daft social media gender identity crazes, when the alternative in mainstream media for young women is to look like an “influencer”, stick clumps of fake lashes on and spend hours “contouring” and be an object for men to perve over.

I let dd watch some 12s at 10, now shes 13 I let her watch some (not all) 15s. Nothing with graphic sex or violence, not bothered about rude jokes or swearing as she heard worse in school. Similar to what @Coronawireless has said - not sure about squid games though I would have to watch an episode first. Definitely wouldn't let her on roblox though even now. My dsd was on that from about 7 which I think is awful

I do think the underlying message is very important. Hunger Games is violent and sad but has a heroine who is a fantastic role model for girls. Likewise stranger things which emphasises kindness and loyalty to family and friends, including people who are marginalised or quirky. Even squid games explores themes of whether you should look after yourself or others and shows the pros and cons of these decisions. There is thought behind these stories. As opposed to many 12 rated teen shows where the girls seem to do nothing but shop and buy clothes to attract boys.

What’s wrong with Roblox? Am I missing something???

Thing I don’t understand is… there’s enough age appropriate content for them to enjoy, so why the rush to let them watch ‘older’ things? Children should be children, not mini teenagers.

Supervision is key imo.

I’m amazed at how relaxed some people are with this
I Don’t know if it’s just shitty and lazy parenting or people thinking they’re cool

I think sometimes there is a subconscious competiveness.... older rating = more advanced. Tv, games, books, toys...

I think parents believe themselves 'cool' if they allow certain things. 'Oh yeah, my 7 year old watched IT and it didn't affect him.' 🙄 Ratings are there for good reasons. I remember watching old Bond movies with my dad as a kid and being mortally embarrassed every time Bond got it on with some woman 😂

I think it's fine to allow them to watch things a little older than they are but to be blasé about it is just stupid.

depends
we look at common sense media
we live in fortin and the ratings here are different than in uk.

having said that, dc have read harry potter around that age and we allowed them to watch the films after they have finished the books.

Not any of the ones you've mentioned but my 10 year old has watched stranger things and like a pp hot fuzz and most of the rest of the films

I use common sense and game wise let his 18 year old brother decide as I'm not into gaming

Depends on the thing. We watched His Dark Materials (a 12 I think) over lockdown with the oldest two (10 & 11). Didn’t find it to be too bad and they both had read the first book already.

Ditto several things like Stranger Things (they watched with DH), Hamilton, the Lost Boys etc. I prefer to watch it then decide whether or not I think it’s suitable rather than go by age ratings.

I don’t let mine video game regularly though. It’s just what suits for different families. Obviously we all know a 10 year old watching 18 rated horrors isn’t good, but generally I’m not a slave to age ratings.

For me it’s about not keeping them in a complete bubble. I am strict with mine physically…they’re not allowed to go anywhere without supervision. The same for most of their peers where I live. So I feel that I should allow them to explore some of the world’s many dangers from the safety of their living room, and see how strong characters deal with troubling situations. I would like them to have an awareness that bad things do happen and give them a chance to process how they might ever deal with such issues.