Squid games

[Poppetts1234]

I know a mum that allows her 9 year old to watch this.

I’m really interested to see how many parents are ok with this?

AIBU to be a bit shocked about this?

Yes I should mind my own business but I’d be really interested to hear others opinions

@whentheearthchanged

it's up to the parent, no one else should pass judgement. End of

This is such bullshit. Shit parenting should be called out for what it is. There is no reason why a 9 year old should watch Squid Game. There is no benefit and a real risk of tangible harm. I’m appalled people are so laissez faire with their DCs mental well-being.

I watched an episode last night. A man hung himself after his winning a game lead to his wife’s death. What would a 9 year old get from that?

I wouldn't let a 9 year old watch it but I actually think there's quite a lot of good stuff they could get from it. Like helping to develop their empathy for a start. I should hope that we all show kids stuff that make them cry with empathy for other people. All be it, maybe not in the form of such a violent show.

It also shows the hardship and flaws of a man who is trying to do right by his daughter and who, despite being flawed and often terrified, attempts to choose the moral path. It shows that adults are flawed. But that people always have a choice in their actions.

It shows the dangers of gambling addiction. It shows that some people are monsters and we must be aware that they have different motivations to us. It provokes the viewer into wanting to help their fellow man.

There's actually a ton of good stuff in there.
But probably more for an older child as a young kid would see only the horror. But if a parent were to sit and discuss things with them and use it as a teachable moment then I actually think it could have merit. Maybe hold off until age 11 or so though.

I wouldn't let a 9 year old watch it but I actually think there's quite a lot of good stuff they could get from it. Like helping to develop their empathy for a start

Actually reduced empathy is a recurring finding in research looking at desensitisation of violence in children, even in studies that are inconclusive about harm don’t show any benefit.

@Pinkbonbon

I wouldn't let a 9 year old watch it but I actually think there's quite a lot of good stuff they could get from it. Like helping to develop their empathy for a start. I should hope that we all show kids stuff that make them cry with empathy for other people. All be it, maybe not in the form of such a violent show.

It also shows the hardship and flaws of a man who is trying to do right by his daughter and who, despite being flawed and often terrified, attempts to choose the moral path. It shows that adults are flawed. But that people always have a choice in their actions.

It shows the dangers of gambling addiction. It shows that some people are monsters and we must be aware that they have different motivations to us. It provokes the viewer into wanting to help their fellow man.

There's actually a ton of good stuff in there.
But probably more for an older child as a young kid would see only the horror. But if a parent were to sit and discuss things with them and use it as a teachable moment then I actually think it could have merit. Maybe hold off until age 11 or so though.

I can see where you’re going with this but there are a TON of other programmes a child could watch to take these things home from. Sweet Tooth for example. Ds aged 9 and I really enjoyed that and it’s pretty dark in places - covers issues of discrimination and human experimentation etc etc, post apocalyptic world type issues etc. The umbrella academy. Cobra Kai. All have good stories and cover serious issues to some extent but have better take away values than Squid Game for a child- even though officially they’re still not suitable for a younger child.

There is just no reason whatsoever a child should be watching it. None. And reading some of the comments here people are just fast forwarding through it anyway so they’re not even getting the story which makes it even more utterly pointless.

No way would I let a 9yr old watch it. My 11 year old is on my case to watch it as his friends have but there is no way. I don't think it's a class thing. I'm as working class as they come and I care what my children watch. I just think some parents are too scared to say no.

On a different note I loved squid game.

Just repeating that i wouldn't let a young teen watch it, but laughing at the suggestion that social services would intervene!
I grew up on Nightmare on Elm Street, the whole "don't go to sleep or he gets you" terrified 11 year old me. Of course my parents didn't know we were watching them, or the Living Dead series!

@passmeamenuatthetottenham
To be fair thats what your post seemed to be implying. If you want to clarify then feel free to go ahead.

My point is there are very few people on this thread who know what their children are doing online. Minecraft. May be pixilated/animation but it's a violent theme. I'm not comparing squid game to it, I'm pointing out the double standards (No one will take that from this post, they will spend time insisting I'm comparing the two. I'm not)

I never said my ds watched it. He hasn't. He knows about it. He found the games boring on roblox. They were. I played it with him. If he watched it I wouldn't be overly concerned. He'd be bored by the second episode.

My point is there are very few people on this thread who know what their children are doing online. Minecraft. May be pixilated/animation but it's a violent theme. I'm not comparing squid game to it, I'm pointing out the double standards (No one will take that from this post, they will spend time insisting I'm comparing the two. I'm not)

The phrase 'double standards' directly involves comparing two things!

Have just watched the first episode of Squid Game. Minecraft it ain't!

I am the only one who clicked on this thread expecting it to be discussing two octopi playing. Walks away disappointed.

I haven't read the whole thread, but young children who appear to have watched the series may not have.

My daughter was watching one of her favourite Youtubers watching a Roblox squid game playthrough. The first few games were based on the TV series, so I made her turn it off so that I didn't get spoilers.

She has definitely picked up the spooky doll, red light green light thing, without being exposed to the show itself. I think this is one of the reasons it has become such a meme show - its structure lends itself to Roblox in the same way Hunger Games lent itself to Minecraft.

Me: I'm not comparing squid game to it, I'm pointing out the double standards (No one will take that from this post, they will spend time insisting I'm comparing the two. I'm not)

You Have just watched the first episode of Squid Game. Minecraft it ain't!

Honestly I spell it out and you still get confused! Carry on being bewildered.

Can anyone post the link to register my 10yo DD to partake in Squid Games?

We’ve just watched the first episode with ds1 (16). I at one point gasped and instinctively put my hand in front of ds1s eyes. Anyone letting a pre teen watch this is seriously bad at parenting. There is no way I would let ds2 watch it at age 14.

@Passmeamenuatthetottenham plus I love the fact you have only watched the first episode tonight!

@Clocktopus

Did your parents allow you to watch this sort of thing? Or did you watch stuff without them knowing?

Speaking from my own experiences, I grew up in the 80s where it was common for people to take age ratings with a huge pinch of salt. There were toys for films like Robocop and Terminator which definitely weren't kids movies and cartoon versions of grown up films (cartoon Robocop for one) so people let their kids watch the films because if it wasn't suitable then there wouldn't be a cartoon or a toy, would there? My mum let me watch the original IT when it first came out, her reasoning was that it was about kids my age and a clown so couldn't be all that scary. She also used to record the original V for me, I can't remember how old I was but I was definitely younger than 9, because I like aliens.

This was the way I grew up. But it doesn't mean I apply the same roles to my kids.

My youngest is a very mature 13. She watched IT the original last year as she turned 13 and then the new movies soon after. She watched squid game last week. My DN is 9. No waaaay would I let him watch any of those in my house. Not would his mum.

For me, my daughter had already read IT. The book is much worse than any tv adaptation or movie. So that was fine for me. But my older kids were going on 14 before I even let them watch Speed as they were just not that savvy or entirely mature.

Also a fellow kid that absolutely adored aliens and I still regularly watch the entire series. I even have a xenomorph pencil sharpener..... I'll leave it up to you insinuating where you sharpen the pencil.

@Sometimeswinning

Me: I'm not comparing squid game to it, I'm pointing out the double standards (No one will take that from this post, they will spend time insisting I'm comparing the two. I'm not)

You Have just watched the first episode of Squid Game. Minecraft it ain't!

Honestly I spell it out and you still get confused! Carry on being bewildered.

So what do you mean by 'double standards' if you are 'not comparing' them?

The idea that Squid Game, a show that has become notorious for its violence and adult themes in the few days since it aired on Netflix , would even come up in the same discussion as Minecraft, is laughable.

Sorry @passmeamenuatthetottenham I can't keep breaking it down for you. I tried to be fair!!

Let’s face it. Not all 9 yr olds (or any other age) are equal and at exactly the same level. Some could watch something like this and be utterly traumatised. For others it would be nothing much. I have friends In their 40’s and 50’s that would be traumatised by watching squid game and yes would probably have nightmares about it. My mum is 74 and she couldn’t watch something like that. But then my mum blanks out anything horrible in the world, because she can’t cope with it. And I personally find that very narrow minded and I feel she lives in a very small bubble where she just can’t acknowledge or discuss current affairs because it’s oh so “horrible”. I think there are extremes on both sides. On one hand yes someone could be desensitised to horror but on the other hand they can be so super sensitive they close themselves off to real life issues because they can’t deal with it.

@Poppetts1234

Can’t help but think of Venables and Thompson. Their parents exposed them to extreme films like Chucky and IT and we all know that outcome

Many many more people have watched horror from a young age and are not murderers. You don’t become a sociopath who murders babies at 10 by watching Chucky that’s reductive nonsense. I watched aliens and terminator and robocop and read Stephen king and James Herbert at 10 and I promise you I’ve never murdered anyone. You know who else become murderers? Kids like the menendez brothers, Harold shipman, Peter sutcliffe, berkewitz…all with micromanaging over protective mothers.

[quote Rollergirl11]@whentheearthchanged answer the question, how does watching Squid Game benefit her?[/quote]
What does watching Disney bullshit happy endings and giving them stupid notions about relationships benefit them?
What does watching peppa pig being a spoiled brat benefit them?

Tv isn’t for benefit most of the time, it’s entertainment not education. You watch it because you enjoy it.

Like PP said I think it depends on the child.

I’m a dystopian and a horror nut and really enjoying it - appears to me on both genres! DD is 10. I wouldn’t let her watch it. She’s very sensitive. She sobbed in my arms at the end of the book ‘the boy in striped pyjamas,, she was inconsolable. DS (7) can detach himself from what he reads/watches. I wouldn’t let him watch it at the moment but I’m sure he’ll watch programmes/films as he’s older that aren’t recommended for his age. (I do wonder whether it because whilst I was in mat leave I watched all of ‘the walking dead’ 🤔)

*appeals

whentheearthchanged you're a fucking idiot.

Unfortunately as is always the case with these threads there will be some who think it’s clever and cool to expose their kids to inappropriate and potentially damaging stuff. They’re more concerned about seeming to be cool than about their child’s welfare and development.