To not let DS6 watch 12 rated films

[MrsMillhouse]

DS6 goes to after school and breakfast club.

They ask parents to sign a permission slip to allow kids to watch 12 rated films. DH and I haven’t signed it as we are a bit worried they might scare him.

It turns out that most of his wee pals parents have signed the form and they can watch 12 rated films.

Are we being too strict?

Our school asks for specific consent for any pg film so not a blanket permission. This feels better as if your child is particularly nervous about something you can speak to the teacher. Eg how to train your dragon after reading the books. Most times its u and tends to be programmes like stick man, zog or shawn the sheep which have wide appeal
I would expect the after school club to do the same. Although our asc has never shown films or tv they tend to have games, lego, colouring, books, crafts and not sit ik front of a tv

YANBU

A primary school should really only show PG and under films. Probably ok if a 12 rated film was really relevant to something being taught to Y5 or Y6 with appropriate teaching around it and parental permission. But not showing random 12 rated films to infant classes! There’s just no need for it. I’m not super strict about film ratings generally, nor were my parents, but 6 is still very little really, too little for most 12 rated films!

They shouldn't even be asking. I would say as much. There are 1000s of PGs and Us to choose from. At my kids after school show the film once every half term the rest of the time they were crafting, playing sport and games. I didn't really want to be paying for them to be sat in front of the telly, especially not watching age inappropriate film. 3 out 4 of our kids wouldn't have had an issue but I'm as one used to get terrified at all sorts and not sleep for days.

@FrecklesMalone

They shouldn't even be asking. I would say as much. There are 1000s of PGs and Us to choose from. At my kids after school show the film once every half term the rest of the time they were crafting, playing sport and games. I didn't really want to be paying for them to be sat in front of the telly, especially not watching age inappropriate film. 3 out 4 of our kids wouldn't have had an issue but I'm as one used to get terrified at all sorts and not sleep for days.

This.

There isn't going to be a single child in a Primary ASC that ought to be watching 12 films. It is a ridiculous thing to ask and shows real lack of judgement on the part of the ASC staff, which then potentially raises other questions about their judgement.

@Bagelsandbrie

I think the difficulty is that if everyone else has said yes and you say no you might ostracise him from his peers. I’d just go with it personally.

I agree with the difficulty, but not with the solution. The solution is to point out to those running the club, very firmly, that it is not appropriate to be showing 12s in a primary setting. There are plenty of PGs they can show, and presumably all the kids are under 12. Sure, plenty of them will have seen 12s at home, but that doesn't mean they can't watch PGs at the club.

I wouldn't give a blanket agreement to this for my 8 year old. There are some 12's I'd be ok with him watching, but others that I would absolutely not agree to - Harry Potter has been mentioned, so for example, I wouldn't let him watch Order of the Phoenix as I find parts of it very uncomfortable to watch.

We seem stricter on this than many of his friends' parents - and other family members - but I wouldn't show a 6 year old a 12 rated film.

I wouldn't be happy with this at all and would take it up with the head teacher. They wouldn't take a group of under 12s to the cinema to watch a 12 rated film, so why do they think it's ok to do this in a school setting.

Very irresponsible.

I think.six is too young for the later Harry Potter films . And too young for 12 in general.

Seems an odd suggestion of the school, as no one will be 12 in the whole school.

@RandomDent

You’re allowed one F-bomb in a 12. These will be the same parents who don’t see the harm in underage WhatsApp accounts or Call of Duty.

I let DS5 watch Jurassic World which is a 12, but no way would I expose him to WhatsApp and Call of Duty which is an 18

Hard no from me. My primary only allows U films or PG in Y6 if all parents consent. Proper wraparound care (which I assume you have to pay for) should be being provided, not lazily shoving the children in front of a screen showing age-inappropriate material. I would definitely be raising this as an issue, at least with SLT if not the governors.

@LadyMonicaBaddingham

Hard no from me. My primary only allows U films or PG in Y6 if all parents consent. Proper wraparound care (which I assume you have to pay for) should be being provided, not lazily shoving the children in front of a screen showing age-inappropriate material. I would definitely be raising this as an issue, at least with SLT if not the governors.

Yes, why are they even watching films in ASC? They should be doing games and activities, part of the point is not just childcare but company, exercise and socialisation. It's possibly acceptable as a treat if it's all-day holiday club and they've been outside for most of the day, but you could plonk your own children in front of a TV yourself and work from home. It's because people want more stimulation for their child and quality care that they send them to a club. And it's really not OK for a 6 year old to be regularly watching long films - the HP ones are about 3 hours long, as I recall.

When my DDs were at primary school we had to sign they could watch PG films which we were happy with.
Last year of primary I started letting them watch 12 films but not before.

I wouldnt sign it in a million years. Unnecessary. How many films are they going to watch? It's quite shit childcare if theres a screen on constantly. There's ample choice of U and PG films.

And just to add there is no TV at any afterschool provision I've ever seen or heard of

I let my 10yo watch 12s. For a 6yo I'd be more concerned about them following the film.

Why are they so keen to show 12 rated films? There are zillions of U and PG films.

YANBU - I assume (and would hope) that's its a generic form sent out to all kids in the kids club, as I think it would be reasonable for upper primary 10/11 to be allowed to watch some 12/12a films (seperately from the younger ones) but not at six, that is too little in most cases anyway and a kids club can't consider a child's specific needs and ability to handle it the way a parent can when making decisions about age recommendations.