*SPOILER ALERT* To think that Stranger Things is inappropriate for children / teens

[leawakeford]

My child wants to watch Stranger Things because all the other kids at school have watched it. From what I can see it features violence, sex, inappropriate language and very scary imagery. Surely parents shouldn’t be letting their young children and teens watch this!

I thought this was going to be about a primary aged kid, Ive just told my 10yr old he can't watch it, I know he'd be really scared. But 14?! YABU it's a great series, really good fantasy story and unless he's especially sensitive should be absolutely fine at 14. Pick your battles, at 14 this really isn't one to fight.

14 oh gosh let him watch it.

My 13 yo loves it and so do all his friends, they care about the characters and identify with them, not the horror (and I don't remember any sex in it, maybe a bit of fumbling then fade to the view out of the window).

I'm not naive enough to think my DS wouldn't watch it at a friends house if I banned it so we watch it together. Yes its gory but its squelchy monsters not real world stuff and the 80s setting also gives it some distance. They'll see and hear much worse at school. The central characters age and their bonds of friendship and struggles are the biggest part of it. Teens rescuing each other with minimum input from adults, misfits who are heroes, managing friction and relationships, taking charge and thinking for themselves is a very positive message, and you can have a good laugh about tinned tomatoes and the overuse of sticky goop.

We let our 12yo watch previous seasons, but this one is a massive no. We watched the first episode together, me naively not realising the gruseomeness was amped up considerably, and she felt unsettled afterwards. So did I, and I'm not watching any more episodes myself.

As an aside though, I'm chuffed on Kate Bush's behalf!

You are performance parenting, OP. Why would you let the people who decide the ratings of a film or TV show decide whether or not your kids can watch something.

Some 14 year olds are very mature. Some are very immature. You know your kids.

What do you honestly think is going to happen if your 14 year old hears someone use a four letter word?!

I remember I had a science teacher at school who refused to teach any form of sex education because she believed the 14 year olds were too young. Someone else had to cover her class.

She was also having kittens once because her 15 year old daughter had gone to the cinema with a friend and had seen a 12A. She was going around the sixth formers asking who had seen the film, what it was like, the language in it etc. It's pathetic and it's not "good parenting".

Thanks @DjoChateaux I may brave it when I get that far then😊

If he was 10 I’d say you were fair enough not to let him watch it.

but at 14 you’ll really be singling him out from his peer group. Dd2 is 14 and definitely mature enough to watch it, as are all her friends.

It's not for young children but 13+ it's fine so long as they are sufficiently mature and not disturbed by some of the gore / dark themes. My DD (13) loves it.. If she was sensitive to these things I wouldn't let her watch it. There are however some very positive themes: friendship, hope, over coming adversity, that hero's don't always look like hero's, taking responsibility & never giving up..... Some people are more sensitive to the dark / gore content so it just isn't for everyone.

DH and I watched together (just the two of us) from the beginning but have just gone back and binged from Season 1 right up to date with our two sons who are 12 (turning 13 this week) and 14. They love it and now we're all desperately waiting for the new episodes this Friday.

I would've been scared at their ages but they're more worldly and cynical than I was and they comment on the special effects etc. The sex scenes are really mild as is the language and we've loved having a more grown up series to all get into together.

OP your 14 yo is missing out compared to his friends .. sit and watch with him!

14 is fine. There's no sex from what I recall but it's implied it happens in S1. Violence yes but it's no worse than any 15 certificate. Don't think there's much language in it either. I wouldn't make this a hill to die on with regards to what he can/can't watch.

Not suitable for kids but maybe ok for teens? Hard to say where to draw the line. I voted before seeing your child is 14 which perhaps isn't that young to watch. Maybe depends how easily they scare?

Younger children no, but teenagers I'd say it really depends on the individual.

I've watched it with my 12 year old. I'd already watched it previously without her and know what she can cope with.

I think it's fine for 14. It's grown up with its audience as kids tv does. The first seasons are much less graphic than the last. My almost 14yo (and us) are counting the days to the big finale!

Does he have a phone? Tablet? If he's industrious enough he'll be able to find most eps on YouTube. Unless he's an incredibly sensitive 14 I'd say yabu

Stranger things seems creepy, no wonder society is creepy too. Eww.

You don't let your 14 yesr old watch what they want on Netflix? Why not? By 14 they are very aware of what they want to watch or not.
And of course a 14 year old can watch stranger things, and it has very little sex or bad language.
Think you need to chill out a bit op, your dc has probably already watched it elsewhere.

Well, thank you for that profound contribution. Society is not 'creepy'. It is many things, but not that. ST is meant to be creepy. It's a show.

Although I think it's interesting that everyone here seems to be determining whether it's ok because of a lack of sex scenes, rather than violence.

Kids say such weird things.

My reference to the lack of sex was more the fact it got mentioned in the OP.

(It's a very interesting threadjack though, how lots of 50's Westerns were fairly violent but never received R/15 ratings back then due to the lack of sex. I bought a relative a John Wayne box set once. All the films in the box set were U or PG yet the actual rating of the box set was 15!)

@NC12345665

What?

Lack of sex means my kids will watch it and discuss it with me which is a win-win for parents 😁

He's 14?! Come on now, don't be those parents. You're being very precious.

The OP mentioned violence, sex, inappropriate language and scary imagery. There's no sex or much strong language in ST.

Its an interesting point though. My teens can watch anything with sex or nudity if they want as long as its age rating appropriate, they know about consent and abuse so as long as they choose carefully its fine, but unless it a romantic teen drama of some sort there isn't much with sex in it and my teens find that genre a bit of a drag. A lot of movies and TV comes out of America and they don't seem to be squeamish about guns/violence in the way they are about sex, maybe thats why? Anyone have any insight?

OP, DD is 14 and we started watching ST last year. There isn't much sex, but there is a lot of fight scenes in every series I think, and there is a lot of blood and gore with the monsters that I think gets worse with each season, but season 3 is particularly yucky. I think people forget how bad some of the scenes are, but I don't want to put any spoilers .

I would say its fine for 12+ and if they dont like it, they can switch it off.