Would you let your 13 yr old watch or play 18s?

[Offandonagain]

I know the rating is 18, but personally I think that is unreasonable and totally depends on the film.

My 13yr old is not allowed to watch psycho/horror gore Halloween type films such as Halloween at this rating, or sexy stuff such as Wolf of Wall Street

But he has gta on his computer due to him moaning to me that his friends have it and he wants to be able to play with them.

He is also currently on to season 2 of breaking bad, which I didn’t realise he was watching until yesterday as he’d binge watched it whilst ill and I was in work. I’ve seen them all and know what to expect. I don’t want to stop him because he’s really in to it and I know if it was me I’d be pissed off.

yabu - bad bad parent

yanbu - it depends on the individual film/game?

Depends on the child and film. My brother and I watched terminator at about 6. It was an 18. No issue. We also watched arachnophobia, a pg, and we're terrified.

Of course a 13 year old can distinguish between fantasy and reality, unless mentally unwell.

do you genuinely believe the crap you’ve posted?

No way, me and my friends watched and played those games/ films at 13 and it fucked us all up in ways that only became apparent much later. Wish i hadn’t treated it so trivially.

Why doesn't he have a phone?

I did. Turned out fine, I'm yet to murder anyone.

No. Absolutely not. Brutalising I think. GTA is really grim.

Exactly this.
mine play GTA , watch some 18s but realise actually its wrong to kill prostitutes and go round blowing peoples heads off.
on the other hand they are terrified of Jaws and have nightmares and one has nightmares about Barney the dinosaur 🙄
you know your kids better than anyone else. Do what you feel is right.

I don't allow my 13 year old to play GTA. If you read the Common Sense review it is very concerning and I do not know any boys of that age with the emotional maturity to process the negativity of the role models, the action and the rewards. I think it's bad that it exists at all let alone that parents let their young teens play it. Here's a quote from the review.

---

It brims with gang violence, nudity, extremely coarse language, and drug and alcohol abuse. Playing as hardened criminals, players kill not only fellow gangsters but also police officers and innocent civilians using both weapons and vehicles while conducting premeditated crimes, including a particularly disturbing scene involving torture. Women are frequently depicted as sexual objects, with a strip club mini-game allowing players to fondle dancers' bodies, which are nude from the waist up. Players also have the opportunity to make characters use marijuana and drink alcohol, both of which impact their perception of the world. All of the main characters are criminals who think of themselves first and others rarely at all.

Age ratings for games are set by an independent board. Developers send a full video play through of a game to the ratings board and they match it to strict guidelines that have been developed based on scientific understanding of how the developing human brain reacts and responds to content and stimulae.

I'm really strict about the content DS is exposed to. There are some bloody brilliant age appropriate games around. We spend time playing games with DS and we find some really unusual quirky games. I did have concerns that DS would feel left out, but he really enjoys introducing his friends to games they wouldn't usually discover. They love hanging out at our house with our eclectic games collection.

I'm struggling to believe, as an adult, you've somehow managed to avoid every 18 rated film and programme going. Do you automatically look at the rating then switch off before it starts?

@MermaidEyes Basically, yes. Films are always obvious what age rating they are. TV shows a warning usually comes up like ‘this show contains strong language’ or whatever, then I’ll switch off.

Wow, each to their own I guess. I couldn't imagine not watching something because of a few swear words or sex scenes.

I have a 12 year old and 14 year old. Understand the pressure but they have whole rest of their life to do 18+
So for the next 4 years they can watch/play other things.
I know I don’t control all they see but I can just do my best to advise/stop anything I’m aware of under my roof.

Nope.

I have two DC aged 10 and 8. They had to wait until 7 to see PGs.

I am very strict about age restrictions. I was shown The Shining at age 11 (first year of secondary with a 'new friend'). I was utterly terrified. I still have 'axe murderer' 'issues' 3 decades on!

So at what age did you start allowing your children to virtually grope topless women?

I watched 18 rated horror films from the age of 11. I'm not "numb to violence" or anything of the sort, I just genuinely enjoyed horror films and still do as an adult. I've never been violent towards anyone in my life.

I let my 14yo watch horrors, campy fun ones like Halloween, etc.

GTA is banned in this house, I hate it.

Is GTA illegal now? Since when? I’d agree it’s not suitable for a 13 year old but I remember seeing Pulp Fiction at the cinema at 13, didn’t turn me into a killer.

More succinctly - nothing damaging will happen if they don’t watch explicit, disturbing or violent films or games.

I think, you know your child.

I allow it, don't really have restrictions on games or tv, he usually asks if he can watch things. He prefers adult shows and is pretty good at managing what he can and can't watch. If he thinks it's too scary he won't bother.

Games wise I have the conversations about it being games and not reality, he's switched on when it comes to that and understands. Again he doesn't bother with stuff for the sake of it. Plays GTA but mainly just likes collecting his cars.

You have to police it as a parent, if it caused any issues I'd take it away, it hasn't so far, and has actually made for some really good conversations about the world/life/people.

How would he be out sleeping with sex workers at 14? Sounds premature to draw conclusions...

I was allowed to watch anything I wanted at any age. My mother thought I was a real 'old head on young shoulders' but I feel that a huge amount of what I watched warped my young mind and I was exposed to so much inappropriate content that disturbed me a lot. I still think about things I watched when I was younger and shudder. My mum just didn't see the harm and I knoqnshe didn't mean any harm but it did harm me. I am so protective over what my children watch and would do everything I could to prolong my kids innocence for as long as I could. It would be a total no from me.

Probably in the last year or so.
The OP game on here for an honest opinion so I gave it.
When my kids are prostitute murdering sex cases il come back on and update the post xx

Thanks, appreciated.

Honestly I do find this all very weird though. I can absolutely appreciate people taking different views and approaches to violence, bad language and alike, but buying interactive porn for your children is just beyond creepy to me.

I agree that it's sensible to take it on a case by case basis, and my 13 year old is allowed some 16 games but no 18s. But GTA is totally inappropriate. How on earth are you comfortable with your 13 year old son interactively raping and murdering women? I don't think anyone should be playing it, let alone a young teenager.

I think GTA is horrendous. I won't allow it in my house. This is as a person who wants my children to respect women. What is wrong with you to not to see fantasy influencesn real life?

You're genuinely clueless and a complete idiot 🤣 Good luck with your kids!!