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Original poster

Squid games and 10/11 year olds

149 replies

Blendedperfectly25 · 02/02/2025 07:49

My DD is year 6, she comes home every day talking about squid games because her whole class are obsessed.

she then asked if she could watch it, I had never watched it so I put on episode 1 last night just for me to watch to see if it was suitable.

I am shocked at how many 10 year olds are watching this ? I know today I will have the debate with daughter who claim life is so unfair and she won’t fit in if she doesn’t watch it.

anyone else let their 10 year olds watch it ?

OP posts:
SnuffleTruffleHound · 02/02/2025 08:23

Not a chance!
its a great programme for an adult but extremely violent and shows it in great detail

neverbeenskiing · 02/02/2025 08:28

We've had KS1 children acting out Squid Game in the playground! I've also had to talk to parents of Year 1 children about playing games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, they don't think it’s a big deal.

Kuretake · 02/02/2025 08:31

My DS' year 5 class all reference it to each other but I'm pretty sure it's just one child that's actually watched it.

MaMoosie · 02/02/2025 08:33

Im quite relaxed when it comes to age ratings but I put my foot down with squid game. Way too violent and the sex scene is grim.

BlueSilverCats · 02/02/2025 08:47

neverbeenskiing · 02/02/2025 08:28

We've had KS1 children acting out Squid Game in the playground! I've also had to talk to parents of Year 1 children about playing games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, they don't think it’s a big deal.

To be fair , a lot of the games involved are childhood games, some traditional British playground games with a different name. Like Red light/Green light or jacks.

BiggerBoat1 · 02/02/2025 08:49

I have seen the whole series and it is absolutely not appropriate for a year six child.

Runnersandtoms · 02/02/2025 08:59

BlueSilverCats · 02/02/2025 08:19

A lot of parents do indeed let their kids watch it and other inappropriate movies/tv shows.

However, when something is a big fad, popular and everywhere , even without watching kids can become familiar with a lot of the elements of the show. Especially if they have social media, watch YouTube, play Roblox etc. which are deemed more acceptable. And of course, word of mouth in the play ground.

Totally. I saw a 6 year old with a bag hangar of the doll from squid games. I assume (and really really hope) she hadn't watched it but just had seen the image due to the popularity of the show. You also get parents who dress up infant school kids in horror movie costumes. Most of the time (thankfully) the kids haven't seen the film in question.

TeamMandrake · 02/02/2025 09:07

They are probably not telling the truth. My DS must have been 6 or 7yo when the first series was out, and apparently the whole playground was playing Squid Games. But in reality, they were just playing normal kids games. Some children had seen spoofs on Squid Games in e.g. minecraft youtube videos. Similarly, they had a phase of playing their own playground version of Among Us. But none of them were really playing it.

Gymmum82 · 02/02/2025 09:08

Are you sure they are watching the show and not playing the roblox game? Because that’s what the year 6 are obsessed with here. None have actually watched it

Spurber · 02/02/2025 09:11

Some parents are on a mission to screw up their kids. No idea why

flippertygibbet4 · 02/02/2025 09:11

Don't give in. It's completely inappropriate. In my experience, kids just tell other kids they are watching things when actually they're not, but they hear about them from older siblings, cousins etc. I work in a school and watching inappropriate things that are for much older children or adults has a terrible impact on younger children. Stand firm. If you feel it's not age appropriate, don't let your kids watch it.

AuntyAgony · 02/02/2025 09:11

All the YR3s I know "play" Squid Games and they can even sing the song that the creepy doll sings, but none have actually watched it. I think they just play Squid Games themed games on Roblox or watch related Minecraft videos. I don't think any of the mums I know would let their kids watch it, which obviously makes it very appealing to the kids. 😁

picturethispatsy · 02/02/2025 09:15

Apparently season two trailers are all over YouTube at the moment hence all the talk of it amongst kids. I bet some of her classmates are saying they’ve watched it but have just seen clips.
That said no doubt some have unsupervised access to anything they like so probably have.
YANBU it’s totally inappropriate and I won’t let my 12 or my 13.5 year old watch it. That kind of violence gets into their psyche.

SquashedSquid · 02/02/2025 09:15

Mine wasn't allowed to watch until 16.

Theunamedcat · 02/02/2025 09:15

There are roblox games based on squid games so my youngest knows about squid games as a concept but not as a reality

Big brother is 16 and watched it he says his baby brother cannot watch it 😂 (I wasn't planning on letting him)

InfoSecInTheCity · 02/02/2025 09:15

Not suitable at all, but yes lots of parents are letting their kids watch it. We have had several emails from school making clear that it is not appropriate viewing for any kid in primary school but that doesn't seem to have gotten through.

BookArt55 · 02/02/2025 09:16

My son is 6, his classmates knows about the doll game from series 1, i assume through Roblox but this kid does know it cam from Squid Game. My son asked could he watch it, I couldn't believe I'm explaining myself at this age.

Unfortunately holding that boundary because you know it is the right thing to do is going to be hard. But explain your reasons and that it is because you love and care for your child. I'm a secondary teacher and the Year 7s tried talking to me about it. We ended up having a unplanned conversation about age ratings and why they are useful.

Unfortunately children's brains are now seeing this type of stuff so frequently that when they see news reports of real life situations they are completely unfazed by it. I find this worrying. GtA, SIMs, Squid Games, Roblox are a no from me. Completely unsupervised phone access where research shows 80% of children/teens with phones have seen inappropriate content is a scary statistic yet i know 7 year olds with their own phones.

Being a parent means we should be and need to be the unfair/bad guy. But only because we care.

greyripples · 02/02/2025 09:19

No way.

As you sure her friends aren’t referring to the squid game challenge series that’s on Netflix, a real life game show? As that seemed ok to me, but I wouldn’t let mine watch that either because then they’d go into school saying they’d watched ‘squid game’!

Noperope · 02/02/2025 09:22

Dd is year 5 and knows the concept of it as I've explained it to her in a very simplified way (she asked me). She's also played the Roblox game so could probably hold her own in a conversation about Squid Game. Never will she ever watch the actual show! It's brilliant but absolutely not for children.

bookworm14 · 02/02/2025 09:22

YANBU, it is completely inappropriate. My DD‘s primary school actually sent a letter home to parents as so many kids were claiming to have watched it. DD(9) also reports that some of her classmates have watched Scream, which is an 18. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with some parents.

Lorelaigilmore88 · 02/02/2025 09:23

My 9yo wanted to watch it and claimed some of her clasmates had. Obviously she will absolutely not. She seems to know a bit about it from roblox though, she knew what red light and green light was...
I do wonder how many of her class mates actually have seen it, or if shes exaggerating

BeSharpBee · 02/02/2025 09:28

I work with infants and it's depressingly all over the playground. Thankfully when they are playing 'Squid Games' they are just playing red light green light. No pretend deaths just back to the beginning. It's filtered down to the younger ages but they don't seem to really know anything about it.

polkadotpixie · 02/02/2025 09:52

My 6 year old has watched the real life game show version of Squid Game and also plays the Roblox version so he'd probably tell you he's seen it if you asked him

TreeSquirrel · 02/02/2025 09:53

Squid Game is a 15, so year 6 is probably a bit early. But I am surprised at the pearl clutching around 12 year olds watching it.

Probably not ideal for DC who are nervous or easily scared but I can’t imagine it causing problems for those who are mature and intelligent.

I’d far rather they spent time focusing on and watching a high quality foreign language TV programme than scrolling on TikTok!

BlueSilverCats · 02/02/2025 09:58

TreeSquirrel · 02/02/2025 09:53

Squid Game is a 15, so year 6 is probably a bit early. But I am surprised at the pearl clutching around 12 year olds watching it.

Probably not ideal for DC who are nervous or easily scared but I can’t imagine it causing problems for those who are mature and intelligent.

I’d far rather they spent time focusing on and watching a high quality foreign language TV programme than scrolling on TikTok!

DD is both mature and intelligent (and a bit of a horror fan) and I still won't let her watch it. My choice atm. It's not a hard age rating rule , it's an I watch myself and then decide rule.