To not let DD watch squid games?

[DeemonLlama]

DD is 11, nearly 12. All her friends are watching season 2 of Squid Games and she's feeling left out because I won't let her watch it.

I've not seen season 2 yet. Watched season 1 and thought it was pretty violent, and there were some scenes that made me feel uncomfortable. So thought I was doing the right thing but don't want her to feel resentful and "left out".

For context she's only quite recently started watching 12 rated movies. Squid games is a 15. I've up to this point tried to stick mostly to the intended audience guidance for this stuff, but maybe that's unrealistic and naive? What do you think? AIBU to not let my 11 yo DD watch Squid Games? Thx 😊

I think you’re right. I fully understand peer pressure but Squid Game is so violent and disturbing.
How about another Korean drama for your daughter to watch as they aren’t all sinister and violent like Squid Game - maybe Crash Landing on You or Home Town Cha Cha Cha or Extraordinary Attorney Woo?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5262204-squid-games-advice?page=2&reply=141748322

there was a thread on this recently you might find helpful? A mix of hard 'hell nos' and some cool dude parents saying 'whaddya going to do? They'll access it anyway. If I watch it with them and explain what's the worst that can happen....'

Um, I am as cool a parent as they come (😂) and there is no way I would let my 11 year old watch SG2. There are parental user controls for a reason.

The violence is relentless. Characters are developed and murdered. There is a lot of blood. The last two episodes are almost back-to-back killing from start to end. It's quite exhausting. It's more graphic I think than 1 - even as you know what the genre is.

We have to work harder these days to protect our kids from graphic images. No unplugging the one TV with the three channels and hey presto, all gone!
But work hard we must.

DS (12, nearly 13) was angling to watch it too, but when I watched a few clips from the first episode of season 1 with him, he concluded it was too violent for him, and hasn’t mentioned it since.

It’s a bloody 18!! I’m pretty certain none of the other parents are allowing this. It’s much more likely they are seeing parts of squid game on YouTube when the child friendly YouTubers talk about it, which they all do. They get an idea what it’s about and even see clips and learn of the games.. so they all are talking about it, but they haven’t been allowed to actually sit and watch the series.

This is my experience anyway. It’s extremely adult content, not just the violence but the themes and the intensity of the situations. Even watching a clip of one of the deaths might not be so traumatic, but actually being immersed in the hopelessness would be. And I’m a big fan of the show, it’s just absolutely not for bloody kids.

My youngest asked if he could buy Gonngi with his pocket money because it’s been popularised by squid game and everyone is talking about it. I said of course. He hasn’t seen a single actual episode, but he’s not totally immune to the hype

We didn’t allow DD to watch it until she was 15. I’m pretty immune to wails of “but EVERYone else is watching it!”.

Season 2 is just as violent as season 1, the only difference being that there’s no sex scene in season 2 (we skipped over that as DD didn’t want to see it, luckily I knew it was coming up).

Feeling "left out" is not terminal. I am all for watching things with children and discussing them but there is a limit.
Yes, I felt plenty left out as a child as well. No mobile phone, no TV subscriptions, no expensive new clothes. I lived. I also had wonderful friendships which were based on more than access to popular culture.