If you have a 16 year old (Year 12)...

[Servalan]

Do you restrict any films that they want to watch that are 18 certificate and look particularly unpleasant?

Or is that just impossible once they get to this age/are in college?

(I know I have a tendency to be horribly overprotective and don't really have anyone to discuss this stuff with!)

My Year 12 has just turned 17.

I held back on Game of Thrones until he’d finished his GCSES. I was probably equally concerned about the distraction as the content. Asides from that, it’s quite hard to police once they get to this age.

Agree with PP it's pretty hard to police at this age and I'm pretty sure it's a normal thing for Teens to want to do things that are for adults.

Mine is in y12 and also just 17. There are some things I suggest she may not want to watch, but she just waits till I'm in bed and watches them anyway. There are some bits of films/TV shows I would feel weird about her watching at any age, so I suspect that's just being a parent.

17 year old no, but she doesn't like horror and doesn't game.

15 year old only watches films with us and his younger brother, so it's often the youngest watching higher age rated films so they work for everyone, but only things like Marvel films.

The main point of negotiations with the 15 year old are PC games - the console is in the living room and no games wildly inappropriate to be seen by an 11 year old are played on it, but he has a gaming PC in his room.

DH is a gamer and a programmer so we have constant negotiation around 18 rated games and don't allow any DH thinks are very unsuitable but do allow some. We can look at his PC screen from elsewhere (he can tell when we do and we talk to him about it and he's been in agreement since he got the PC that we can - in practice we rarely do unless we're worried about something) and DH can also see what games he has and what he plays. This and the fact we do negotiate and allow some 18s means he does ask before downloading/ buying anything rated higher than 16 (we're not UK and 16 is the rating we allow without asking).

I honestly think YouTube and some social media are more of a risk than films, but some things do stay with you and you can't unsee them.

To be honest for me personally these are things I somewhat regret reading (Game of Thrones and Otherland spring to mind) as books stay with me more than films (I've never watched Game of Thrones but there are so many mass/ gang rapes- murders and gratuitous, horrific murders and maiming of children in the books I can't understand how the series can be so mainstream, as I get the impression it's not that different), but in any way limiting what children and teens read is a massive MN taboo...

No, I haven't policed what he watches since he was 14/15.
He's got a strong constitution and a pretty solid grasp on reality, so I think he can decide what he can handle at this point.
He's nearly 17, year 12.

Have given up any attempt to police what’s being watched

think Game of Thrones is almost unsuitable for me ( late 40s) lol

No I don't restrict anything anymore.

My 16 year old has got a pretty good grasp on what she can deal with now. She doesn't mind some horror and will watch them friends but absolutely hates disaster movies/ 'end of days' type ones.

She's already figured out that in theory she can watch what she likes but that rom coms and dramas are the ones that make her happier so she watches much more of them than any other genres.