What age is Stranger Things suitable for, and what do parents think?

[Suki51]

Im conflicted about the Netflix series Stranger Things….to me its just horror and violence with nothing to recommend it but my son loves it and talks very enthusiastically about the characters and their abilities etc…..I’d love to know what other parents think and at what age they think it’s ok to watch.

if he’s talking about it then presumably he’s watched it? I’d say from 14/15 ish as it is quite gory and could scare a younger child

It’s one of those shows where the violence etc gets worse as the season go on and the characters get older. I’d say the first series is fine for a twelve year old, but I’m only just letting my 14 year old watch the later seasons. I think it’s officially rated as a 15, but I prefer to decide after watching myself than go by official ratings.

It's fine imho for the same age kids as the kids in the series.
So series 1 for age 11-12, series 2 for age 12-13 etc.

Similar to the Harry Potter books.

That would mean you think some Harry Potter books are only suitable for kids over 14/15? by which age they'd be reading adult fiction surely? I thought they were all fine for 8-10 year olds?

It was my at the time 11yr old DD that got us all watching it….

if you’ve not watched it how can you say there is nothing to recommend it? The characters relationships are beautiful and they grow so well, they deal with some difficult subjects in such an accessible way..

I wouldn't let mine watch the first series when they were 9/10. I think we waited till secondary school so probably 11ish (2021). I think they watched it all and caught up then but I remember DS bothering me when he was much younger and the boys having crushes on MBB.

I think the later books are probably only suitable for children from about 12 - 13 and older. They're not suitable for an 8-year-old, certainly.

I’d say 13-16 depending on the personality and which series. I have an almost 12 year old and they definitely wouldn’t be watching it anytime soon. But they are easily spooked.

It depends on the child. My nephew watched it when he was 10/11, was not scared at all and loved it.
my dd waited til she was 13 as she gets quite scared by things. She loved it too.
I really enjoyed it and think it has somd nice themes about friendship in it.

My 13 year old has recently watched it. I was initially reluctant as she was very easily scared when she was younger but she didn’t find it too scary. We watched most of it together. My 10 year old nephew has watched it too. I thought it was a bit young but he seemed fine with it.

Ok fair enough. I thought I'd seen younger ones reading the whole set but I could've been wrong. I guess it depends on the child as well.

DH and I had already watched S1-4 and DS2 had been asking to watch it, I said no for a while but we all watched S1-5 together when he was 11/12. He’s always been pretty unbothered for his age when it comes to TV violence and gore, although a bit of a worrier about things in the news like war and climate change. He really enjoyed ST as did DS1. Apart from the gruesome bits I think it’s pretty wholesome in terms of the underlying messages about friendship.
In contrast, I’m still giving him a hard no to Squid Games which many of his friends watched apparently.

I don’t think that you can compare the impact of a book with a film/video the violence and horror is somewhat limited buy the child’s own imagination…..

Yeah that's a good point. In a book a kid will just not absorb the bits that are too adult.

Watched them with my daughter at 11, not watched the latest season yet. She likes horror, we have watched Scream. Son hates anything remotely scary

We said 13 to our DS.

My 8 and 11 year old have both watched it. They’ve been watching Harry Potter and LOTR for years, knowing them and what they like, it was fine for them. I appreciate for other children it may be scary.

12-13 is fine if they’re mature.

13 ish unless they’re sensitive.

It’s a great series to watch with your kids, I think I loved it more than dd did 🙈😂

Oh god my 6 and 8 year olds are currently watching it with DH. They aren’t scared and a lot of it goes over their head but I don’t really approve!

Interesting

Totally depends on the child imo

I have an 11yo but she's quite serious and sensitive (couldn't watch Moana/Frozen until she was like 6 because of the monsters!)
I wouldn't dream of showing it to her.

She has watched Ghostbusters and Jurassic Park but I warned her about the ghost librarian and scary arm scenes, she covered her eyes etc

Oh god we watched Mean Girls together, too

I wouldn't think it was good for many 11yos to have watched gory horror stuff.

Some of my friends' 11yos have watched Stranger Things and tbh I do judge that a little... 😳

I’m surprised by the responses of people not letting their children watch it until 13! The children in it are meant to be younger than that.

My 9 year old watched it as he loved it. His friends have also watched it. Not sure why all the judgy posts tbh, there’s no nudity and very limited swearing.

My 10 year old and I watched it together and loved it. It depends on your kids.

My very mature 11.5/12-yr old was fine with it (but I'd already seen him not bat an eyelid at the gore in LoTR and Star Wars. My other kid will be terrified when they're the same age, so it's very much not one-size-fits-all!

As an aside, I'd argue the age of the protagonists isn't always very relevant - very often, actors are playing younger, and obviously are approaching the storyline and special effects from a radically different perspective. So that's not necessarily a guide for me.

Depends on the kid. DD was 10/11 when we started watching it.