Kids Watching movies

[ShadowDog]

This topic is fueled by seeing parents bringing kids as young is 10 years old into Deadpool.

 

1) how liberal are you (or will be) as far as what your kids watch at what ages?

 

2) is it a hard and fast rule no matter what or does it depend on the kid? In other words are some kids more mature than their age and you take that into account

 

3) do you (or would you) pre watch anything your kids are exposed to or do you have trusted sources you rely on such as websites or critics?

 

4) is there anything intended solely for kids that you actually find yourself enjoying watching?

[Mara Jade Skywalker]

1. This is a cop-out answer, but it depends. A friend and I went to see Seven when we were 13 (back in the day when parents could buy you R-rated movie tickets), as well as a ton of other R movies before we turned 17. I saw Schindler's List when it came out because it was Schindler's List.

 

I pretty much feel once someone is in high school they can probably handle most R-rated movies. Of course, it will depend on how mature my kid is.

 

2. Yup, definitely depends on the kid.

 

3. When my kid is very young I'd want to screen the movies beforehand. Mostly this would involve movies like The Force Awakens, where it's suitable for most kids but probably not really little ones.

 

4. Of course. I have an annual pass to Disney World, after all.

[Driver]

I pre-watch and decide based on knowing what my kid can handle.

 

I had some friends who let their kids see Deadpool, and I was kind of jealous that they're kids could apparently handle it and they were laid back enough to not censor what their kids see.

 

Lord knows I wouldn't be doing what I do if I hadn't had my mind warped by movies at a young age.

 

But at the same time-- there were some movies that messed me up for years. Never what you'd expect. I figure why take the chance. The movie will still be there when he's old enough.

[Poe Dameron]

I saw Schindler's List when it came out because it was Schindler's List.

Well that movie is in a separate category. Heck, they show Schindler's List in middle school in some places.

 

For what it's worth, Deadpool was very marketable for tweens with the crude humor and I don't think a lot of parents realized what they were getting into when they brought their kids.

 

Funny thing, back when we were all young, there were a LOT of R-rated films marketed towards children. Rambo anyone? This was an era where Paul Verhoeven could make hard R movies and then watch as children bought the action figures (Robocop/Total Recall).

 

Schwarzenegger's career was based on movies like that. Terminator, Commando, Conan, Predator.

[Driver]

Totally true-- and a lot of those movies happened that way because it only took a couple years for the studios to see what Canon and Corman were doing with home video. A lot of genre films were made knowing they could be cult video rentals where most of the time age didn't matter. Pretty much every movie I couldn't see in the theater I would see on video or cable eventually.

[Cerina]

We're very liberal with Noah. And it's mostly because of who he is. Our biggest "rule" is no explicit sex. But even that's a little dependant. We're ok with nudity, because we don't believe naked = bad or wrong. We're ok with violence because he knows it's fake and he's naturally a pacifist (a violence loving and reenacting pacifist, but still). He knows not to use bad language and why. Sometimes I'll tell him he won't like scary movies and scenes, and he accepts that gladly.

 

With something like Deadpool, I'd prefer to prescreen (which is very rare) because of the sex and what I'm thinking are some extremely hilarious and quotable lines that no 7 year old should fully understand or repeat. In fact, this might be the first movie I've wanted to prescreen for him.

[DANA-kin Skywalker]

 

I saw Schindler's List when it came out because it was Schindler's List.

Well that movie is in a separate category. Heck, they show Schindler's List in middle school in some places.

*raises hand*

Mine did. Saw it in eighth grade a year or two after it came out.

 

is there anything intended solely for kids you actually find yourself enjoying?

yes, actually. Lots of things. I like the airplanes movies because they have an actual story, and they have little "lessons" in them for your kid to hopefully absorb by osmosis. To me, that's a quality that defines what a "good kids movie" is versus your average kids movie. A good kids movie entertains you as well as your kid, and there is some take-away quality to it, like sharing, how to make friends, respecting others, etc.

 

Lion King is so awesome, it still makes me teary-eyed. Alladin is awesome. Anything with Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny is awesome.

 

As far as dead pool goes-there is just no way. It's not for them. They won't get the humor anyways. They won't appreciate it, so for them it's just seeing two hours of rated R movie for the sake of seeing killing and some boobies.

[Driver]

from the ages of 11 to 19 killing people and boobies was all I wanted in a movie

[ShadowDog]

Friday the Halloween Street for the win!

[Darth Krawlie]

from the ages of 11 to 19 killing people and boobies was all I wanted in a movie

>implying this stopped at 19

[Iceheart]

I'm not going to answer the questions as asked because I don't have a kid, won't have a kid, and therefore really have no opinion. However, as an adult who paid my hard-earned money to see a movie in a theater, I am perfectly comfortable with parents making whatever decision they feel is best for their child as long as their child can sit very, very quietly and not kick the back of my chair repeatedly. If you want to see a grown-up movie, you'd best act like a grown up. I know plenty of kids who can do this (I was one of them). There were kids in the showing I saw of both The Witch and Deadpool (I saw them back-to-back last weekend), they were all quiet, and I was just like "eh, not my choice to make."

 

Of course, if I pay an ass ton of money to see a movie marketed to kids, I can handle child noises and fidgeting. I'm on their turf at that point.

[Darth Krawlie]

how dare you bring rationality and understanding into this, don't you know this is america?

[Iceheart]

I'm only understanding until someone brings their devil spawn into my grown-up movie. Then, it's on.

 

And by "it's on" I mean I act like a polite midwesterner and hope that the smoldering glare aimed for the back of the parents' heads makes some kind of psychic impact, and they remove their offending hellbeast.

[Driver]

With something like Deadpool, I'd prefer to prescreen (which is very rare) because of the sex and what I'm thinking are some extremely hilarious and quotable lines that no 7 year old should fully understand or repeat. In fact, this might be the first movie I've wanted to prescreen for him.

Before Oliver was born I used to say how backwards it was that the MPAA would give something an R-rating because of sex, and yet give a PG rating to mass violence. It was wrong and problem with our country.

 

When I watched Deadpool I was keeping the kid in mind. Heads exploding? Okay. F-bombs every 3 seconds? Sure.

 

He knows violence is not real, and knows the difference between play pretend violence and the real thing. Also, words are words.

 

Blowjob jokes, pegging, masturbation humor... NOPE. He can't see it!

 

Mostly because I don't feel comfortable explaining these things to him.

[Poe Dameron]

 

from the ages of 11 to 19 killing people and boobies was all I wanted in a movie

>implying this stopped at 19

 

Eventually one gets bored with violence.

[Guest]

 

 

from the ages of 11 to 19 killing people and boobies was all I wanted in a movie

>implying this stopped at 19

Eventually one gets bored with violence.

His resume seems to disagree.

[Driver]

They aren't ALL violent... just the ones getting made.

[Destiny Skywalker]

It's definitely a combination of age, maturity and personality/upbringing. I was apparently watching Romancing the Stone at age 3. Now you know why I am the way I am.

 

In all seriousness, some kids can't handle violence and some can't handle sex. My daughter picks up on words and fighting pretty quickly. For some reason, when she was 2, Adventure Time was her favorite show ever. We knocked that off for awhile because she was repeating things like, "I'll kill you!" We really changed our TV watching because of her. The new theater room we're working on is so we can actually watch something we want to watch every once in awhile, and without having to worry about the kids hearing or seeing something they aren't ready for..

 

Personally, I was never much for gratuitous violence. It brings me out of the story, which is what I care about. I can't get into Walking Dead or Game of Thrones because of it. My MIL absolutely cannot handle any violence. By contrast, Rome had more sex than violence, and I liked that show quite a bit. I can handle depraved characters so long as they are interesting. But I think we all know that I follow more character-driven shows and series.

 

I actually do genuinely like some kid-geared TV shows and movies. But if I have to hear one more episode of Little Einsteins, I'm slashing the tires to their rocket ship.

[Cerina]

 

With something like Deadpool, I'd prefer to prescreen (which is very rare) because of the sex and what I'm thinking are some extremely hilarious and quotable lines that no 7 year old should fully understand or repeat. In fact, this might be the first movie I've wanted to prescreen for him.

Before Oliver was born I used to say how backwards it was that the MPAA would give something an R-rating because of sex, and yet give a PG rating to mass violence. It was wrong and problem with our country.

 

When I watched Deadpool I was keeping the kid in mind. Heads exploding? Okay. F-bombs every 3 seconds? Sure.

 

He knows violence is not real, and knows the difference between play pretend violence and the real thing. Also, words are words.

 

Blowjob jokes, pegging, masturbation humor... NOPE. He can't see it!

 

Mostly because I don't feel comfortable explaining these things to him.

 

Yes. This. Totally.

 

Sure, movies make both sex and violence look like a TON OF FUN, but we all know that most kids aren't going to just start blowing off heads for kicks But they will all eventually have sex. Until I get several more years of parenting in where I can truly impress upon him the nuances of consent, safe sex practices, and the general responsibility of the potential consequences of sex, I'd just prefer he not get it into his head that OMG I GOTTA DO THAT!! I'm fairly sure we covered all the "hurting people is bad" stuff in the toddler years (not that we even had to cover it though, my kid is just that empathetic).

 

Plus, there's the whole idea of not sexualizing small children thing. I'd like him to have several more years of life experience before he starts to view women as sexual objects. Right now, girls are just kids who wear dresses sometimes and can have babies as adults. I'd like to keep it that way a little bit longer.

 

I haven't seen Deadpool yet. But if Oliver can't watch it, Noah can't. I can pretty much make that a hard and fast rule.

[Cerina]

.

 

I actually do genuinely like some kid-geared TV shows and movies. But if I have to hear one more episode of Little Einsteins, I'm slashing the tires to their rocket ship.

I CAN-NOT BELIEVE IT!!

 

Are we talking movies made specifically for kids or just family-friendly stuff? I'd put most of Pixar and Dreamwork's stuff in the "family-friendly" category. Little Einsteins, Octonauts, etc. are kid shows/movies. Of that sorta stuff, I kinda like Odd Squad. I'd watch an Odd Squad movie if they made one.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

I never did understand parents who freak out about sex and nudity scenes in R rated movies, but let their 4th grader see movies with explicit brutality and violence.

[Driver]

I never did understand parents who freak out about sex and nudity scenes in R rated movies, but let their 4th grader see movies with explicit brutality and violence.

See my last post and Reese's reply. I felt the exact same way.

[Poe Dameron]

I never did understand parents who freak out about sex and nudity scenes in R rated movies, but let their 4th grader see movies with explicit brutality and violence.

 

As Cerina pointed out, the odds of their kids being violent in a significant way are pretty low. The odds of their kids one day having stupid high risk sex are pretty high. If you want to protect your kid from derailing their lives at an early age, keeping their heads right on sex and drugs would be the higher priority at that age than violence. While protecting them to the point of retarding their sexualization may be dangerous, accelerating a fixation on sex to an earlier age than they would arrive at naturally is probably worse. Not to mention, sexual depictions on film are more often than not about the objectification of a woman as little more than a sexual object. Not falling into the trap of viewing women that way is something depressingly few high school boys are good at, plus none too few grown men.

 

The old complaint that violence is okay, but sex makes everyone run in the U.S. is something of a cliche among the sophisticated looking to dump on the backwards priorities of the puritan masses. But those priorities may, in the end, have merit.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

I can read. I know what they posted. I'm just saying that seems inconsistent and doesn't make any sense to me, whatsoever. If you are going to say your kid is going to go out and have sex just because they saw an R rated sex scene, and their brain hasn't matured to the point to understand it's just a movie, then logically you should also assume they will commit a violent act after seeing a violent R rated movie, as well. Or if you think your kid is smart enough to NOT perpetrate violence after seeing a movie because movies aren't real, then maybe you ought to give your kid enough credit to figure out sex scenes aren't reality, either.

 

That said, no one has ever been documented as having died from seeing boobs and butts on a big screen, so I don't know what the big deal is. Not to mention, whatever you think you are shielding your kid from in an R rated movie, chances are they've already seen 10 times worse on pornotube.com.

[Poe Dameron]

If you are going to say your kid is going to go out and have sex just because they saw an R rated sex scene

 

Sexually explicit material is probably where most tweens kickstart their sexual awakenings. I know I still remember the first softcore Showtime boobies I ran across while innocently flipping through the channels one night I had insomnia at age 11. And, yeah, there was a pretty serious before and after for my sexual development once I saw it.

 

Besides, sex is reality. It's not the exception, it's the rule that the majority will start in high school (if not earlier). And teenagers really do have difficulty understanding that objectifying the opposite sex is wrong. The most common act of serious violence at that age isn't robbery or murder, it's sexual violence. Date rape and unwanted groping stem from not being unable to distinguish the woman (or man) as more than the object of your own pleasure.

 

So you're comparing two different things. One a low-level possibility that a five-year-old can understand. The other something that is pretty darned common and natural in that supremely confusing age. That they reach simultaneously with a period where parents have less influence over their children. And that grownups are much more likely to be immature about.

 

Violence is easy for parents to teach. Sex and drugs are hard.