Parents: What rules do you have for what movies your kids can watch?

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

I don't know how many of you on this forum are parents, but if you are a parent, I would like to ask you a question. What rules do you have for what movies your kids can or cannot watch? Do you prohibit movies with certain MPAA ratings or certain titles? Do you require your kids to watch movies with one or both parents present? Are there timeframes or circumstances when your kids cannot watch movies? What circumstances might lead to you changing your rules? How you can be absolutely sure if your kids understand the difference between fantasy and reality? What rules do you have that might be considered unique by other parents?

Last but not least, are there any movies that you will require your kids to watch?

Any answers that you can provide me would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy the rest of your day.

[L.J.]

For as require none, but there are some want them to watch and have watched. What their ready for depends on the individual child. Course nudity at a young age is no are movies that revolve around sex but may not show it. Action depends on how gory it gets and if child is ready for that. I don't use movies to teach with but there are some good lessons in some of them. Know like not always a happy ending. Things happen that are out of control. In the end it's about knowing what a child is mature enough to handle.

[Guydowood]

Having raised 5 daughters that are now ages, 26, 25, 21, 18, 17, when they where little their mother and I stuck with kid/family friendly movies, lots of Disney stuff. When they reached ages 8-12 I started to screen the 80's gems such as E.T., The Goonies, NeverEnding Story etc. Very rarely did I screen a horror movie or R rated movie not for reasons of language or silly violence, I just figured it wouldn't capture there attention. I was right for the most part. Now that they are all of young womanhood and my youngest 3 girls still live at home, its a challenge for me to screen movies like Jade, Basic Instinct or any sexually charged type thriller or movies that have sex scenes because I don't have a dedicated home theatre room and its like freaking clockwork that when those type of scenes come on, they seem to roam to the kitchen for food. so that is a slightly a cringy moment. However you choose to view w/ your child or children is absolutely you and your spouses control. All five of my girls turned out pretty well minded considering the alternative to "real world" events!

[ImBlu_DaBaDee]

This is gonna end well

[An4h0ny]

My parents wouldn't let me do heroin in the living room.

Looking back on it, I'm glad they set some limits.

God bless `em.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by L.J.

What their ready for depends on the individual child.

Thank you for acknowledging that not all kids are created equal.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by L.J.

I don't use movies to teach with but there are some good lessons in some of them. Know like not always a happy ending.

If there are some movies with good lessons, why don't you use those movies as teaching tools? Just curious.

If you want to show your kids a wholesome movie with a sad ending, I would recommend "A Boy Named Charlie Brown".

[Shogun MacArthur]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

If there are some movies with good lessons, why don't you use those movies as teaching tools? Just curious.

If you want to show your kids a wholesome movie with a sad ending, I would recommend "A Boy Named Charlie Brown".

I've always loved the "The world didn't come to an end" line. It's something that we all need to remind ourselves about. It's gotten more obscure, but I think that A Boy Named Charlie Brown is the closest a Peanuts adaptation has gotten to capturing Schultz's genius.

[Wildcat2000]

I don’t have kids but I think I’d let them watch pretty much anything as long as they understand it’s not real or wrong like violence and criminal behavior.

My parents watched some stuff with me but they knew I understood the difference between real life and tv/movies.

I watched horror and R movies as a kid. Plenty of us did. I never acted out or wanted to do anything I saw. Chucky really scared me but I still liked it and eventually grew out of being afraid.

Anything really sexually oriented would not be allowed until they’re older and more mature.

[Leslie Dame]

Originally Posted by Wildcat2000

I watched horror and R movies as a kid. Plenty of us did. I never acted out or wanted to do anything I saw. Chucky really scared me but I still liked it and eventually grew out of being afraid.

Anything really sexually oriented would not be allowed until they’re older and more mature.

Many believe violence in movies is often presented in a way that feels fantastical or removed from everyday life, particularly in action and horror genres. In contrast, sex and nudity are seen as more directly linked to real-life experiences, and parents may worry about the potential impact on children.

It's interesting because here in Germany it is (or used to be) the other way around. Sex and nudity is seen as a natural thing. Blood and violence, not so.

[filmbuffTX]

When I was growing up we always had 'Cable TV' in our home, but never the premium channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. because of the content. It was a way for my parents to keep us from graphic depictions of sex, nudity, vulgarity, bad language, etc. Even so, they were very laid back and not strict at all.

I do think it's much harder now for parents given all of the streaming options and the fact that both broadcast and Cable TV show much more racier content these days then they did in the 90s and early 2000s of my youth.

[OnlyJapantown]

I have a 3-year-old and she will only watch Winnie the Pooh, so this isn't something I've had to give too much thought to yet. I was never allowed to watch any remotely violent/sexy/sweary movies as a kid, to the point where I was left out of a lot of conversations with my peers. I'll probably be a lighter touch than my parents were, but not sure how much.

I will say that I'd be far more disturbed by my daughter watching 'kid-friendly' brainrot on YouTube/Tiktok than an explicit movie.

[DKLou]

We were pretty loose with my girls but we kept themaway from sexual stuff and probably let more horror type content through the filter. They did watch some R rated films but nothing crazy.

[L.J.]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

If there are some movies with good lessons, why don't you use those movies as teaching tools? Just curious.

If you want to show your kids a wholesome movie with a sad ending, I would recommend "A Boy Named Charlie Brown".

Some make for lessons but prefer my kids learn from me than any media. Old Yellow is another good one. Do think all kids are equal but their also different from each other. Be a boring place if we were all the same Given maturity level and age to degree not all films have to be wholesome. After all we don't live in a wholesome world. American Sniper is a good example course wouldn't show that to a six year old . Understand where you're coming with the original post. Parenting is tough and there's no owners manual. It's also the most rewarding and important job one can have.

[dave 13]

I think a big variable is how interested a kid is in pushing the boundaries of what they're allowed to watch. Our eldest daughter is 13, and we've never had to worry too much about the types of shows/movies she was watching. Or, rather, whenever we imposed any restrictions, she was usually pretty ok with it.

I'm a big horror fan, so I was happy to watch whatever she was into with her, having conversations about effects and acting and makeup whenever it seemed appropriate to make sure she understood what was real and what wasn't. We never had any issues with nightmares or anything like that. But every kid will be different. I mostly just took my cues from her - if she was interested, then we would watch. A few times she decided it was too scary, and we stopped. No big deal.

Like a lot of parents, we made the decision to limit exposure to sexual content, although not necessarily nudity. I don't think it was about being prudish, but more about waiting until she was old enough to understand what she was seeing.

Now that she's a teenager, she can pretty much watch what she likes. Occasionally I'll notice her watching something a little racy (she watched Ti West's X a few months ago) and I will jokingly tsk-tsk her and say something like "uh-oh, this is too sexy!" and she'll roll her eyes at me.

[Jaymole]

I will not permit them to watch anything with an inordinate amount of sex, violence or cursing...which means they won't get to see our family home movies until they are adults.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by Shogun MacArthur

I've always loved the "The world didn't come to an end" line. It's something that we all need to remind ourselves about. It's gotten more obscure, but I think that A Boy Named Charlie Brown is the closest a Peanuts adaptation has gotten to capturing Schultz's genius.

I agree with you there. "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" is the best Charlie Brown movie you can watch.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by L.J.

Some make for lessons but prefer my kids learn from me than any media.

In that case, I sincerely hope your words really do have power over your kids. Your kids may believe everything you say when they're in elementary school, but your words may no longer have so much power when your kids become teenagers.

Here's something else to think about. Your kids may believe what you say when you say it, but in the future, one or more things may happen that they make them doubt what you say at some point. Also, your kids may not believe what you say or not understand what you say as you're saying it, but they may pretend to believe or understand you because they're too polite or too afraid to admit they don't.

Saying that mere words can always be as engaging and persuasive and convincing as movies is like saying a horse-drawn carriage can travel from New York to Los Angeles faster than a Boeing 787 if the horses just gallop fast enough.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by dave 13

I think a big variable is how interested a kid is in pushing the boundaries of what they're allowed to watch. Our eldest daughter is 13, and we've never had to worry too much about the types of shows/movies she was watching. Or, rather, whenever we imposed any restrictions, she was usually pretty ok with it.

You are one lucky parent in that regard. A lot of kids go way, way out of their way to watch things they shouldn't watch because they believe that their parents don't really know what they're talking about when they say certain movies/games/music are bad for kids, or they believe their parents are just being mean. That's a topic I believe should be studied in greater detail. A lot of kids who see the adults in their lives as their enemies concurrently see the kids who defy, disrespect and deceive those adults most often as the biggest heroes. Those are the kids who made John Hughes movies like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" a big hit.

[The Architect]

My kids have child profiles for streaming, and I also set parenting control for YouTube. As for my collection, nobody uses any of my discs while I'm not around. And when we watch something from my collection, I always avoid movies with nudity and too much violence, because I know each movie.