I was at a friend's house the other day and we were just sitting around watching a movie (Enemy at the Gates). His little brother, 8/9 or so years old, came and started watching with us. The lady of the house knew where he was and what he was watching. She had no problem with him seeing the various war scenes, people getting shot, blown apart etc. Then there was a sex scene. Anyone who has seen this movie can tell you that you briefly see Rachel weisz' buttocks, but nothing else. There's kissing and vague motion. It's also quite short. Five seconds in, his mother made us skip to the next scene be cause we "shouldn't be watching that sort of thing".

On to the question. What do the parents here let their children see/hear? Do you avoid letting them watch violence, sex etc? have you eased up on those restrictions as they've gotten older?

Just for information's sake, the mother is a hardcore, born again christian.

I'm not a parent, but I find it hilarious that she tolerates thousands of Russians being slaughtered graphically on the bank of the river Volga at Stalingrad but can't handle the most chilled down sex scene ever shot in a movie. I was never censored from anything as a child... ever though, never ever.

I HATE any kind of censorship and my kids were allowed to watch almost anything they wanted from the time their eyes could focus (Hell, they could sing the beer commercials before they learnt to walk).

In retrospect I should have perhaps exercised a little more parental control but only a little.

Kindergarten teachers get just a little *upset* when a child wants to talk about "Bambi Goes Postal With Chainsaw And Sex" in the Show 'N Tell....

My wife is a rabid Xtian but the only thing she didn't let them watch was anything that blasphemous. 18 rated films with sex and gore were fine but not anything anti Xtian or that showed witchraft kinda thing.

My wife is a rabid Xtian but the only thing she didn't let them watch was anything that blasphemous. 18 rated films with sex and gore were fine but not anything anti Xtian or that showed witchraft kinda thing.

Make her watch all the Harry Potter films and take her to see the new movie, then ask her if she wouldn't want to be able to cast fire out of a pansy little piece of wood!

I was never censored from anything as a child... ever though, never ever.

qft45

I don't really care if my daughter sees mild sex, but I don't let her watch graphic violence because she's very sensitive and she gets scared. I also wouldn't let her see a scary movie like, "Alien" because I think it would scar her for life.

She's 6, BTW.

My parents were kinda strict with what i watched when i was a kid , for instance when i was 8 my parents had gone out for the night, and my cousin was babysitting me. She fell asleep and i was flicking through the TV, and BBC was just about to show Mad Max so i sat my ass down and watched tht from start to end. My Dad came in i explained that i had watched one of the best films ever and he went mental at my cousin forbidding her to ever babysit me again.

Heh that does seem hypocritical. I'll let you see all these people slaughtered, but by god you're not going to watch that woman naked!

Censorship of any kind is bullshit. I bet he goes to his room and enjoys killing some policeman in GTA... FUCK KIDS NOWA DAYS HAVE IT SO EASY... I had to re-create it with Action Figures.

Make her watch all the Harry Potter films and take her to see the new movie, then ask her if she wouldn't want to be able to cast fire out of a pansy little piece of wood!

A sadistic bastard I may be but even I would shrink from being that nasty.

I'm eternally gratefully that my sons showed rare good taste and prefered reading the back of the cornflakes packet than HP.

oh btw I have just tried reading the last chapter of the latest Harry Potter: Its so appallingly written that its hard to make sense but the last chapter is titled "19 Years Later"

It takes place on the platform for the Hogwarts train with Harry seeing the first of his 3 kids off to Hogwarts school. He has married Ginny (?). Hermione is also there with Ron (her husband) and their child who is also off to school.

I wasn't shielded from that much. My parents tended to keep me away from really graphic violence or explicit sex or things, but they wouldn't have a problem with most things. Which I think was fair enough, really.

I was left to my own discretion.

However, it's not rare for kids to be shielded from this sort of thing. Often times if they aren't shielded, 'awkward' questions need to be answered.

My parents barely let me watch "The Simpsons" when I was younger. Yep, very censored. I was a rather sheltered child. Future parents, DON'T SHELTER YOUR CHILDREN. If I had entered high school knowing more about the real world I wouldn't have... freaked out, I guess, as much as I did.

When I was like 8 my mom signed a thing so I could rent anything out of the main part of the movie store we would go to... They wouldn't let her sign a waver for the back room though:( Really though, as long as your kid realizes movies aren't real it doesn't matter what they are watching.

Yeah everybody knows that sex is more tabboo than violence in the states. I believe its fair to say this practice is "fucking gay"

A sadistic bastard I may be but even I would shrink from being that nasty.

I'm eternally gratefully that my sons showed rare good taste and prefered reading the back of the cornflakes packet than HP.

oh btw I have just tried reading the last chapter of the latest Harry Potter: Its so appallingly written that its hard to make sense but the last chapter is titled "19 Years Later"

It takes place on the platform for the Hogwarts train with Harry seeing the first of his 3 kids off to Hogwarts school. He has married Ginny (?). Hermione is also there with Ron (her husband) and their child who is also off to school.

Where did you get the book?

Yeah. Parents seem to censor sex (something that creates life) and don't censor violence (something that destroys life).

Where did you get the book?

It was leaked on the net for all the nerds and creeps to read. I just wanna know if Harry Finally goes all out vasolines his broomstick and shoves it up his ass...

I was never that censored by my parents. In general if me and my sister wanted to watch amovie when we were little which my parents werent sure about, we'd rent it out, my parents would watch it the friday.saturday night, and if they thought it was OK me and my sister would watch it the following morning if we were good.

I can honestly ay that under this system, me and my sister were banned from watching 4 films we really wanted to when we were really little, so overall, a very good system.

When I lived with my dad, I remember once I was trying to watch an episode of friends whilst my dad was upstairs.
My dad came downstairs around the point Ross geller was wandering around in a stupidly tight Tshirt for some reason. I found it midly entertaining, and my dad started smacking me around. "what's so funny about that? Are you stupid enough to find this shit funny? oh, this is the height of humour is it? This is what you want to do with your life, watch moronic pleb television, is it?".


Whereas, when I lived with my mum, she introduced me to the delights of Tarantino films, and I remember watching ER with her and learning to love the guts and gore and humour and George clooney saving kids from flooding storm drains.
Woo.

Ah yesssss....topic that is very near and dear to my heart....the stupidity of other people's parenting techniques. A couple of weeks ago I was in heated debate on a different website altogether discussing how "pro wrestling needs to be cleaned up". There were a bunch of idiots on there talking about how "awful" it was that wrestling had turned to such smut. I found that quite comical considering the very essence of wrestling is a simulation one human being inflicting punishment on another, yet a little T & A and the Apocalypse is upon us. What was really disturbing about that argument was one of the fools was a high school teacher and was insistent that wrestling, rap, and video games is what has today's youth so disillusioned. Talk about needing a reality check!!!

As for me, no I won't be letting my 4 year old son watch XXX porno and I do try to curb movies/shows with the more GRAPHIC violence. An example of that is I wouldn't want him watching any of the Final Destination movies, but I had no problems with him watching Star Wars Episode 3.....more to the point where Anakin has his appendages chopped off and then almost burns to death. Mommy isn't fond of it, but we often watch South Park together if its on.

And yeah we play all kinds of video games together that hit all realms, even some of the more hardened ones such as Manhunt and GTA.

Our family is NOT hung up on sex and nudity, nor do we make a big deal about it. In my mind I couldn't care any less if he watched Porky's with me, but like I said above the Peter North vids would be out of the equation. At least until he hits puberty, and then he can search that stuff out on his own.

It astounds me how profoundly stupid America and its puritanical values are. Look at all the fuss over Janet's Jackson's MILLISECOND shot of her nipple. The truth of the matter is most European countries comparable to the USA are NOT as hung up about sex, and even have shows in the evening hours with topless women. What's funny is the USA is by far the world leader in rapes and abuse towards women in general.......again, compare the numbers to America vs. any Eurpoean country. It isn't even close. Society has made sex the Forbidden Fruit or some kind of spectacle, which is why there are so many weirdos out there doing twisted things to innocents.

If these idiot parents REALLY intend to shelter their kids from sex/nudity or violence then there is only one solution. They need to lock their kids in their home, schooling them there, and then not allow any television set(not the fake made up shows, but the real live news), newspaper, or radio enter the home. FUCK the fantasy world of movies and video games. Its the REAL LIFE attrocities that everyone encounters daily that is tainting our society.

That part in "Revenge of the Sith" was pretty graphic for a kid to watch.

Xiao, in all honesty I did put some thought into that movie, that scene. I really think it all boils down to what each kid can handle and their maturity/rationale level. I have no idea why, but he has always been afraid of fire and realizes its significant danger. If anything, that just reinforced the "danger" aspect to him.....which if you really think about it isn't THAT bad a thing for a kid at that age.

Again, I think alot of it depends on how smart they are, and what other real life scenarios they've already encountered....to better determine if they are ready for "simulated fantasy" images. Sadly at 2 1/2 he saw his own baby brother that was dead, and kissed his head goodbye. Another example just happened a couple of days ago. We had to put our 15 year old cat down for a number of reasons. Now we didn't take him in the room with us for the euthanasia (got a sitter for that trip) but we did fully explain to him what/why/how we were ending his life.....and let him have his final goodbyes with the cat before we did the deed.

I understand where some kids might be weirded out by the Anakin burning, but from some of the life lessons he's already had to endure.....I think its safe to say a character in a fantasy sci-fi movie with weird monsters and inhuman abilities isn't going to do much to hurt his psyche any. Then again, I may be raising the next serial killer....who the hell knows.

I wasn't being critical, I was just saying what I thought. And I actually thought that his dismemberment was more disturbing than his burning.

Sorry that your other baby passed on.:( I just don't think I could go on living if I lost my daughter.

You dont understand! The human body is a vile disgusting thing. Therefore, we must destroy it.
And besides, death and destruction is the american way. Are you unpatriotic. Do you hate america and want it to turn into some kind of sex crazed hippy state?

/christian

Meh, no limits on anything (including porn, rambo:D).

I've always been exposed to that kind of stuff since I can remember. I remember playing Duke Nukem 3D when I was like six, and watching the aliens get blown to pieces with rockets while Duke said something along the lines of "See you in Hell" was my favorite pastime.

My dad has also sent me a lot of emails with pictures of nude women attached, and he also smokes pot openly in front of me, and has been doing so for a while now, so I'd say that I've never been sheltered from anything, really.

I've always been exposed to that kind of stuff since I can remember. I remember playing Duke Nukem 3D when I was like six, and watching the aliens get blown to pieces with rockets while Duke said something along the lines of "See you in Hell" was my favorite pastime.

My dad has also sent me a lot of emails with pictures of nude women attached, and he also smokes pot openly in front of me, and has been doing so for a while now, so I'd say that I've never been sheltered from anything, really.you have an awesome dad.

My parents didn't let me see shit, and that only fueled my curiosity more. When I was 7, I persuaded a girl my age to let me see herself naked. Also, I discovered the computer and quickly learned to find porn, delete the history, delete temporary internet files, etc and much of the stuff that i know about computers now comes directly from my curiosity for what i was shielded against. also i could only play e rated games till i was 13, and only 1 hour a day =P.

now i can do whatever i want though. im 15.

I remember I watched one of the Alien movies when I was 6. I shit you not, exactly 6 years old.

Didn't scar me...although I am now very likely to start a fight with anyone, very likely to escalate the smallest situations, and very likely to fuck anything with 2 or less legs and a vagina.

But if we must blame something, the best bet would probably be the mortal combat games...

If I ever had a kid, I don't think I'd shield him from anything in the end. I mean, sure, when s/he is really little there are some things that should be saved for later, but I still think it's better to open the eyes of my would-be child to everything this world is. He/she will, after all, be living in it.

The key, I think, comes not with WHAT we expose our children to, but in ensuring we, the parent, are there to inform, explain, and to help form a healthy, open minded opinion on a given situation!

Then again, I'm just some 17 year old kid who lives with his mom, what do I know?

I remember I watched one of the Alien movies when I was 6. I shit you not, exactly 6 years old.

Didn't scar me...although I am now very likely to start a fight with anyone, very likely to escalate the smallest situations, and very likely to fuck anything with 2 or less legs and a vagina.

But if we must blame something, the best bet would probably be the mortal combat games...

I wish I had seen David Gahan naked as a young lass...Or now for that matter. I don't know what it is...He's not that handsome, but he's just so erotic to watch and listen to. I also wouldn't mind seeing Simon LeBon.
Nudity is good, but not scary movies.

Thanks for your thoughts Xiao. The only way to describe it to folks is....take every problem you ever had, roll them all into one, times that by about 20, and then it STARTS to reach the depths of the pain you feel. To be honest possibly the only reason my wife and I have gone on with life is because of our living 4 year old.

I went a little too far into my personal life in this thread, but this whole topic really makes me get on top of the soapbox. (the rest of this rant isn't directed to you Xiao, just more ranting) To me this whole topic is profoundly stupid, just more lack of accountability and people's finger pointing at everything else but themselves. If people were just active, hands-on parents then no show, song or game should have such a profound affect on their kids. And again, just look around at the real life craziness kids witness and any made up nonsense in a fantasyland pales in comparision.Think about today's average 16 year old. Lets look back at some of the stuff they have seen/remembered for the last 10 years....

Parents murdering their kids and vice versa. Religious zealots crashing planes into buildings killing thousands of innocent people. The President himself throwing his marriage vows out the window and engaging in oral sex inside the White House. Adults starting brawls at youth sporting events. Road rage is epidemic.... basic civility between adults in public is just eroding every day. I could go on and on.

Look at all the hate and scathing comments made by SUPPOSED intellectuals when discussing politics in the democrat vs. republican issues. Yet those same adults tell kids...."don't join a gang" out of the other side of their mouth. They wonder with dismay why kids don't respect authority any more, yet many think absolutely nothing of loudly and proudly saying "Bush is a stupid idiot" at the dinner table, in public, on message boards, in the media etc.....when our president is the absolute highest idea of authority we have. Yet somehow people think its Snoop Dog's fault at why people are being raised to have disdain for authority. It makes absolutely NO SENSE at all!!!

Often I get asked..."what is the hardest part about being a parent?". My answer from day one has always been......"society and its stupid myopic views". I constantly see so many ridiculous behaviors by parents, I shudder to think my child has to share the same playgrounds and schools with malcontents that are being raised by idiotic parents. I have one family member that won't let her 5 year old watch Sponge Bob Squarepants because its "inappropriate". Yet that same 5 year old described in vivid detail a very intense dramatic death scene from "Lost" that her mommy was watching. A couple of months ago I was in the video store and while I was looking around I overheard possibly the most idiotic mother ever. She had 2 girls with her probably aged 9 and 6. This woman kept ordering her kids to "not look", or "close your eyes" while perusing the new release section based on things she saw on the covers of the videos. Now I have one of the most lecherous perverted eyes ever, always on the hunt for nice eye candy...and I couldn't even keep up the the "smut" she was trying to "protect" her girls from. I'd be willing to be if we fast forward a few years those 2 girls will either be sexually frigid themselves....but more than likely end up happy/horny/curious/maniacal little cocksuckers in pursuit of that naughty forbidden fruit that was so painstakingly kept from them. Again, what in the hell is some picture on a god damn DVD box going to do to erase the morality and values that any parent worth their salt SHOULD be instilling in their kids?????

Alright, stepping off the soap box again. I just really can't stand the naive mindset of "movies, video games, music is what is harming our youth"....when in reality its a very ugly society and shitty parenting that is doing all the damage.

I definitely agree with what you're saying...I think it is really dumb when parents censor non harmful stuff but then expose their kids to other things that are even more harmful. I only censor my daughter from violent and scary stuff because she's really too young to understand that it's not real. I also don't let her see really graphic sex, because she's too young to understand what's happening and to a child...Hardcore sex probably looks pretty awful.

I was EXTREMELY sheltered from TV and video games (I just wasn't allowed to watch them or play them) when I was a kid, but then my mother constantly talked about "Hell" and "Satan" and the deamons who would snatch me into Hell if I misbehaved. She constantly accused me of masturbation and promiscuity before I even knew what those things were!

And I think it has negatively affected me as an adult. Like I have a lot of pent up sexuality...And I pretty much always feel guilty for any enjoyment I experience during sex.:P It took me a long time to realise that sexual feelings are normal and okay for a woman to feel. I often hear my mother's voice telling me how worthless and horrible I am and how only a "slut" would wear pants and only a "white trash woman" would wear her hair down.:P On the other hand, I hated my parents so much that I totally rejected their racism and bigotry towards homosexuals.

...The President himself throwing his marriage vows out the window and engaging in oral sex inside the White House. ...yet many think absolutely nothing of loudly and proudly saying "Bush is a stupid idiot" at the dinner table, in public, on message boards, in the media etc...

I agree with most of your post, but what is wrong with some guy getting his dick wet? Also, why the hell should people not express their dissaproval of the president? Would we have a bunch of unpatriotic tree huggers running around or something.

^5 Xiao, we finally agree wholeheartedly on something. Let me just expound a little further on something you discussed, especially in regard to girls/women. Please keep in mind I'm making general comments, and not directing them towards you or your marriage. Unlike many of the other regs I'm still not convinced your husband is some tyrannical prick and you need to leave him....so understand this is NOT about you.

Mothers such as yours and the one I saw in the video store are doing far more harm than just affecting bedroom behavior for their offspring. Think about the message that is being sent when girls are conditioned to believe that sex is "dirty", "naughty", "bad". Then they hit puberty and start to have those normal sexual desires.....how exactly does that affect their psyche and self esteem?

In many cases those girls grow up not trusting their self worth, and just pretty much settle for any guy that will have them. During those important developmental years they've been conditioned to believe their clit is bad, and since it now has desires then they too must be "bad". Often, women with low self esteem will latch onto any abusive asshole and not believe they deserve any better. No matter how battered they may be in the relationship, they may never build the strength/courage to walk away.....because their mothers HAVE pumped into their head that they are "bad" and whatever hardships they are enduring is "just punishment". So while these bible thumping weirdos think they will end up raising chaste, honorable "ladies".....the true reality is they are setting them up for a lifetime of incredible hardships and a less than quality life.

One last comment about our puritanical establishment, and then I'll try to stay off the soapbox for the rest of the day. When I was a teen in the 80's I was into the big hair metal scene musically, but there was one pop performer I absolutely loved....MADONNA! Granted it was more for the eye candy since I was a guy, but I was able to observe and appreciate the social commentaries she was making. And back then the establishment (and many older women) couldn't stand her, and thought she was doing so much harm to the youth and especially girls. It never made sense to me, because if you listen to her lyrics she talks about nothing but EMPOWERING females! And not be embarrassed of your body, your sexual desires, or taking charge of your life (in or out of the bedroom). She told women to NOT play the role of victim, and stand up for what you want or believe in....never settle for second best. Yet because she added a little T & A into the message and had a few controversial videos, they tried demonizing her for decades. From where I'm sitting she did a HELLUVA LOT MORE for the youth (and women especially)..... than some idiotic conservative twit like Nancy Reagan and her "Just Say No" campaign, or the PMRC that started labeling records, or any other pseudo think tank that mistakenly thought they knew what kid's dreams, desires and fears REALLY were.

I agree with most of your post, but what is wrong with some guy getting his dick wet? Also, why the hell should people not express their dissaproval of the president? Would we have a bunch of unpatriotic tree huggers running around or something.

Jimany, I don't have a problem with any of what you just described. The whole essence of my points is while many folks want to blame superficial things like a DVD, CD, or video game on "the youth going wild"...I think its profoundly comical. You can't tell a kid "sex is best ONLY for married people"....and then have a couple of divorces under your belt yourself. Or parade a whole mess of partners in and out of your life in plain view of your kids. Or have the president engaging in infidelity. Then when their 15 year old winds up pregnant to say....."Its that damn rap music that ruined the morality of this country".

As for expressing disapproval for the president, of course I'm all for it. That is the very heart of democracy. But there is a WAY to go about it, and still maintain respect and decorum. And our society has very little of that any more, and that can NOT be put on the shoulders of our youth. Someone can say...."I think its stupid that we are in an unjust war in Iraq." You are making the critique of those particular actions, but not the man himself.

Yet if you say....."Bush is a redneck idiotic retard"....that IS critiquing the man himself with some pretty scathing verbiage and pretty much throwing out the aspect of RESPECT right out the door. And again that same yuppie parent that proudly says "Bush is an imbecile" can't blame Snoop Dog because his teen disrespects his teachers....when in fact the teen has been learning the disrespectful attitude toward authority right from his parents mouthes.

Hope this clears it up.

This is why I teach my daughter not to trust the govornment or any "authority figures" because corruption is such a rampant fact of life. I tell her the truth...That the only people she can trust in her life are me and her dad. Anyone else would fuck her over in a heartbeat for money, votes or any other personal gain.

The president is the worst of these people, IMO.

Hilliary Clinton 2008!

My parents were good to me on all areas. Why? Well, I come from a European background so this involved me watching black box pornos at 6 or 7 and violent/sexual movies without them having ever cared. Hell, my dad even bought my a subscription to Playboy (this was when the internet was still in a shit state, so it was a pain watching videos) when I was around 11 or 12. I really despise parents or people who think they should censor sex more than violence. I think they are of the worst in the world and need to be assassinated. Seeing two people fucking has never made me want to go out and rape nor beat on women. Seeing people mutilated in Nightmare on Elm. Street films has never made me want to go out and butcher people. It's really sad that even in schools people fast-forward little sex scenes to avoid laughter...maybe if we didn't treat sex or nudity as such a taboo issue, people in the US wouldn't be so immature about it.

Finally, if anyone in this thread does shelter thier kids from any nudity or sex (I'm not talking about hardcore porn) then a BIG FUCK YOU.

I grew up with basic cable so since it was shit channels they happened to have sex and shit on tv. I also figured out by myself about all this. By the time I was 6 I knew a whole lot about sex and in 2nd grade a friend of mine got dirty e-mails and would tell me about everything, So I learned about it pretty early.

My parents sort of wanted to shelter me but more so I could develop by myself. When I was little they said no guns in the house but when they saw me make a gun out of a stick they bought me one. They said no violent movies, but I think the main idea was that I don't get traumatized because when I was old enough to think for myslef they were really kool with it. I could never watch hardcore porn in the house or play really violent video games in the house untill I was around 13. when I was 6 I would look forward to playing gta at my cousins, they just said not in the house, untill I got older and could really understand what was happening.

When I was 5 they said no pg-13 movies untill I was 13 but when I was 7, and got every joke ion oldschool they said it was fine.

They really just wanted me to understand what it was that I was seeing.

Besides, I found totse when I was 9 or 10, so I learnt a lot, especially from drugs from this place. I knew just about everything from you guys.

The one thing they never cared to censor me from was the news. Other parents said they didn't want their kids watching the news or reading any newspapers, but my parents encouraged it. Even when I was in 5th grade, and I upset the teacher with what I said from CNN, my parents said it was ok to watch, as long as I question what I heard.

I love my parents they know just about how to raise me, since they let me think freely and learn

I remember when I was really young, like maybe even before pre-school, I was in the living room watching TV with my parents. I didn't realize it at the time, but they were watching "IT".

There was the scene where the little kid took his boat out to play in the gutter, because it was raining. His boat went down the storm drain, and conveniently enough, there was a clown down there. When the kid reached down there, the clown snarled, and you could see his razor-sharp, perfectly white teeth.

I couldn't believe my parents would watch something like that. In retrospect, it seems like no big deal now, but at the time I was traumatized. I couldn't watch ANY horror movies for the longest time. My mom said she felt really bad about it, as she damn well should have.