do you buy your child 18+ games?

[kit10grl]

As the grown up child of a mummy who beleived in no 'scary' movies for kids whatsoever.

Complete blanket protection is not always the best answer. I went to a sleep over at the age of 14 when the freddy movies were the 'in' thing. Having never seen anything like this in my life i didnt even understand a film could be scary. I didnt sleep that night or very much for the next 6 months. I couldnt have the bedroom light off, lock the bathroom door, or be alone in the house. Also i later found out my mum had a freddy film in the house and made her promise to throw it away cos even having it in the house terrified me. (It turned out she ended up keeping it locked in a wardrobe in her room lol.)

Obviously a bit of discretion is appropriate but i think protecting them from everything can also backfire. I would allow things within reason. For exampe i wouldnt stop kids watching Harry Potter. BUT some kids films can be scary too. My six year old nephew had nightmares after watching toy story 3. If i was in doubt i would watch it first.

SOMETIMES i feel the official ratings cann be a bit OTT. My favourite shows were Buffy and Angel they were all classified 15 and 18 when released cos of the violence. But personally there isnt anything in them that would stop me letting younger ppl watch them my little sister watched them all at the age of 12 and never had problems with them.

Me and OH are both gamers (Me the most TBH) and i would apply the same rules, if in doubt i woud try it out first.

 

[LittleBoo]

Hell no, and I never will. Once he's old enough to buy them himself he can play them.

 

[summer rain]

I think there is a mahoosve difference between a 14 year old and an 8 year old or below. When I was having LO and the kids were at my in laws; they let them play COD and smackdown even though they knew we explicitly said we did not want them to play any unsuitable games and for the other kids not to play them when our kids were around. My 4 year old had nightmares that a zombie was in the car park under our flat and when a charity appeal letter came from the royal British legion and remembrance day he saw it and thought it was an advert for call of duty! xx

 

[Eternal]

I asked my OH when he would allow our boys to play those sort of games (he plays them) and he said 16, said im sure they will have played them all at friends houses by then anyway.

I would still tell them 18 lol, but I guess i was allowed to watch some films earlier. To me they are classified 18 for a reason, whats the rush to grow up? But then I guess we will just see closer to the time, my son isnt even 2 and the other two boys arnt born yet lol!

 

[ShanandBoc]

Noooo way, my DH who is a crazy gamer wont even play games like COD they are terrible and should be banned outright imo. How about the airport scene in Modern warfare 2? Im sure there are some here who know what i am talking about even tho u could choose to skip that level, i thought it was shocking and totally inappropriate in a game for any age. All they do is glamourize war and killing, they are awful. Why would anyone want to act out that part? How much does all this desensitizing to violence have an effect? Its not healthy esp for a childs mind.

We dont watch any R rated movies ourselves tbh theres not much above a PG rating ill watch these days.....

 

[lindseymw]

It would all depend on the game/film & the maturity of the child.

As others have said, some car racing games are 18, yet there is no violence, sex nor swearing. I would consider getting this for a child.

COD, I've never played so I can't really comment on this.

I have played Manhunt (before it was banned) & this was brutal, certainly not suitable for any 8 year old! 14/15/16, maybe but it would depend on the teenager.

 

[EllaAndLyla]

OH's uncle always buys his kids older games, they (I think) are around 8 and 10. But they play them because its 'fun', they are sweet boys and I don't think it will turn them into mass murderers (call of duty etc). I think really it depends on the parent and the child because only you know your child well enough really. I don't think I would do it though, and I would definatley wait until high school to buy them any remotely 'violent' games, and thats only if they ask - I wouldn't just go out and do it if they didn't know what the game was. x

 

[EllaAndLyla]

Noooo way, my DH who is a crazy gamer wont even play games like COD they are terrible and should be banned outright imo. How about the airport scene in Modern warfare 2? Im sure there are some here who know what i am talking about even tho u could choose to skip that level, i thought it was shocking and totally inappropriate in a game for any age. All they do is glamourize war and killing, they are awful. Why would anyone want to act out that part? How much does all this desensitizing to violence have an effect? Its not healthy esp for a childs mind.

We dont watch any R rated movies ourselves tbh theres not much above a PG rating ill watch these days.....

I admit, that scene was disgusting and although you have a choice to skip or not, beforehand you don't know what your skipping so curiosity gets the better of you. Wished I had skipped it, made me feel sick!

 

[LulaBug]

Nope, won't let him play 18+ games til he is a lot older.

I play GTA 4 at the moment and as much as I'd love to switch it on during the day and play the mission I've spent all of the previous evening trying to complete and can't get it out of my head, it's not suitable to be putting the game on with Ethan around. He goes to bed at 7 so once he's in bed, I can play it then.

Games that contain violence, bad language, sexual references etc, a no no for kids to see. People say "It's only a game" but kids learn so much from these things.

 

[KayBea]

Nope i wouldnt..
When shes 16 then yeah maybe let her play 18 games.

OH was playing COD online the otherday & kept killing some american kid (nothing against americans btw)
Anyway...

I heard a womans voice shouting down the mic at OH, i asked him who he was talking to & he said 'dunno, listen'.. So i did.
The woman was this kids mum & she shouted 'give my son a chance hes only 7 for F sake'....
I replied 'Ermmm isnt COD 18? give it back to him in 10 years & then he may get a chance'!!!
I couldnt believe it, my 7 year old nephew wouldnt even know how to use a control pad let alone play a game & understand what hes got to do on a game like that!!! X

 

[chel27]

yes i let my 9 year old (nearly 10 year old son) play 18 games, he plays COD online with all his mates. my son has only just recently been allowed to start playing these games. we do block certain scene on the game as its a bit much. but at the end of the day its a game , its not real life and he is limited to the amount of time he can play it.
lets face it we dont all stick to ratings on eveything do we? toys? films ect: i watched 18 films when i was 9/10 and it never done me any harm. if my son was affected by this then i wouldnt let him play it.

 

[Brookey]

Noooo way, my DH who is a crazy gamer wont even play games like COD they are terrible and should be banned outright imo. How about the airport scene in Modern warfare 2? Im sure there are some here who know what i am talking about even tho u could choose to skip that level, i thought it was shocking and totally inappropriate in a game for any age. All they do is glamourize war and killing, they are awful. Why would anyone want to act out that part? How much does all this desensitizing to violence have an effect? Its not healthy esp for a childs mind.

We dont watch any R rated movies ourselves tbh theres not much above a PG rating ill watch these days.....

I admit, that scene was disgusting and although you have a choice to skip or not, beforehand you don't know what your skipping so curiosity gets the better of you. Wished I had skipped it, made me feel sick!

what was it? can you put it in a spoiler?

 

[ShanandBoc]

yes i let my 9 year old (nearly 10 year old son) play 18 games, he plays COD online with all his mates. my son has only just recently been allowed to start playing these games. we do block certain scene on the game as its a bit much. but at the end of the day its a game , its not real life and he is limited to the amount of time he can play it.
lets face it we dont all stick to ratings on eveything do we? toys? films ect: i watched 18 films when i was 9/10 and it never done me any harm. if my son was affected by this then i wouldnt let him play it.

Exactly its not real life, in real life war and killing is terrible, tragic and shocking and kills and maims many and causes great suffering. So why would u want ur child to act it out in a game as entertainment? I just dont get it.

 

[ShanandBoc]

Noooo way, my DH who is a crazy gamer wont even play games like COD they are terrible and should be banned outright imo. How about the airport scene in Modern warfare 2? Im sure there are some here who know what i am talking about even tho u could choose to skip that level, i thought it was shocking and totally inappropriate in a game for any age. All they do is glamourize war and killing, they are awful. Why would anyone want to act out that part? How much does all this desensitizing to violence have an effect? Its not healthy esp for a childs mind.

We dont watch any R rated movies ourselves tbh theres not much above a PG rating ill watch these days.....

I admit, that scene was disgusting and although you have a choice to skip or not, beforehand you don't know what your skipping so curiosity gets the better of you. Wished I had skipped it, made me feel sick!

what was it? can you put it in a spoiler?

Im not sure i know how to lol? Maybe Ellaandlyla could do it for me? and I really dont want to recall the deatils of that scene tbh

 

[Baby France]

No I wouldn't do it.

My best friend was allowed to watch all the over 18's when she was just a kid (10) and now she refuses to watch any horror movies at all as she said she still has nightmares.

I personally think the guidelines are there for reasons.

 

[bumpy_j]

COD doesn't glorify violence. It's full of anti-war quotes and tries to show how hideous war can be through a simulator.

Spoiler

The airport scene more or less you had to kill innocent people such as security guards (you COULD kill civilians but you didn't have to)

as a 'greater good' mission but it portrays the action in a completely negative light and has bad repercussions. i don't get why it's so controversial to be honest... things like James Bond glorify violence a lot more making the whole spy scene seem sexy and infinitely cool. When I play COD I always think 'wow I can't believe people are doing this in real life, HUGE respect for the troops out there fighting' and I know the storylines can be dramatized to be slightly absurd but really I don't see how it can damage a teenage boy any more than a war film.

 

[cherryglitter]

i think we naturally think that as adults.
but children don't think that way, they think oooh blood and guts and gross stuff

 

[bumpy_j]

yeah aha, I think 14+ would be alright with it, not kiddies

 

[Lief]

I'm not sure, I agree with a few others here. I think it depends on the child, their level of maturity, their personality and the game/movie.

I wasn't really allowed to watch horrors when I was younger but I still done it. I'd sneak downstairs late at night (bad sleeper) and watch some of my brothers dvd's or whatever horror movie was on tv. It never bothered me, once they finished I'd go back to bed and my parents were none the wiser. I was caught once when my brother came in from a night out (he was 20 I was about 5 or 6) he caught me watching the end of the exorcist. He thought I'd have lots of nightmares and stuff but I was fine.

Actually I think I was a bit of a mean child, I was always scaring my friends when I was a kid. Always telling ghost stories, or jumping out on them to scare them.

 

[cherryglitter]

i could watch anything as a child, but when i got older things became more 'real'

paranormal things are a no go for me, whereas before i used to love them!