Do you let your young one watch horror movies?

[tarchon]

It's better to let your young one watch the Old Ones than to let the Old Ones watch your young one.

 

[Psionicist]

Do. Not. Allow. Your. Young. Ones. To. Watch. Horror. Movies.

You should never allow children to watch movies or shows with an emphasis on horror, gory violence, foul language, or lewd content.

I'm friggin' serious. Forget your 'good parenting'. If you let your children watch/hear such things before they're teenagers (13+ generally, the earliest age anyone's supposed to be allowed to watch such things anyway), they ARE going to develop into violent, foul-mouthed, obscene punks by the time they are old enough to be considered 'adults', regardless of how mentally immature they may be at that point.

So you are saying that because I watched Psycho when I was 9 years old I am a violent lunatic? Right... Don't blame culture, please. If your kid is a moron it's entirely your fault. Not society, not rock music, not dungeons & dragons, not horror movies, not Janet Jackson, not harry potter etc. _YOUR_ fault.

Thanks.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

So you are saying that because I watched Psycho when I was 9 years old I am a violent lunatic? Right... Don't blame culture, please. If your kid is a moron it's entirely your fault. Not society, not rock music, not dungeons & dragons, not horror movies, not Janet Jackson, not harry potter etc. _YOUR_ fault.

Thanks.

I'd agree. If your kid is totally screwed up, it's because you didn't do your job as a parent. Parents these days think that SOMEONE else is supposed to rear their kids for them..... :\ That's just plain wrong. Probably the best example I've seen on this thread is Torm who spends actual quality time with his kids. Not all of us got that when we were kids. it's up to the parents to make sure their kids are raised right and respect other people. It's only when the parents don't do their job is when kids go elsewhere and then mess up when their main influence is the outside world and not their parents. And the parents aren't around to tell them how to tell what is right and what is wrong with what they're seeing Out There.

[/rant]

 

[tarchon]

We never saw any movie that wasn't rated PG for the longest time. So no horror for us. I did see one one time (don't recall how old I was at the time) but I didn't get scared from it.

I think it wasn't until I was about maybe 10 or 11 that I figured out horror films were supposed to be scary. But then the first film my dad ever saw was King Kong, and he was 7 at the time, so I guess maybe it's in the genes or something. I practically grew up on Dr. Creep and Saturday Shock Theater (a little bone for the Dayton mafia). Complex things, human brains.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

I saw a few horror movies when I was younger and I had night terrors for years.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

If you let your children watch/hear such things before they're teenagers (13+ generally, the earliest age anyone's supposed to be allowed to watch such things anyway), they ARE going to develop into violent, foul-mouthed, obscene punks by the time they are old enough to be considered 'adults', regardless of how mentally immature they may be at that point.

Nonsense. I watched horror movies like Halloween when I was approx. 4-6. That was a mistake, to be certain, but I am a respectable member of society, not a "violent, foul-mouthed, obscene punk..."

 

[Dirigible]

If you let your children watch/hear such things before they're teenagers they ARE going to develop into violent, foul-mouthed, obscene punks by the time they are old enough to be considered 'adults', regardless of how mentally immature they may be at that point.

Arkhandus, that's imply not true.

And if you ever suggest it again, I'm going to f'ing stab you in the f'ing ear with a f'ing screwdriver and bury you in a Northumberland coal seam you f'ing w'ker.

Now if you'll excuse me, i'm off to stick safety pins through my nipples while listening to the Sex Pistols.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

My parents did not let me watch anything violent or horrofic until I was 13. Though they let me watch the news with them when I was little. That was enough to give me nightmares. Soon the nightmares developed into dreams. I have a very violent side, but youd never know. It only maifests when I'm watching horror flicks all alone or when I'm dreaming. Last night I dreamed I blew up an entire planet.

 

[Raging Epistaxis]

As a father of two (4.75 and 0.9 years, respectively) I've found that if I pay close attention to how the older one* responds to what he sees, that gives me a pretty good guideline for what he can and cannot handle.

He has watched the LoTR DVDs with us, and had some pretty thoughtful questions about who were the 'good guys' and the bad guys and why, but we haven't let him see any horror films yet. Back when Buffy was on the air (not syndication) we watched it until he started to show interest/confusion/fear towards it. Then it got Tivo'd until after he was asleep. A couple of weeks ago I put on 'House on Haunted Hill' while he was taking a nap, or so I thought, and he walked out of his room during the inital credits and the gargoyle thing that is the mascot for one of the production companies scared him. He talked about it a few times for several days, but I don't know about dreams.

He occasionally says he's had a bad dream or thought about something happening, and we always talk it through with him.

We've started decreasing his exposure to news, since he asked 'what's Genocide?'. Darn that NPR, anyway. Try explaining what that really means to a 4 year old...

Overall, I think there is no blanket rule as to what is best for all children. It's one part what you are comfortable with, one part what they can handle without being traumatized, and the most important thing is for the parent(s) to be involved and there for the kids.

I've known some like Arkhandus' cousins - I think the blame mostly lies not with the movies/music/software per se, but with the inattentive parents who allowed the kids to experience these questionable things without a ethical/moral framework or guidelines of how to interpret them. For those who cannot provide such a background, then I guess blanket boycott is the best way to go.

Myself, I prefer the approach of allowing them a bit more experience, but guiding them through it so they do not draw the wrong conclusions. Time will tell how it goes.

Doing my best,
R E

*The younger one is just now starting to show that she's even aware of the noisy light-box that sits on the entertainment center.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Well...all I can say is I don't let my son watch anything not "age appropriate". He's 11, so it's a rare PG-13 that he's allowed to see. He has friends the same age whose parents let them watch anything they want, listen to anything they want, and play any video game, despite it's age rating. And most of those kids are the most ill-behaved and dumbest little mouth breathers I've ever seen. I'm not saying this is the case for all children, and that not all parents who do this are "bad parents". I'm just saying that from the examples I've seen, I'll never let my son watch any movie or play a video game until he's of the appropriate age.

And yes, this may seem hypocritical because my mom and dad never paid any attention at all to what I watched or listened to (video games don't count. I never owned one). I think I turned out ok, but I also credit the good things my parents instilled in me. Anyway...I've probably angered scores of folks now, so I'll sign off.