Kids, Movies and Video Tape

Kids, Games and Video Tape

So we all wanted to be bigger, act more like a grown up and do the things that adults do….but we were 5 and didn’t know any better. And believe it or not, as parents we have a moral responsibility to make sure our kids don’t grow up too fast, or worse, do things that they shouldn’t be doing until they are old enough. And no, I am not talking of the S word just yet. I am talking of course as the title of this article implies movie and video game age ratings. So many people will brush this off as if it were nothing, but I would like to grab your attention for just a little longer with this example….Part of this is fiction, part of this is fact….

Mr. and Mrs. Brown are a normal everyday couple, everything has an order and a regime. They also have a 7 year old son who loves to watch movies, whenever there’s a chance to watch one, you can bet your bottom dollar he’s watching a movie. The Browns monitor their sons viewing to ensure there’s nothing untoward happening in the movie he’s watching. But can they watch him 24 hours a day? Of course not…..but they can explain to him why some films are not suitable for his eyes to view. Curiosity killed the cat you know, and to my knowledge was never prosecuted for that crime! Anyway, one night Mum and Dad Brown go out for the evening, the baby sitter ( 25 years of age and should know better ) decides it’s a great idea to bring some movies round on DVD. The 18 rated film Nightmare on Elm Street is the first to go on the TV. After an hour or so, Brown Jr. ( Who we will call Sam ), decides he’s had enough of trying to sleep and creeps downstairs. Sam creeps into the sitting room and watches the scenes before him. The baby sitter ( who we will call Sue ) decides to let him watch the movie as she saw no harm in this what so ever….Cue guts spilling, blood splashing and a plethora of words Sam had never heard before. Sam, now feeling a little uneasy about what he had just seen, decides to try and go off to bed. Cue paranoia…..as he heads back to the stairs to go back to his bed room, Sam swears he saw a shadow move across the landing….gulping slightly, he treads the stairs….was that another shadow he just saw move?....half way up the stairs, one of the stairs creaks under his foot…dashing back into the living room in sheer terror ( and I kid you not, this was terror ), clambers onto the Settee and bunches himself behind a cushion. Oh dear oh dear. Now Sam is too scared to go to bed on his own, Sue finds this most amusing and laughs it off. Lethal Weapon is the next film she decides to watch, now not even noticing Sam is there. After 2 and a half hours of guns going off, swearing to the highest degree and plenty of bloodshed, The Browns come home. Sam rushes up to his Mum and asks never for them to leave him again. After that night, Sam wouldn’t go to bed alone for a good 2 months, started to wet the bed again, every shadow and every sound made him jump. Sam was confused as to why when he told his teacher to “F**k off” he was given a stern talking to and letters home to his Mum and Dad…….Through watching those films, his fragile mind had become corrupted into thinking it was normal for everyone to talk like that…..but the saddest part of this story comes, when Sam is taken away from his Mummy and Daddy for placing craft knives through his fingers and punching a class mate in the stomach…….all because he was allowed to see what he shouldn’t have seen.

So you see in this example, it’s not always best to let them grow up too fast and watch what they shouldn’t watch.

Just some brain food for you folks 🙂 can you figure out which part of the story actually happened?

makes a good point Rich. My kids do watch some pgs and 12,s, dont think they have seen anything thats a 15. Its never anything I havent seen before myself, so I know what it is exactly that I am letting them watch.