Did your parents/do you censor the media for your kids?

[milos_mommy]

I would assume most people do to some extent, but to what extent?

Growing up, it never really seemed like my mom censored TV, music, movies, etc. for my brother and I....we were allowed to watch/listen to/read whatever we wanted. But, I also only really wanted age-appropriate things. I did have cds with swear words on them and sex or drug content, but it was nothing horrible and honestly I never even noticed what it was about until I was older.

I remember wanting to see Titanic when it came out. Mom and dad said I had to wait until it was on video, and then my mom watched it with me and fast-forwarded the scene in the car. I was in 3rd grade, so 8 years old.

The first time I saw a sex scene in a movie was when 8-Mile came out - I would have been 12 but I don't think I saw it until I was 13. After high school, nothing was ever off-limits to me, a lot of times my friends wouldn't be allowed to go to the movies with me or see certain artists because their parents didn't approve of R-rated movies or the language, which I thought was silly. It was nothing we weren't exposed to in school anyway.

[Renee750il]

Well, not "officially," but it served the purpose.

If my mother didn't like it, no one was allowed to like it.

[JessLough]

Nope.... we were told to "close your eyes and plug your ears" if we didn't like the movies my parents would watch

[Fran101]

Nope. Especially not sex and nudity or language lol we were allowed to watch/see whatever and ask questions.
When it came to violence/horror yea a bit..but they were never forbidden.

We knew what language was polite and all about safe responsible sex and drinking because our parents talked to us about it and we were exposed to it. PARENTS need to raise their kids and inform/expose them instead of just putting blinders on them IMO so when they do encounter something in the media or world meant to "lead them down a dark trail" so to speak, they KNOW the right and wrong way because they are informed in more ways than just "Oh it's wrong. why? because."

Teaching kids that sex or nudity is some forbidden bad thing.. well, I won't even go into specifics but let me just say I attended a catholic school where abstinence only sex-ed was paramount and let's just say it didn't go well for kids whose parents ALSO censored everything else. Sex was forbidden and mysterious..and of course, all the more tempting. and since they knew NOTHING about it (like condoms or STDs etc..) there were of course problems.

So yea.. my parents didn't sensor much. Nudity, sex, alcohol..we were informed, exposed, had 100 talks about it, traveled all over the world and seen many cultures and it all became just..part of what we knew.

Scary movies/horror films they did.. just because monsters and stuff was something I NEVER handled well.. but I would want to go to the movies and see some horror flick and then sleep in their bed for a week lol so it was easiest to just encourage me to pursue other films.
BUT these movies were never forbidden. It was not like "YOU CAN'T SEE THIS SCARY MOVIE SO THERE!" ... it was explained WHY they didn't want me to see it and I was given a choice.
All it took was ONE "Well, I want to see it anyway" and being scared for a month and I learned my lesson on my own lol

But yea.. we are not the kind of family that doesn't curse or watch R movies in front of the kids. They see everything.. and we talk about it so they know right/wrong and what they are seeing.

And somehow..none of us kids have turned out to be serial killers yet! LOL

[Xandra]

When I was little, like 9-ish I was supposed to hide when the sex scenes came on (I know this because I remember them telling me to hide during parts of Bridget Jones' Diary lol). I can't remember when they decided I didn't need to do that anymore.

Mostly no though... they never paid attention to movie ratings or anything. I think a lot of it was my parents never really cared to investigate if what I was watching was inappropriate or not lol

My mom used to rent Watership Down for me when I was old enough to choose, 4-5. I mean if you want to avoid traumatizing your children through media that should be the first thing you censor lol, that movie is scary.

[sparks19]

Not really. At this age she doesn't really have much interest in watching any of the shows I watch so it's not a big deal but I will watch some of my shows while she is around. Not like The Walking Dead or American Horror story LOL but the majority of shows I watch I have had on while she's playing around the house.

my mom didn't censor what I watched. I think my best friend and I started watching horror movies together at about 10 years old lol. My moms rule was "don't scare yourself because you aren't coming in my bed because you are afraid of the movie" LOL

I try not to curse much in front of Hannah but that's not nessecarily because I don't want her to hear it but more because I am just trying not to curse much anymore in general. It dawned on me when Hannah started repeating things that I was saying (not nessecarily swear words but more things like "stupid" or "shut up") and I realized how awful it really sounded and then I would tell her that they aren't nice words to say and there are better ways of expressing herself. AFter that, when I would let one slip she would call me on it and I realized "Wait... why am I telling her there are better ways of expressing herself when I can't find better ways of expressing myself and I'm the adult." If I was expecting her to find a better way to express herself than I certainly could do the same for myself

[-bogart-]

NEVER, my mom let us watch/read what ever we wanted. we would talk it over if there was an issue.

[Romy]

I filter my kid's stuff. My daughter is five, my son is a baby. She'd have horrific nightmares if she saw something like The Walking Dead. One time she was watching Animal Planet and flea preventative commercial where the fleas were giant and CG.

She had nightmares about it for MONTHS and developed a severe flea phobia. So yeah. I also don't have the news on around them. There's too much of newscasters randomly blurting stuff like "AND THEN THE CHILD DIED OF PELVIC INJURIES AFTER BEING REPEATEDLY RAPED BY THIS GUY" and. Just. No. They don't need to hear about that stuff either. Not at their age.

[CaliTerp07]

Yes. We could not watch PG-13 moves until we were 13, rated R until 17. All music had to be run by mom before we purchased the CD.

I never questioned it. It said PG-13 on the label, so 13 seemed logical. I am BLOWN AWAY how many of my mom's kindergarteners were allowed to watch jurassic park.

[~Jessie~]

Yes and no.

I was allowed to watch certain PG-13 movies before I was 13, but my parents screened them first. I watched Jurassic Park when I was 8 or 9. I generally wasn't allowed to watch rated R movies until I was in high school. My best friend in middle school's parents would let us rent whatever we wanted, so we would generally get R-rated horror movies. Haha.

I remember sneaking watching American Pie with my friend when we were 14. My parents wouldn't let me go see it in theaters or rent it since it was so raunchy.

I was allowed to read Goosebumps books when I was 7 (right when they came out), but I wasn't allowed to read the Fear Street books by the same author until I was 10 or 11, which made me SO mad at the time.

The WORST was when I was at my friend's house in 2nd grade. His MOM put on Candyman for us... which if you've seen it, it's not about some nice man handing out sweets. LOL. I had nightmares afterwards and finally admitted it to my mom. She called my friend's mom and I wasn't allowed over there anymore. I would've NEVER let my kid watch that movie.