TV shows with inappropriate language and subjects...

Kimberly - posted on 10/20/2010

No. I think certain things should be kept age appropriate.

She's only 19 months but she does pay attention. She doesn't watch much television at all, but if she does, I make sure it is educational.

Kids will learn about sex and drugs in school too unless you educate them first and give them boundaries.

September - posted on 10/20/2010

No. Our son is still far too young. Maybe when he's older. We don't watch much tv at this point in his life anyhow. I do however watch my shows once he goes to bed. :)

Sharon - posted on 10/20/2010

Nope.

I clicked on an episode of Family Guy - it was the dad giving his daughter a lap dance for her bachelorette party? It was nasty - and it was a cartoon! It wasn't even remotely appropriate, not even for my 15 yr old.

I'm struggling a little with boundaries for him regarding tv shows & movies.

When I was younger than him, I was watched every horror flick out there. I found out I became numb to violence. Death & dismemberment were a joke. Gore and gruesome were details for joke fodder (After the space shuttle crashed, how did they know what shampoo they used? Answer - their Heads & shoulders washed up on the beach.)

I've nixed foul language as a reason. He has his mouth under control.

I held back on violent video games for a long time. Recently he was allowed to play games with a teen rating. Now we're considering allowing the mature ratings.

He is SOOOO far behind all his friends with these things. They all hang out at the mall alone without supervision, they go to horror films without a second thought and are shocked he has to ask for permission. I talk talk talk talk to him about sex, stds, babies, etc. We discuss the outcomes of violence and people who act without thinking.

But he is only 15. What is it everyone keeps saying when some 13 - 16 yr old kills someone? "his brain isn't fully formed yet, he has no way to process the long term ramifications of his actions" or something to that effect.

I don't want this stuff to be common place for him, but I don't want him left out of the loop with his friends. We try to help him befriend people who think more like we do but then we wind up with uber freaky religious people.

I've decided that I'll allow some of the violent games and the horror movies but they'll be limited. Two weekend nights for the games - after his brother & sister have gone to sleep or found other activities. Horror films - he can enjoy those with his friends at the theater or at their homes where his younger brother & sister can't walk in on them.

BUT Family Guy, Futurama, etc are all banned in the house, I don't even like the simpsons any more because of the blatant lack of respect the kids have for the parents. Frankly - we get enough of that without the tv show reinforcing it.

We do watch HOUSE, BONES, The Closer, etc because all along these "people" struggle to do good. We click off if there are any inappropriate scenes (love making or inappropriate drug use except in the case of HOUSE because there was a lesson there).

ugh its complicated ain't it? Where to draw the lines, not always clear.

Petra - posted on 10/20/2010

With my 5 year-old step-son, we won't watch movies with a lot of swearing or violence. We also don't allow him to watch TV - I don't see how him zoning out while while adults pretend to be little kids (Treehouse makes creeps me out while simultaneously making me want to barf) is beneficial. Plus, most of the kids' cartoons I have seen are nonsensical and/or pretty violent. He occasionally gets to watch one of his movies - always a "kids" or "family" movie like Shrek or Where the Wild Things Are. If we let him watch a movie with us we stick to comedies. We can explain away or ignore the odd F-bomb, but graphic sex and violence are no-gos. I find the violent and sexual content of prime-time TV far more disturbing and detrimental than occasional exposure to the word "fuck".

Liz - posted on 10/20/2010

I made the choice when my oldest was 2 to put a TV in her bedroom. I enjoy my shows and some aren't appropriate, CSI, Law and Order, House, but we also enjoy shows the kids watch with us too, American Idol (when it comes back on), Dancing with the Stars. I HATE Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, American Dad, and the so called adult cartoons, I don't watch any of those. As my kids get older they will get to watch more of what they want but for now they have plenty of movies.

Krista - posted on 10/20/2010

My child is only 14 months, so we're not hyper-vigilant about TV just yet. If we're home during the day, I'll put on Treehouse for him, and when I get sick of Treehouse (or when Caillou comes on), I usually put on HGTV or the Food Network, so there isn't anything there that he shouldn't see...except for Gordon Ramsay, obviously.

Other than that, the only "adult" TV that he would see would be the 6pm news. Part of me thinks that maybe I should shelter him from it, but our local news isn't particularly sensationalistic, and they do tend to be pretty good about warning people if any footage is inappropriate for children.

Bonnie - posted on 10/20/2010

@Kati, but even if you go around explaining it to them, don't they still repeat things they have heard?

Charlie - posted on 10/19/2010

Well my son is starting to pick up a lot of words from us and TV so i am more mindfull of what i watch around him especially after seeing my friends 3 year olds ultra violent tendencies from watching adult shows and violent games !

Teresa - posted on 10/19/2010

We don't have TV, so this isn't an issue. My kids are only allowed to watch G or PG movies. I have recently started (still extremely rare) allowing my almost 9 year olds to be on the computer (same room as tv) while I am watching a PG-13 movie, but it still depends on the content of the movie. I think a bomb could go off in the living room while they are on the computer w/out them noticing though. ;)

Sapphire - posted on 10/19/2010

My son has watched a few episodes of Family Guy with my hubby. I downright despise the show. I also admit that I tend to use more profanity than my husband, and my son knows that he can;t go around saying "bad curse words". I really need to do a better job monitring though, becasue it's not really the TV in the house, it's the computer. My son loves watching YouTube and every now and then he clicks on videos that are more violent than I want him to watch. But then again, the other day we were watching a wildlife nature program on PBS, and he watched a sea lion go after a baby penguin, and it was bloody violent. I covered his eyes, yet this is nature!

Joanna - posted on 10/19/2010

For now, my husband and I watch those shows after our daughter is in bed... she's 3 and repeats ANYTHING she hears (like when I complained my vagina hurt the other day, she now walks around saying "mama ouchie ba-gina"). Once our kids are older we'll just have to see how their maturity is when we think about the language on shows.

Serena - posted on 10/19/2010

We are working on this very thing at our house right now. We cut out South Park a long time ago and made the mistake of still watching a few shows like Sons of Anarchy in front of him until my son (whose 4) told me "he wanted to put me in a box and poke it full of holes". That day we cut that off. Now we pretty much only watch his shows (NickJr...and I can sing every theme song if you need me to) or the news/CNN. I have no problem with this my husband is taking a little longer to get used to the idea.
It was hard to give up Criminal Minds for him but I do DVR the new ones and have seen every old one...

Tara - posted on 10/19/2010

yes my 14 year old son watches the shows you just listed as well as other ones that disturb me more, like CSI and NCIS etc. where the content is "real-life ish" in a way that none of the animated comedies are. Those ones deal with issues that I truly feel show not be glamourised or exploited by hollywood in any way. Sexual predation, incest, murder, deceit, the most fucked up mental illnesses and whack jobs etc. are not subjects I feel should be used for entertainment purposes . I used to find family guy funny, back when it was new and tamer. Now it seems they need to go to such extremes that it's not really funny anymore.
My younger kids are not allowed to watch those shows, there are some classic simpsons that I will let my 10 year old watch cause she's such a tom boy I know she will love them.

Jodi - posted on 10/19/2010

My daughter is only 20 months, but during the day when she's awake, it's either Noggin, movies I have already approved like Elmo or Wiggles, or nothing at all. usually the latter, we listen to a lot of music! lol BUT, at my MIL's house, I often have to leave hte vacinity, take her outside or down to the basement, because they won't change what they're watching when she's around. They watch Fast and Furious, Rated R movies (one time it was Saw) and such things and won't even turn it down. That bugs me.
So, I closely monitor TV time and content and have plans to continue doing so until she's old enough and mature enough to make the decision herself.

Rosie - posted on 10/19/2010

my kids are all able to watch the shows you just listed. i don't really feel there is any content in them that i can't explain to them (thanks for the life lesson family guy!!) if there is nudity, or graphic violence, i don't let them watch it.

Cat - posted on 10/19/2010

I put an age minimum on shows with bad language or questionable subject matter (ESPECIALLLY Family Guy) And in this house you need to be over 10 and prove that you will not repeat said language/behavior...

Jenn - posted on 10/19/2010

No, my kids don't watch them and I only watch them if the kids are in bed. My oldest is almost 5 and if Family Guy comes on on a Sunday afternoon or something he'll close his eyes until I change the channel and he calls it "the bad show". I don't think he would be exposed to things like that at school or I will be making a quick phone call to complain to the school board!

Jennifer - posted on 10/19/2010

Considering my son's only 10 months old atm this doesn't really apply to me right now but when he's older I'll definately monitor what he watches based on his age at the time.

Jodi - posted on 10/19/2010

Well, yeah, my 13 year old is allowed to :). I am a bit more vigilint about what my 5 year old watches, but I don't tend to use language as a reason. Generally she is not permitted to watch anything rate M anyway (more because either the topics aren't appropriate, there is too much violence or it is a bit scary for her because she has nightmares), and I am ok with the language in the PG programs. But at 5, she knows what language is inappropriate and what isn't, so she doesn't repeat it. When they were younger I was a lot more careful about the language aspect, just because they are such parrots when they are young.