<p>Recently, R rated movies have seem to push the limit on violence, sexual content, and language.The current Rambo must be the bloodiest movie in recent movie history. Pineapple express has 161 F words in it. Sex and the City has explicit sexual scenes in it. </p>
<p>Do you let your child (say under 14) watch R rated movies?'</p>
<p>Do you think it is ok for children to see these movies? Do you think it can negatively effect them if they are exposed to it too much at a young age? Do you think it will disturb them. </p>
<p>I work at a movie theater and I see parents bring their very young children into R rated movies. It upsets me but I know I can’t do anything about it. </p>
<p>What do you think is the main reason people bring kids to R rated movies? I have come to believe that parents are absolutely clueless about the content in R rated movies.</p>
<p>It depends on the movie. I know that once they are in high school many of the movies that are R rated are based on required reading books. Also many schools show R rated movies. So after middle school, it becomes almost a moot point about restricting it. </p>
<p>I think if your child wants to see such a movie, it would be a good idea to view it yourself first, and if you decide to let him watch it but that it is still mature for them, to watch it with them with pre and post discussion. I don’t think it is smart to let a pack of pre highschoolers go unsupervised to such movies and then loose to socialize. In fact, those years at about 12-14, may be a good time to take them to such movies they want and have the discussions since they will be seeing them most likely once they are of high school age. </p>
<p>Many parents have just thrown in the towel. If your kid spends time with other kids, they will be exposed to many R rated things. It is frustrating to prohibit viewing a tv show, movie, video/computer game only to find out that many of the kid’s friends are freely imbibing as is your kid at their homes. You just get worn down sometimes. With my older ones, it was easier, but now with a mixed group of kids with adult to preteen ages, it is harder to screen things. I never wanted tvs in the bedrooms, but with an open family room and a preteener, it makes it much easier to have a tv in a room that can be closed if older kids want or need to see a show that is not appropriate for the younger one and his friends. That happens a lot here. The same with our book collections. Lots of books now on our shelves that are R rated with the older kids in the family. Was not a problem at all when the oldest ones were little.</p>
<p>I didn’t allow my son to see R-rated movies until he was a senior in high school. I personally believe what we view has a profound impact on our attitudes, beliefs, and sometimes, our actions.</p>
<p>I had a hard and fast rule that my kids could not see R-rated movies until they were 17. (I felt like the only parent in my community who had that rule, however.) I didn’t have time to preview every movie, and I couldn’t imagine that their lives would be negatively affected in any way by the rule, so that is what I did. </p>
<p>Interestingly, once my D turned 17 and started seeing them, she THANKED me for not allowing it sooner. That made me feel great!</p>
<p>it depended on the film.
when something like The Station Agent is rated R , but movies with highly charged battle scenes are rated
pg-13,
i decided that the rating system is screwy.</p>
<p>Like someone else mentioned, it depends on why it is R. My kids didn’t attend many movie theater movies at all (no money), so it was usually an issue over which movies to rent.</p>
<p>We did not allow our younger children to see R at all. As they got older (I can’t remember ages, because it probably wasn’t the same for each, as they matured at different rates, but I imagine there were few exceptions prior to 17) we began allowing some. In general, we held off on R movies that were rated that way due to violence, but might give in on R movies that were that way for sex. (We consider exposure to violence to be worse, but that’s an individual call). </p>
<p>Breaking it down further, if there was sex or violence in the movie, it had to be there for a good reason, furthering the plot and making a point, not just gratuitous. (Actually, I feel that way about the movie’s use of bad language as well.) For example, violence in a war movie makes a different point than in a horror movie. I would be more inclined to approve the former than the latter.</p>
<p>For those reasons, our kids saw very few R movies. And although our kids are now 19-25, they still tend to self-select against R movies for the same reasons.</p>
<p>And all our kids know how to work the fast forward button. :)</p>
<p>If you let your kid go see movies with friends, they may not be watching Wallee when they get into the theaterplexes. I have known a number of parents who had no idea what their kids were watching. As I said earlier, sometimes these movies are shown in school once the kids are are in high school, despite the R ratings and if your kids go to other kids’ homes and there are tvs, all bets are off. So it is wise to watch some of these things with your kids and discuss some of the crud that is there so you know somewhat their views and see what these kids are watching.</p>
<p>As I was taking tickets at the movie theater, I noticed that a father was taking his really young child, maybe 6 or 7 into the current Rambo. I was horrified at this considering that this movie had bloody impalings, shootings, and explosions where body parts were shown flying in the air. I warned him that this movie was very violent. He just smiled and said something like “aha”. I think these parents should be charged additional money for taking young ones to R rated movies. If you want to take your child to an R rated movie and risk ruining the experience for others through their crying and misbehavior, than you should at least purchase an adult ticket for your child. It is not much I know, but I think a fine or additional charge will deter some parents from taking their children to r rated movies.</p>
<p>We’ve restricted R movies when the rating was based on sexual content but not so much when based on violence. We have all Ds, so there wasn’t a lot of interest in the really violent movies, anyway. </p>
<p>I’ve seen plenty of R rated movies that left me scratching my head as to why the R rating. I’ve seen PG movies that I felt were more objectionable on some levels.</p>
<p>There are R-rated films, and R-rated films. My kids saw their first R-rated film when they were in elementary school. The film? “Billy Elliott”. Far from disturbing them, it elevated them. They were far more traumatized by the initial scene in the forest in the (wonderful) PG-rated “Iron Giant”. D1 started going to certain R-rated films with us in earnest at age 14: last year she saw “The Counterfeiters”, “Blazing Saddles” (yes, that’s an R), “Michael Clayton”, and “Little Miss Sunshine”, among others. All were roaring successes with her. She’s commented that there’s a level of sophistication in some R films that she doesn’t see in PG or PG-13 films. Clearly, she hasn’t seen a lot of R-rated films yet :). There’s a world of difference between these films and Pineapple Express (loved Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin) or the new Rambo or Sex and the City. Depends on the kid.</p>
<p>Bringing little kids into a theater to see an R-rated film is entirely different, and I agree OP that it’s reprehensible. People do it because they’re too cheap to hire a babysitter, or because the babysitter didn’t show up, or because they are so desensitized to explicit sex/violence/language. I’m especially troubled by kids seeing violence and severe emotional distress. Newspaper reviews commented that parents were covering their children’s eyes during the scene in “Titanic” where Rose poses nude for Jack (or whatever his name was). I was horrified that parents would take their kids to see a film where a mother watches her children drown, unable to offer them help or comfort.</p>
<p>Generally, no. Around here they do card and watch who goes into what movie. I remember D really wanted to see Snakes on a Plane when it came out. Since she was 16, they had to find a friend’s parent to go with them. I have never taken my kids to an R rated movie, my son (15) may have seen some of the R for violence ones at home with his dad (he also plays M rated video games).</p>
<p>When my kids were younger, I used [SCREEN</a> IT! ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWS FOR PARENTS](<a href=“http://www.screenit.com%5DSCREEN”>http://www.screenit.com) to find out what was actually in the movie. (Go the bottom of the page and click “no thanks” to get to the free site). R ratings are based on specific items like curse words and specific sexual and violent situations. Especially for younger kids, I am just as concerned about the values of the movie. I would rather have my kid see Shindler’s List than a PG-13-rated slasher movie, for example.</p>
<p>When D was in teen travel camp,(12-14) I had to sign a consent form stating what rating would be allowable for her. PG13 was my limt. However, I did allow her to see R movies with us if we thought it appropriate. Some times when I see parents with young children at what I think are inappropriate movies, it then is more about what the parents want to see and not the kids. Maybe no babysitter,etc. I think each movie should be weighed in on its merits rather than the rating.</p>
<p>My parents have always had a really lax attitude about movie ratings. I have been watching R rated movies since I was little, usually horror movies, which I have always loved.</p>
<p>I can’t say this would be true about all families, but my three siblings and I have turned out quite normal, and we’re definitely not desensitized to violence, nor have we been perverted by on-screen sexuality (though we usually watched the former and not the latter). I think the big thing is that parents need to talk to their kids and make them understand that what you see in the movies is not reality, nor is it acceptable, decent behavior. Well-adjusted kids with attentive parents don’t become warped by this stuff, nor believe it to be representative of reality.</p>
<p>I think there are some PG 13 movies that are worse than some R movies – in particular a lot of raunchy comedies. That said, I’m pretty strict about R movies. However, on occasion I have rented an R movie and simply had my child leave the room for the objectionable scene that got it the rating. There are some R rated movies where there really are just one or two scenes that got it the rating. That’s what my mom did when she took me to see Ben Hur as a child – she made me slip out of the theater for a couple of scenes she deemed to graphic – but she thought the film was worth taking me too with that condition.</p>
<p>I took my son to see some R rated movies when he was 15 or so. But they were movies with content that he was capable of appreciating. As others have said, many PG-13 movies have much worse stuff in tthe way of mindless violence, not to mention debased intellectual/cultural or ethical content.</p>
<p>I agree with taking really little kids to adult movies- just the noise is stressful and the glimpses of action on screen upsetting to the kids, let alone disrupting the adult ticket holders " enjoyment" of the movie.</p>
<p>We didnt go see a lot of movies when oldest was a preteen-
she would have been 12, but her sister only 4.</p>
<p>However H did take them to see things like ToyStory etc ( while I had to sit through “movies” like Strawberry Shortcake meets the CareBears, Rainbow Brite & the Little Ponies from when oldest was 4) :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I did find that renting videos- regardless of rating- that I felt were worth watching, gave a good opportunity for bringing up topics to discuss sideways.
Much easier to discuss a character and choices, than to bring up a topic cold and try to engage a discussion.</p>
<p>I stopped censoring what my kids watched or read around the time they were 12. Before then, I probably erred on the side of letting them see too much. I would say that whatever problems there were came from emotional intensity, not sex or violence per se. My son still sometimes needles me about letting him watch Glory when he was 10. (Of course, if I had had any idea how sad the ending was going to be, I wouldn’t have.) And perhaps my worst moment as a parent came when I took both kids (then 12 and 10) to see The Diary of Anne Frank on Broadway, with Natalie Portman. We were mainly thinking about the older child – who had read the Diary several years before, and who had just finished a unit on the Holocaust at religious school. It wasn’t until the lights came up at the end of the play that we realized that our son had just become the first person in the history of the world to see The Diary of Anne Frank without knowing in advance that it didn’t have a happy ending. It took him about 40 minutes to stop sobbing.</p>