[lilxkid24]

If you have kids or if your going to have kids would you let them watch whatever movie they want or tv shows they want like rated r and pg13 and stuff before there like under 13 or so? Just out of curiosity thats why i asked this lol. This also goes for games.. too

[mphenterprises]

That is a very good question. Personally, I do not have any children. However, when I do, it will be a long time before they can watch any show they want. My mom did not have the ratings guide to restrict my television viewing. If she felt a television show, or movie, was not appropriate for me, I would not be allowed to watch it. If she ever caught me watching a show that I was not suppose to watch, there would be a serious price to pay. No "time-outs" when I was a kid. Since the ratings system is in pretty much every television or TV Tuner, I will use this to my advantage when monitoring my children's television and movie viewing.

This goes doubly for games. Since I or my wife, more than likely, will be the one buying the games, we will keep an eye on the games that come into this house. I remember, when I was a child, I couldn't even play Duck Hunt because of the gun that game with the game. Even though no bullets came out the gun, my mother would not let me buy or play that game. To this day I have not seen a gun in person. I will be the same way with my children. Violence in video games are a fact of life now. However, if I perceive a game to be too violent or show too realistic an image of violence, I will not let them play it. Once my children get to the age where they can either buy their own games or distinguish between what's real and what's fantasy, I may release the grip, but only slightly.

What you may find is that people, no matter how they try to fight it, will raise their children as they were raised. If your parents allowed you to watch whatever you want and do whatever you want, that may be the only source of parenting to use as a guide. My cousin just had twins and he was raised in a very religious and restrictive household. When he was younger, you resented(sp) his parents for not allowing him to do and watch some of the things that his friend's were allowed to do and watch. Now that he is a parent, he is using the same model of parenting that was used on him. His sons are 6 months old this month and you can already see that he is going to raise his sons, along with his wife, in the same values and restrictive manner that his parents raised him.

[Number3124]

the ratings dont work vary well

[mphenterprises]

Hi Number. You are right, the ratings do not work very well. That is why the responsibility should be in the parents' hands.

[lilxkid24]

lol well my parents never cared what i watched excluding porn of course lol that goes for games too, i guess everyone is different lol

[KellieCM]

My parents never placed serious restrictions on what I could watch. They kept adult films and such away from me, but for the most part I got to watch whatever I wanted. They figured that if I was smart enough to understand it, I was probably old enough to deal with it. They tried, but often failed, to curb profanity around me. (My father likes to tell the story of when I was five and I started swearing at the dinner table, using words he claims that I learned from my mother. It honestly could have been either. I still have a potty mouth!)

I don't have kids, and unless there is a radical alteration of my life course, I'm not going to. But I think that I would follow the same philosophy of my parents -- use the ratings as a general guide, but judge mostly on the intelligence and emotional maturity of the child. I think that the best anyone can do is to set age-related guidelines, but they are not magic numbers. A child is no different the day before his or her 13th birthday than they are on their 13th birthday. To say that the child cannot handle a PG-13 movie one day and can the next is just absurd.

[Requiem]

If I decide to have kids, I will let them watch what they want. Mainly for the reason of them being open-minded.

[lilxkid24]

lol mines basically same as yours requiem

[Number3124]

some pg-pg13 stuff sould be rated r or even nc-13

[techie4fun]

I think ratings are a necessity for any movie in theaters. Ratings give parents ways of protecting their children from harmful media. Without the rating systems it would be so unimaginable that I can't even comprehend the seriousness that would involve watching a movie without knowing the rating. How are you to know what's in the movie? And I wouldn't just use it to protect my children, but to protect myself for that matter.

[techie4fun]

Sometimes the ratings are not as they should be too.. Let's take the latest "R" movie and compare the content in it and see what the national rating agency says for anything to NC-17. I wonder how many "R" rated movies would make that category.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Number and Techie. I think it all goes back to the parents and the maturity level of the child. As we all know, the ratings can be skewed. If a parent feels his or her child is mature enough to watch a particular show, that parent should be the final say. The ratings should only be a guideline. I mean think about it, some Simpsons episodes are TV PG. Some South Park episodes are TV 14. Where is the line?

If the parents feels his or her child can handle a particular show, than who can tell that parent otherwise.

[lilxkid24]

man if southpark was uncensored it would be so rated r lol. Like southpark the movie lol it was hilarious with all the uncensored cursing and whatsoever.

[Requiem]

Southpark is too vulgar for me.

[AuroraDizon]

you know in some other countries they don't censor swear words. I was watching bigger longer and uncut a while back and they played it uncensored I was amazed telling my friend who was in Australia. She was like.. so? lol

[mphenterprises]

This is one thing that I have always felt. America, as a whole, is a very censored and conservative country. Some of the things that are shown on television in other countries would make people in this country cringe.

[AuroraDizon]

For me its rather a catch 22 situation. I think the reason for it is that we have been heavily influenced by the church. At least we were and it still reflects today, such as buying alchol on Sundays (well I can't in Minnesota anyway I know you can in other countries.)

I wouldn't want to see naked people on tv or kids magazines like in Japan (manga etc). They have different standards, I guess you also have to look at what you are use too. However in adult programs (ranging from anything from Family Guy to even the occasional sitcom like Scrubs or even family all around family shows like Still Standing) I wouldn't mind swearing being allowed. For now of course the more vulgar shows would get a broader range of usage while other shows would get a few. I guess they have sort of done that anyway though. Is it a decrease in morality to show and say these things more in a public setting or is it an expression of free thought etc. I would say that you don't always need to say f this and f that to get your point across. A more eloquently worded response on tv would go further to making many points and even add dimensions to the script.

[mphenterprises]

See, I feel the same way. Call me a hypocrite, but I want it both ways. I do not curse at all; however, I do not like censorship. I have not listened to radio in about six years, ever since mp3s became the norm. I do not watch movies on regular television, because of commercials and censorship. I would rather hear and watch something as the artist or producer created it and not with a bunch of bleeps or terrible dubbing.

[Cosmo]

This reminds me of the Naruto series being dubbed into Arabic. They censored pretty much everything, including Shino's legs.

Censorship takes a work of art and destroys it.

[mphenterprises]

:D I know what you mean. LOL What some countries call art, the United States calls it pornography.... LOL I wish we still had the "eye rolling" image. LOL