Up until now, my 10 year old has been happily going through life watching things like Toy Story, where the most traumatic thing that happens is The Jessie Song, or a lot of holding hands toys as they slip towards an imminent death.
Or Finding Nemo, where Nemo’s mummy gets eaten at the very beginning. Gulp. (I can feel myself welling up just thinking about it…)
Not now though, as he’s recently started reading the Harry Potter books, and is loving them.
As I’m a huge Harry Potter fan geek myself, I already own all the Harry Potter films so he’s naturally wanting to watch them all.
Which is all well and good if you’re watching the first 3 films, as they’re rated a PG.
What happens if you get past watching them though, and then want to watch the next in the series?
The film ratings turn to a 12 when you get to book 4, and The Goblet of Fire, as scary old Voldemort (sorry, He Who Must Not Be Named) comes back to life and starts killing people willy nilly, with his Death Eater crones flying about and killing people too.
I’ve let him watch a couple of them, and he doesn’t seem traumatised. If he has been, it can’t have been too bad as he’s since watched them over and over again.
The 6 year old isn’t allowed to watch them though, which is tricky as he’s disgusted that’s he’s not allowed when his brother is. Although I’ve let him watch the first one as that’s not too bad, and a PG. He loved it.
One solution to the 12 rating and 6 year old not being allowed to watch is watching one on a Saturday night when there’s no school the next morning to get up for so can go to bed a bit later, and the 6 year old is snoozing away in bed.
There’s not a chance 10 year old is watching anything scarier than Harry Potter yet though.
Maybe Spiderman next.
My 6-year-old has just started wanting to watch more grown up things. Fortunately, at the moment his tastes are in the direction of documentaries on volcanoes or the solar system, so no hard decisions for me just yet! But I know it’s just around the corner.
It’s such a difficult decision. My husband lets our 6 year old watch Star Wars (original). I personally think he is too young.
I think each child is different, we let our 9 year old watch some 12A films, we tend to watch them first to decide if they are ok for him.
The biggest issue is the wide range of what is considered acceptable within a 12 rating. My 10 year old is allowed to watch most 12 rated films now bit she is rather mature for her age and we pre watch them. My husband is more lenient with what the kids are allowed to watch than I am violence wise bit more strict with romance.