What types of media do you limit your children's access to?

[rin]

If you don't give your kids unlimited access to whatever types of media they want, do you have different standards for different types of media? For example, do you limit your children's access to certain kinds of movies, but allow them unlimited access to books? Do you try to screen all their media consumption? (To clarify, I'm not talking about limiting the number of minutes in a day they can watch TV or surf the web, but more whether you put restrictions on WHAT they can access.)

[ahisma]

Our kids are 4, 6 and 14. They don't have unrestricted access to anything. That comes with adulthood. Obviously, the 14 yo has much more access than the younger kids. She generally comes to me know if she sees something as questionable. She's proven to be pretty good judge of what is acceptable - which is a good thing because she'll be in college before we know it. With her, there is little that is banned, but some things that require conversation first.

Our 4 and 6 yo have limited screen access and have content restrictions for violence, because the 4 yo isn't able to exert personal control yet and tends to act things out in inappropriate ways (banning super heroes was hard for my DH!). They are great at sticking to what's allowed on Netflix and don''t push the limits (yet). Their preferences, aside from super heroes, tend toward things that are unrestricted in respects to content.

They have free access to any book on their shelves. I'm not sure that we own anything that would be off-limits, but it's possible I suppose.

Other screen time is regulated - rarely more than 15 minutes at a time. Content is regulated I suppose, but they've never asked for anything that would bother me. They like doing math online.

[niccig]

It's all restricted and the restrictions will change as he gets older. DS is 8 yo

DH made a play list of songs that don't have cuss words in them, but it's adult music as DH and I can't stand kid's songs, so DS has been listening to Cold Play, Foo Fighters, Prince since he was little. Favorite band at the moment is Mumford and Sons. He did go to a Mumford and Son's concert and it wasn't the radio version of their songs (which is what we play in the car), but DS has heard the F word before, thanks to me, and knows not to repeat it, so occasional swearing isn't something we worry too much about it - it's all the time I don't want. DH is always introducing him to new music.

Video games - he has skylanders, lego star wars etc. No gun shooting video games yet.

Computer - he has to ask to use it. Normally it's to check out lego.com or some other toy.

Movies - DS doesn't like anything that is too intense or scary. He's seen lots of movies, as DH works in movie industry, but DH prescreens - either DH has seen it at work or knows someone who worked on the movie to get their opinion.

TV - we DVR everything. I can't stand the live action kids shows with the canned laugh track. Drive me crazy. So for now it's animated shows like Phienas and Ferb, or Ultimate Spiderman. He also enjoys Mythbusters or Top Gear.

Books - same as the others, we read a lot to him but are selective in choices. We read first 4 HP, but have held off on rest, read the Hobbit but not LofR, read the Guardian's series. So far we haven't had to deal with him wanting to read anything we think isn't appropriate.

I asked DH about the Hunger Game, either book or movie, he's read the books and worked on first movie, his reaction was hell no for DS at 8 or 9. He said the fight scenes are too intense. He disagrees with how movies are given ratings - eg. can show violence but not fart jokes, so we don't go by ratings alone. We may also agree to a movie to watch at home, but not in the theatre. Once you get the dark theater, huge screen, loud surround sound, it's a more intense experience than at home on smaller screen, lights on etc.

So far there hasn't been any peer pressure on DS to watch/read anything in particular. Maybe he's too young for that, he's only grade 2. Boys in his class were talking about the Avenger's movie. DH said it was too much for DS, but DS has seen some of the cartoons on TV, saw the trailers so he knew some scenes eg, Hulk hitting Loki etc. He also has an avenger comic book that explains all the characters. It didn't seem to be an issue that he hadn't seen it, and I know he wasn't the only boy in his class who didn't see it.

ETA. I should add that while we limit media content, DS does know about certain issues eg. Newton shooting, 9/11, civil rights movement, gay marriage, how babies are made. But all of this he has heard from us with age appropriate details. I prefer to explain difficult topics to him than him hear about it from someone/somewhere else. As he gets older, I can see us discussing issues before he's allowed to read something/watch a movie.

[queenmama]

DS is almost 13 and his media is more restricted than that of his peers.

Almost all of his friends have smartphones and he does not and will not as long as he's on our plan. No TV or computer in his room (both are in "family" spaces in plain sight). Consequently, he isn't allowed full access to the internet.

We don't really censor what he reads but it wouldn't occur to him to read anything inappropriate (yet! yikes!).

We do keep an eye on what he watches, be it TV (almost exclusively downloaded or streamed) or movies. We aren't trying to keep him in a bubble but we know once a door is opened (to certain content) there is no going back. We do allow just about any fantasy or sci-fi or comic book shows or movies and have done since he was very young, and many of those have related violence. We have never been concerned about it since it is all committed with light sabers or wands or other "pretend" weapons. Most of his friends are allowed to watch R movies but we avoid realistic violence, adult language, and sex, so that usually limits us to PG-13. I do read the parent advisories regardless, and he wasn't allowed to watch X-Men First Class (rated PG-13), for example, due to a lot of sexual/suggestive scenes.

Video games aren't much of an issue. Most of what he plays are Lego versions of Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, etc. He has a couple of racing games and a couple of disks with several games each. All pretty tame stuff.

As far as music, when we're in the car it is only NPR, KLOVE or Air 1 unless we're using our mp3 players. I just don't trust mainstream radio. At home he can listen to his own mp3 player or CDs, and both are limited more out of practicality; we have one program for all of our music and there's nothing we have that we wouldn't want him to hear. He's been listening to "adult" music and going to concerts with us since he was 3, so he has great taste. ;)


Lara

[scriptkitten]

age 4.5. everything is restricted.

- tv/cartoons with commercials
- violent tv including superheros. its a real struggle to find superheros that aren't talking potty mouth (looking at you superhero squad) or needlessly violent
- news
- violent images.

we listen to pop music stations as well as npr in the car. luckily the local pop radio hasn't even done anything offensive and its just a marathon of taylor swift and such.

[AnnieW625]

If I had voted before reading the responses I probably would have voted that she has no restrictions because we let at least DD1 have acess to all of those mediums.

TV: that is limited to Disney (Regular, XD, and Jr.--although the amount of the commercials on XD drives me bonkers, and XD is just watched for Phinneas & Ferb), PBS, Nickelodeon, and her new favorite MeTV because it has the orginal Batman series, and The Brady Bunch. She has also seen Pawn Stars with me and DH, The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, and random car related shows like Trucks!, and Top Gear or other military history shows because DH likes them. We definitely limit any show that has a lot of guns and or violence and foul language. If they are talking about a murder, kidnapping or other violent thing on the news the news goes off as well. I try to avoid the tween/preteen shows like Shake It Up and ANT Farm, but Jessie, Good Luck Charlie, and Austin & Ally are okay. I migh even be okay with Hannah Montana now that there is very much out of the mainstream media. She doesn't know about Newton, or the full details about the Christopher Dorner case (ex LAPD who went on a shooting spree recently here killing 4 people), but she does know a bit about some of the wars that have taken place in the past (Civil War, and WWII) due to DH liking to watch documentaries. She learned about Martin Luther King this past month so we talked a lot about equality.

Movies: same rules as the tv. We electively let her watch her PG movies. She has seen bits and pieces of all 6 Star Wars movies, Shrek series, How to Train Yoir Dragon, and others. She has seen bits if Avatar at my in laws and at first I was nervous about her seeing it, but we were able to be selective about the parts she saw, it was dinner time during X part so the movie turned off, but when we turned it back it was past the questionable part, and then it was bath time during Y part and she believed us when we said the movie was over.

Video Games: she has a Nintendo DS with Mario Kart, Build A Bear, and a National Geographic adventure game. She has a Leap Pad as well, but it gets less play. We do not have a video game system.

Books: she reads a lot of Fairy books, and a lot of Magic Tree House. She has never mentioned wanting to read Harry Potter, but she has seen bits of the first 3 movies. I would like to eventually read The Little House books to her, which my mom read to me when I was her age.

Internet: she visits PBS Kids, Disney Jr., American Girl, and Nick Jr. the most. Sometimes she will see a site and visit it based on what she saw on TV like Stompeez slippers, but I usually catch that.

Music: 99% of the time now we listen to adult music. I have the edited versions of some Katy Perry songs on my IPod. She likes those and some of Lady Gaga as well. She likes the Fun. songs, and also likes Journey, and Van Halen. I have caught her singing along to some Journey songs and it makes me smile.

Magazines: DH is a member of the NRA so we get an issue of American Rifleman every month. It usually gets read within a couple of days by DH or myself. DD1 knows what a gun is and what it us and is not used for. I have a subscription to Lucky Magazine (free with a Shoe Buy purchase), but other than that nothing else. If I had more money I would get People Weekly, but that is my guilty pleasure for haircuts, and or pedicures these days.

[egoldber]

Despite what people may think about me from the HG thread :) we limit access to most of these things for both kids to at least some degree.

It is much harder to limit younger DD since older DD is 5 years older. That is one definite disadvantage to the wider age spread.

Older DD feels particularly deprived compared to her peers. I am pretty shocked that most parents of 6th graders allow their kids to watch pretty much whatever they want. She used to be content with shows for young kids but in the last couple years, she really wants shows that are more interesting. She has started watching a lot of scifi/fantasy shows. She watches Dr. Who, Merlin, Sherlock, etc.

What I restrict access the most to is "news". I find that news, especially TV news, gives a much scarier vision of the world than is accurate. I am more concerned about a warped perception of the world that my kids will get from over sensationalized TV news coverage than I am of a fiction novel (for example).


We don't really censor what he reads but it wouldn't occur to him to read anything inappropriate (yet! yikes!).

I remember kids loaning each other books in 6th grade at school. We read them during school so our parents wouldn't know....

[AnnieW625]

duplicate post

[AnnieW625]

......

I remember kids loaning each other books in 6th grade at school. We read them during school so our parents wouldn't know....

So true;)

At 12 I remember going to the library on my own and reading a book about puberty. I checked if out, and hid it under my pillow. I usually had to make my bed before I left for school so I was pretty certain my parents never found it.

I read Forever when I was 11 or 12 as well (my best friend who was a year older leant it to me). Funny story many years later my best friend moved to Colorado after college graduation and her mom brought me a bunch of her old books thinking I might like them (I was 22 as well, but matbe she thought my sister would like them, she was 12 then) and then she handed me Forever and thought I might like it back after all of those years had passed. Little did she know it was her daughter's book first. I think I still have that book oy bookshelf. He he.

[georgiegirl]

My kids are pretty limited. Dd is almost 7 and DS is 3.5.

For TV, they only watch preschool programming, PBS kids, Disney Jr, and Nick Jr. I don't even let DD watch Phinneas and Ferb, mostly because I think DS is too young and i dont like shows with commercials. mShe still happy watching curious George and DocMc Stuffins. We also let them watch sports, like NFL and tennis. DD knows now to change channels and use the DVR, but she only selects appropriate shows.

Movies, pretty much G and some PG movies. DD likes Cat in the Hat (mike Meyers), Muppets, Madeline, animated disney/Pixar movies, etc. she has seen Star Wars, but not the newer violent ones. DS really only likes Cars, Wal-e, and other tame movies.

Neither surfs the Internet. Just appropriate apps on the ipad.

Music, so far only kids music. We listen to Bare Naked Ladies Snacktime and other kid music. I will probably let DD listen to appropriate pop music soon.

Books, DD pretty much just reads Rainbow Magic Fairies and Magic Treehouse. We did get her "Its not the Stork," to learn about where babies come from. But it's rated age 4+. So she kind of knows about the birds and the bees. So far she has no interest in reading inappropriate books.

No video games here either. Just ipad games, most of which are educational. I think video games are more of an issue with boys, which I will have to deal with in a few years.

[JBaxter]

I don't exactly sensor but I am aware of what Nathan reads and does on the computer. He's pretty sensitive to violence so doesn't gravitate to anything like that. We mainly watch Disney Channel or animated movies/ shows. He has no violent video games. Honestly most of his restrictions are self imposed. At 9 he refuses to watch or read Harry Potter because it has witch craft `~ again this is his choice.

Jack is dying to watch sponge bob ( not allowed here because it drives me nuts)

[maestramommy]

TV - We don't have cable, not even network really. We get ABC and some other language channels so it's limited by default.

Video - besides when we are at other people's houses, they watch what we have/get for them. Even if we go to the library they borrow stuff they are a little more familiar with, so it's limited in that way. They're phasing out of Dora and Blues Clues, though they will watch occasionally. Full length movies would be old Disney (aristocats, mary poppins, winne the pooh), Mulan, and a few of the younger Miyazaki films. We have a couple of Mister Rogers episodes and a Sesame Street Old school set. They only watch on Friday afternoons for an hour or so. It's not enough time to get any more variety.

Internet - they are not on the internet, except for video games

video games - I did just start letting them play on a barbie games website, I screened some games beforehand and showed them which ones they are a allowed to play. It's just to make sure they aren't going to see any subversive female stereotype messages. Some of the games are silly but not bad, iykwim. otherwise it's starfall.com, pbskids.org for printouts.

books - we generally put out what we think they are able to read, based on what they bring home from the school library. I have a whole shelf full of older books, but they haven't expressed any interest. They think they are MY books, which they are, lol.

Mags - They have babybug and ladybug. Other than that it's the Atlantic.

Music - Most of it is kid music, but it's honestly not bad, not annoying. We also have Allison Krauss and the Piano Guys in our car, which is their current favorite. We do occasionally play our own stuff on road trips but I have to do it when they are sleeping or in on the rule of taking turns, but because they don't like it yet.

[Cam&Clay]

I read Forever when I was 11 or 12 as well (my best friend who was a year older leant it to me). Funny story many years later my best friend moved to Colorado after college graduation and her mom brought me a bunch of her old books thinking I might like them (I was 22 as well, but matbe she thought my sister would like them, she was 12 then) and then she handed me Forever and thought I might like it back after all of those years had passed. Little did she know it was her daughter's book first. I think I still have that book oy bookshelf. He he.

Oh, Forever, how I loved you so! I was the evil child of a liberal mother who gave it to me to read in the 5th grade. I took it to a slumber party.

[crayonblue]

Despite what people may think about me from the HG thread :) we limit access to most of these things for both kids to at least some degree.


I realized after I wrote my reply that it might have come across as harsh so sorry about that!

As far as limiting access--a biggie for me is to not have books in our home that we don't want DD1 to read. Sure, we have books that are too old for her as far as difficult subject matter but I'm talking graphic sex and such. I sneaked books out of my mom's room and read things that I should NEVER have read at 9/10 years old. I'm guessing there are plenty of little 50 Shades readers.

[queenmama]

I remember kids loaning each other books in 6th grade at school. We read them during school so our parents wouldn't know....

I would worry but he is at a busy IDS and his day is jam packed! DH went to a tiny Christian school and he remembers boys sneaking Playboys into school! :eek: I'm not saying such a thing is impossible at DS' school, I just don't know when they'd find the time! Maybe quick peeks at lunch or something, but they don't have recess or breaks.


Lara

[dogmom]

I would worry but he is at a busy IDS and his day is jam packed! DH went to a tiny Christian school and he remembers boys sneaking Playboys into school! :eek: I'm not saying such a thing is impossible at DS' school, I just don't know when they'd find the time! Maybe quick peeks at lunch or something, but they don't have recess or breaks.


Lara

Honey, they don't need to sneak Playboys, they got the internet. We had a local school district computer system went down because they tried to uninstall a virus/hack the circumvented the program that screened internet access. Just need a friend with a smart phone.

And for the pp comment about boys and video games. Wrong in this house. My DD is picking it up quicker than my DS, and my DS quickly grasped a problem and solved it in Portal 2 faster than my DH could even start thinking about it. And we are a gaming family. Just scary how quickly they get this stuff. She is currently showing one of her friends who is over for a playdate now her Minecraft house.

TO the OP: We prescreen video games and do let them play stuff other people wouldn't, but we have a pretty good understanding. Borderlands or Diablo, OK for 10 yo playing with dad. Modern Warfare or Call of Duty, nope.

[dogmom]

Oh, Forever, how I loved you so! I was the evil child of a liberal mother who gave it to me to read in the 5th grade. I took it to a slumber party.

Carrie if 4th grade. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why they would ring a "period" bell for girls having their period? That seemed a little odd. Then I went to middle school and said, "Oh, THAT period bell."