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Were You Allowed To Watch R-rated Movies as a Child? Will You Let Your Kid?

  • I was / I will

    Votes: 316 60.9%
  • I was / I will not

    Votes: 75 14.5%
  • I was not / I will

    Votes: 29 5.6%
  • I was not / I will not

    Votes: 99 19.1%

  • Total voters
    519

GamerJM

Member
Nov 8, 2017
15,630
No. If I ever have kids it'll depend on the movie. I wouldn't let my kids watch anything like...idk, American Sniper, that's violent in a militaristic way.
 

I Don't Like

Member
Dec 11, 2017
14,908
except for a short period living with my great aunt, yes. I was raised by Russians and Brits who don't give a fuck about stuff like that.
 

Zorg1000

Banned
Jul 22, 2019
1,750
I saw Stir of Echoes & The Cell in theaters when I was 7/8, sometimes I wonder what the hell my parents were thinking taking me to see movies like that at such a young age.

My oldest daughter turns 7 this summer and there is no way i would let her watch things like that yet.
 

Zej

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
913
The rating is a factor to assist, but it will always come down to the kid and the content.
 
Oct 27, 2017
5,856
Mount Airy, MD
I was, and I raised my kids on all of my favorite shit.

They've been avid fans of horror in particular for a long time. I took them to see Midsommar last year and my youngest said it was easily one of her favorites.
 

Psychonaut

Member
Jan 11, 2018
3,207
I was allowed to watch R-rated films. My parents were far more concerned with age-appropriate games, hence why I was able to watch Pulp Fiction at 12 years old while my mother wrung her hands about me getting Tony Hawk Underground for Christmas.

I'm not going to have kids, but if I did I would let them watch R-rated films. Honestly, kids movies exempted because they'd be watching those straight out of the womb, I would kind of want my kids to have a somewhat chronological experience of film as a medium. I'm not gonna get them started on Birth of a Nation or anything, but I do kinda feel like my film brain was broken by getting deep into Tarantino before going backward to dig into his inspirations. I could see a kid getting some mileage out of Chaplin, Astaire, or Capra depending on the personality.

This is why I'll never have children. I would treat them as experiments.
 

Dremorak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,707
New Zealand
My kids can't get through the Lion King yet (6 and 7)
They got very upset when Mufasa was killed.

I am trying to slowly warm them up to stuff, we watched Escape From Witch Mountain with the Rock the other day and they quite liked it
even tho its pretty intense action, lots of explosions and fights and chases and whatnot.

I really can't wait till we can watch Marvel movies etc togther, no real interest in showing them horror movies or hard action.

TBH outside of action movies, most R-rated stuff nowadays seems to be using it as a sales pitch, and they fucking insert whatever fucking
words they fucking well want to hit the fucking rating they are fucking going for.
 

Jeffolation

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,117
My child is not getting to the age of ten without seeing Robocop/Aliens/Predator/Terminator/Die Hard. This is the way.
 

Starwing

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 31, 2018
4,119
So as long it didn't have sex/nudity, it was fair game in when I was growing up.
 

smurfx

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,578
yeah i watched a ton of R rated horror and action movies as a kid. will i let my kids watch? maybe it will depend on the movie.
 

TheBryanJZX90

Member
Nov 29, 2017
3,017
I am not really seeing how it's appropriate to take a kid to see Deadpool with the only justification that you don't want to wait
 

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,946
My stepbrother woukdt let me but dad would sneakily let me watch them. Aliens, T2, Predator, Robocop.

My daughter is 12 and I'm allowing get to watch some with me-depends on the film. She's really interested in filmmaking so I let her watch 1917 because she was interested in the one shot technique.
 

Aranjah

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,185
I think I was generally allowed to (with exceptions, probably) but I wasn't particularly interested until I was at least ~12 or 13. I think I saw Matrix around then.

I probably wouldn't say "yeah, sure watch whatever you want!" but I'd probably let a kid I thought was mature enough to handle it watch an R-rated movie. I'd want to pre-screen it so that I could make that judgement call, though.
 

ArchedThunder

Uncle Beerus
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,061
Define "child", are you meaning a very specific age range? I wasn't allowed to watch R rated movies until I was 10, with a couple exceptions and even then it was only when watching with the family.
 

WarMacheen

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,541
Terminator, Friday 13, Nightmare on elm street.

Watched them all

Absolutely will not let my kids watch them.
 

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,152
my parents took it on a movie by movie basis

probably the "wrong" way to go about it but different times. back then it was wink wink nod nod enjoy your stupid shit like friday the 13th or elm street or whatever

i'd never do that with my kids but again different times, you had luxury to freak out about blood in games or whatever
 

Faenix1

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,114
Canada
I was basically allowed to play or watch whatever, as long as it wasn't AO.

I also wouldn't really care, unless it really effected the kid.
 

Boy

Member
Apr 24, 2018
4,562
I used to watch all of the horror movies with my mom as a kid. It was something me and my mom always did together. In general i never had any kind of limit as long as it's not porn.

I don't have any kids, so i don't know how i would feel about it, most likely not.
 
Nov 1, 2017
8,061
Violence, sex, such things didn't mean anything at all. In that era some kids movies had both, if not the quest for the latter.

It was the style of the time.
 

Indelible

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,668
Canada
Yep, I was able to watch stuff like Robocop and The Fly at a very young age. Probably the reason I'am so desensitized to violence.
 

theSoularian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,252
Commando and Die Hard were amongst the first movies I ever saw. When I was a kid, my grandmothers brother got her a VHS player and he would also get movies from him. I grew up in a small community in Jamaica —at the time, there wasn't that many people who had a VHS let alone a televsion. G, PG, PG-13, R....we were oblivous to movie ratings lol. When got a new movie we all gather around and watch, and if didn't get any new ones for a while we would re-watch the ones we have.
 

learning

Member
Jan 4, 2019
708
I don't think my parents let me watch R-rated stuff. I may have seen some, though.

I don't plan on showing anything like that to potential kids. Too impressionable.
 
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MrConbon210

Member
Oct 31, 2017
7,648
One of my favorite childhood films was The Matrix. I would watch it on repeat as a little kid. When I had a babysitter from time to time they were always confused lol. My parents only had an issue with nudity which I honestly don't find the big deal about. We would skip through the scene in Matrix Reloaded.
 
Oct 25, 2017
16,282
Cincinnati
I used to watch them all the time when I was a kid, they didn't lead to any negative effects. However, I will be far more selective than my parents and grand parents were with my children. (I already have a 5 and 3 year old and they sure as hell aren't watching R rated things yet). I won't say no but I will say it depends on the movie, what is actual in the movie and how old they are.
 

Book One

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,819
I didn't much, and I don't let my kids.

I'm a firm believer in there being some things that kids can't really process to a healthy degree at young ages
 

Rygar 8Bit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,871
Site-15
Raised on horror/slasher and action movies. I'd let my kids watch whatever they wanted, and just watch their reactions. If it's too much then I'd stop it and explain it to them and see if they wanted to continue with it.
 

Kevers

The Fallen
Oct 29, 2017
14,566
Syracuse, NY
I got Terminator 2 on VHS for Christmas the year it came out, I was 6 I think. My mom generally didn't give much of a shit until Jurassic Park. I wasn't allowed to see it in theaters because another friend saw it and his mother told mine that he was terrified. I had to wait for the VHS release. I also saw Scream when I was 10, and Something About Mary at 12, and even went with my mom and her friends to see Halloween H20 and Scary Movie in the theaters.


Edit: I really wanted to see Batman Returns but my cousin told my mom how violent it was and she said no. What a fucker. She also let me watch Rocky Horror Picture Show at like 6 or 7.
 
Last edited:

Jotakori

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,184
I remember not being allowed to watch R rated films when I was really young, like below 10? But I got a TV in my room pretty early so I snuck-watched whatever I wanted lol. During my early teens/tweens I recall things getting much more lax, although still a little controlled. Once I fully moved in with my mom around 7th grade I was basically given full reign to do whatever I wanted, though. Plus side of being a chill, behaved child with an easy going single parent. :^))

I don't plan to have kids, but if by some weird stroke of life I did, I'd probably follow a similar path -- although it'd highly depend on the kid's temperament and the movies in question of course. Like for myself, once I hit around 7/8 I never recall having any issues with media scaring or upsetting me -- I knew what was real and what wasn't so I never had any problems. But I def recall kids growing up that absolutely could not handle any kind of scary media (heck, I have a friend now like this). It'd really just all depend.
 

atomsk eater

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,830
Depended on the movie, but usually yes if my mom was watching. Only rules were don't repeat bad words and look away during sex scenes. If I have kids, I would let them watch R rated movies provided they aren't like 5 and I know the reason the movie is R rated.
 

gutter_trash

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
17,124
Montreal
Many toys in the 80s were based off 18 rated movies.

Aliens, Terminator, Robocop etc. Saw them all.
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Geist

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,579

Snormy

I'll think about it
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
5,119
Morizora's Forest
I did watch them fairly freely. If I had kids, I would decide based on film, age/behaviour and contents that gave the classification. Whether or not an adult is watching with them is worth considering too.

Lets be honest, ratings can be inconsistent too. The King's Speech, Love is Strange and the Matrix is R too IIRC. Classification can also change depending which review board/region or just get revised over time.

To me, these classifications are just a guide/quick reference. I can review its contents online and make the decision myself.

If I can't decide on the spot, I'll let the kid watch something else. I can review the film in question when I find the time and then we can watch it afterwards (or when they are older).

I'm also fairly confident that kids will watch stuff at friend's place etc. I'd rather be open to the conversation and know what they are watching rather than just flat out "No R movies" which just means keeping secrets from me really.
 

Neece

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,200
Depends on the kid and depends on the movie.

They can watch The Wire with me if they want and that has drugs, cursing, sex, and violence but they ain't watching Requiem For a Dream with me.
 

Rhomega

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,631
Arizona
I did see Braveheart, Runaway, and Saving Private Ryan in my teens, but I avoided R-rated movies because my parents told me to when I was 6. That's why I didn't see the Terminator movies until I was 26, and I didn't see The Matrix until later.

Oh, and I'm not having kids.
 

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,580
Tbh I should probably never have kids but as an exmormon I can trace most of my social anxiety and depression to my repressive childhood. Not saying I'm going to watch porn with them, but the last thing I want to do is make my kids afraid of their own bodies like I was.

I misunderstood your post, I thought you said that violence was fine but not nudity lol
 

carlsojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
33,822
San Francisco
I saw Scream at age ten. It really depends on the movie and how mature my kid is. The R rating is frankly meaningless. The whole rating system is meaningless.