How strict were your parents on what you could watch when you were growing up?

[Leemaster777]

Like the title suggests, when you were a kid, what would your parents let you get away with in terms of what you could watch?

As for me, my parents were fairly loose on stuff I could watch. The only show my mom was ever sketchy on was Beavis and Butt-head. She didn't approve of my watching it... but I was never actively punished for watching it. Bear in mind, I was about 7 or 8 when Beavis and Butt-head was on the air.

Weirdly though, they never had an issue with South Park. I was 11 at the time, and they were totally cool with it. Hell, I even watched it WITH them.

Rated R movies are another that they were fairly lax on. Again, I can only think of ONE time where they didn't want me to watch a movie due to content, and it was just because of a sex scene (I don't remember how old I was, nor do I remember what the movie in question was). Bear in mind, they had NO problem letting me watch the movie Weekend at Bernie's 2 (which had at least one topless scene in it that I remember).

So yeah, I never really had to worry about whether or not what I was watching was appropriate, my parents were cool with it. What about the rest of you?

 

[Call Me Jose]

I remember my dad didn't want me watching the Simpsons when I was young but the one time I turned to it he didn't get mad nor did he seem to care, I never got into South Park, and while I don't have the cleanest mouth I don't enjoy hearing a curse word every few minutes. And Bevis and Butthead I could never get into because of the art style.

 

[Rawne1980]

Not very strict at all.

They were hardly around so my TV/films/music/games were watched over by my elder siblings who were about as trustworthy the man that drives the free candy van.

I got away with all sorts.

Found my dads porn film collection when I was 10. This was 1990 so the internet and PC's weren't up to much so this was all VHS.

Lots of VHS.

My dad was a perv.

 

[Leemaster777]

Not very strict at all.

They were hardly around so my TV/films/music/games were watched over by my elder siblings who were about as trustworthy the man that drives the free candy van.

I got away with all sorts.

Found my dads porn film collection when I was 10. This was 1990 so the internet and PC's weren't up to much so this was all VHS.

Lots of VHS.

My dad was a perv.

Ah, I know that feel. My dad had a subscription to Easy Rider, which is basically a magazine devoted to topless chicks on motorcycles. My dad was a huge biker back in the day, so I think that's why my mom let him get away with it.

By the time he got rid of it, there was a rather sizable amount of magazines stacked up in the shed.

 

[Aris Khandr]

My mother was fairly strict about what my brother and I could watch. She forbade the typical shows (Simpsons, Bevis and Butthead, South Park), and, being teenagers, my brother and I would sneak around to try to watch them anyway. The funny thing is, if she hadn't bothered to forbid those shows, I'd never have watched them. Especially the latter two, which were completely worthless except for their taboo status.

In turn, my father took me to see the South Park movie because he knew I liked cartoons. I walked out 10 minutes in and read a book in the lobby. He stayed and enjoyed the entire thing. I'm not sure what that says about my family.

 

[manic_depressive13]

They didn't give a crap what we watched. When I was 9/10 I was watching M and MA movies. I mostly avoided the violent stuff myself because it scared me. It's not that I wasn't allowed though. Occasionally even today my mum might walk in while I'm watching something violent and say "Ugh, how can you stand to look at that stuff?" but that's about it. She never tried to deprive my brother an I of it though. She just voiced disapproval and left it at that.

 

[Ryotknife]

I had like...4 channels growing up (ABC, Fox, CBS, and NBC) so....not very strict i guess.

They just got cable about 3-4 years ago, and they have no idea how to use it.

 

[thesilentman]

My mom and dad don't care as I'm mature enough to know what's real or fake.

...I'm a sophomore in high school. Not too young.

 

[FavouriteDream]

I don't think it is particularly good parenting to be a total helicopter parent when it comes to what children watch on TV. It's reasonable to not allow a five year old to watch Saw, but I had friends in school who weren't allowed to watch the Simpsons when they were 12 or 13. I think that's over the top, and I don't think it is a coincidence that they were the friends who ended up going off the rails.

You can never completely shelter your child from taboo subjects. I think it is best to let them watch shows that deal with mature themes (within reason) so they can build a framework of how to react to these things and how to process them.

And besides, what's the point trying to completely shelter your kid from mature topics anyway? Is it so they can find out when they're 15 and be eight years behind everyone else? What good will that do? That's just going to turn them into a weirdo.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

My family didn't really have TV until I was 11. I mean, we had a TV but we didn't have cable, even basic cable, all we had was a VCR that we watched movies on.

My parents weren't particularly strict about what I watched though. Growing up one of my favorite movies was Starship Troopers (which as we all know has violence, sex, and full frontal nudity), and my dad took me to watch The Matrix opening weekend when I was 9 in 1999.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

They weren't really strict because I really don't watch TV to begin with, but I mainly watched cartoons when I was little. I watched a lot of stuff with them as well and I don't ever remember when I wasn't allowed to watch anything since they didn't treat me with kid gloves.

I do remember watching Xena one time and my mom chuckling at me because a lot of the sub-context and implications went completely over my head.

 

[Nouw]

They're concerned but they don't/can't stop me. I find it a bit silly that they're still being concerned about my welfare when I've already seen mature content and surprise I'm fine.

 

[soren7550]

Ehh, my mother wasn't exactly active with watching what I was doing. Only instance I can remember or her saying I couldn't watch something was the episode of The Simpsons when Homer thinks about cheating on Marge with a coworker (yeah, possible adultery was a no-no, but child abuse, assault, adult situations and the like were a-ok). My father... he just watched whatever the hell he wanted and didn't take into consideration what would be a bit more age appropriate (I saw Conan the Barbarian, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Starship Troopers, and such when I was six).

 

[Kolby Jack]

Well, they wouldn't let me watch Red vs Blue or South Park as a kid, nor did they let me play Grand Theft Auto. Once I hit high school though I could pretty much watch or play whatever, although some games (like DOA: 4) warranted an awkward glance or two.

They also didn't allow me to swear as a kid at all. I once got soap in my mouth for saying "damn" in front of my Mom (I was 9 or 10 I think). Of course, now I swear all the fucking time, uninhibited by my work environment because EVERYONE swears a shitload in the Navy. Now my Dad swears around me a lot more than I remember him doing, so clearly he was holding back all those years. My Mom doesn't seem to mind the change though. We're all adults, after all.

 

[Terminate421]

My mom was nazi state on what I watched up until I was 5

 

[Boris Goodenough]

They let me watch and play everything, then again I saw more gore on the news at 19 than I ever did in action/horror movies/games.
And most sexual innuendo went right over my head.

 

[thiosk]

Very.

I didn't know that color television was a "thing" until 1997

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Very, very lenient. I remember watching the first Starship Troopers and Predator when I was extremely young, as well as Aliens. As far as sexual stuff goes, it was mostly just the odd sex scene in a movie for most of my younger years, but once I reached age 13-14 and etc, they had no problem with me watching porn or whatever (in private, of course). So yeah, I am lucky I suppose to have a very understanding family, one that remembers that they too, once upon a time, were young.