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Originally Posted by Toy Soldier
See... I agree and disagree really. I disagree in that, it doesn't work like that. Parental controls are BS for the mostpart - kids are tech savvy by 8 these days - it's like filling a room with toys and putting a knee high barrier that says "DON'T GO IN HERE!" in front of it. Secondly, when kids are out of the house you can't control what they're going to see no matter how many conversations you have with other kids parents, etc... it's just not how it works... my opinion is sort of more along the lines of "if you don't want your kids to see this stuff and still live a full social existence, tough ****, they're gonna see it."
You either accept that kids are going to see stuff not intended for kids... or you lock them in a room wrapped in cotton wool. It's that simple, there's no inbetween  . However that's where...
This part comes in, which I totally agree with. You can't go around dictating what's "allowed to exist" because of what your kids might see. You have to accept that they will, and gear yourself towards helping them to understand and put these things in context. In my opinion, it's the kids who are sheltered from these things only to naturally encounter them as teenagers / young adults who struggle MORE to separate entertainment from reality.
So yeah. I disagree that it's even possible for, let alone the responsibility of, a parent to fully shelter a child from these things no matter how much they might want to. It can't be done. But at the same time, I don't think that means the world needs to shift or "censor itself" to fit around kids. They're going to see it. Parent's job is simply to guide them through understanding and contextualizing what they're seeing .
I mean let's face it, kids are ****ing bizarre anyway. My daughter has no problem with horror films, GTA, Resident Evil etc... she dressed up as a corpse bride for Halloween that was genuinely scary (she won the costume competition  ) ... but she is absolutely TERRIFIED of the Minecraft skeletons. Terrified. Like screeching, tears, full on panicked terror.
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My point about parents was always aimed at the Mary Whitehouses and Helen Lovejoys of the world who think that everything and everyone should revolve and bend to the whims and needs of their child. The kinds of people that would complain to ofcom about a TV show instead of flicking over the channel and watching something else.
I don't think all parents should be responsible for shielding their children, like I said before, providing the child with the correct context is far more important. I just think that (like I also said before) the Marys and the Helens of parenting should take that responsibility of shielding their own kids since they tend to believe the world should change for their benefit. The world won't change for anyone and most parents understand that but I'd rather busybody parents take responsibility for their own methods of parenting rather than trying to force child friendliness upon the world.