Story Time. Are you serious?(Too Young?)

[TheComedown]

Well today after work I was down at JB Hi-Fi and browsing the PC games as you do. While I'm standing back seeing whats cheap or tickles my fancy, A mother and her 2 kids, a boy and a girl, no older then 10 (probably 8-9ish), walk by and said mother picks up dead rising 2 and says "Here's a zombie game you might like" to the boy, (the girl wonders around the corner now, not interested). I didn't exactly catch what was said next, something along the lines of "can I get 2 games for my birthday" from the boy, and the mother mentioning that "You'll have to wait for Black ops".

I stood there speechless as this person just offered her 8-9 year old son 2 games both rated MA15+ (Aus, they'd be R 18+ elsewhere yeah?) I couldn't figure out what the fuck just happened. She seemed to know at least a little bit about the games (she got the names right, thats more then most parents) yet offered her 8 year old freaking Dead Rising. Man I wasn't even allowed to watch the Simpsons when I was 8.

TLR Mum suggests 8 year old would enjoy Dead Rising.

Now did that boy have is mum whipped or is she crazy ignorant, or just a bad parent? Or am I crazy in thinking something is wrong here?

 

[Calbeck]

Some folks just consider the PC or Xbox to be what the TV used to be: something to stick the kids in front of so they'll be (mostly) quiet while you go do something not involving them.

 

[Astoria]

Sadly this doesn't surprise me. I've noticed that parents don't tend to place any restrictions regrading to what their kids can watch/play these days

 

[theravensclaw]

this happens all the time.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

Jesus Christ. My parents used to be crazy strict with age restrictions on games. Up until I was 13 I couldn't play anything that was rater 15+ and I was only allowing play anything rated 18+ when I was 15.

 

[TheComedown]

See. At least when games get legally restricted to their age rating we can go right ahead and directly blame parents like this if their kid goes nuts and takes a bite outta someone.

But yeah, totally bad parent. Probably just leaves the 360 to raise her little **** children for her.

PC, they specifically mentioned the PC, and we where in the PC section.

One of the best advantages for the pc was that its not the easiest platform to get into, thus limiting the number of little kids, now kids have parents loaded enough (or at least bent over far enough) that they will fork out for these kinds of PCs.

I guess the platform of choice was also a big surprise, but I would have been a little less surprised if they where talking about the xbox.

 

[MeputthecaninthebininHL2]

This is why we can't have good things.

 

[Acton Hank]

The fact that your parents wouldn't let you watch the Simpsons when you were 8 explains a lot.

It's perfectly fine to me.
I played GTA 3 when I was 8, I watched rated R movies even before I was 8 and the reason my parents let me do those things is because they knew I could handle it.
Besides, shielding kids from rated R stuff does more harm than good in the long run.

 

[Palademon]

I once walked into Game to see a 7 year old buy Gears 2.
A seperate occasion in a different branch I saw an employee telling an undecided mother why there's nothing wrong with her 12 year old playing Red Dead Redemption.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

well, if the Child seems Mature enough to know and Understand whats being done in said game is make belive... however it seems more likely that the Parent in question just wanted something to keep the kid outta her hair

 

[SonicWaffle]

Now did that boy have is mum whipped or is she crazy ignorant, or just a bad parent? Or am I crazy in thinking something is wrong here?

You're not wrong per se, but you are ignoring the fact that it's her choice. If she thinks the child is capable of handling the game and seperating real life from fantasy, that's her decision. She's probably wrong (in my humble opinion), but it's her kid, and she likely knows his mental capabilities better than you or I do.

Now, if only the news media could understand that too, we'd have them blaming the parents rather than the games. However, that doesn't inspire enough fear, so I doubt it'll ever happen.

 

[rokkolpo]

I couldn't watch robo-cop till i was 13 >_>

Lotr at 14.
i thought it was some kind of stupid drama before that xD.

 

[EeveeElectro]

She's probably the sort of person who agrees video games make children violent too.
We know games do know harm in the hands of the right person, but that is just so stupid. Places like cash converters don't bother asking for ID either.

 

[EmzOLV]

I once went home to see my mum and she had specifically recorded an episode of 'Supernanny' on Skyplus. I was completely unamused, but she told me that she had saved it for me for a specific reason, so I decided to go along with it and watch.

As far as I'm aware the general jist of the programme is this nanny goes into homes filled with child chaos and helps them out with discipline and blah blah. Fine, whatever. But in this particular home they had 2 young boys, one 7 and one 6 (the 6 year old imitating his brother to no end). They were playing Mature rated games constantly, and spent ages apparently 're-enacting' what they saw, including all these WWE moves from waaaay too much wrestling.

I thought, 'great, this is just going to be another programme where parents are blaming video games for violence and it needs to end and so on'. Anyway - it wasn't. This nanny sat down the parents and showed them what each of the ratings were and what there kids were viewing and playing, leaving the parents in absolute shock. My favourite line, which I remembered (to a certain degree) because I was so happy she said it was:

"These game manufacturers have put M on the box for a reason. They know the content. It's up to you as parents to make sure that if you don't want your kids to be viewing this, they shouldn't be playing it. Know your ratings"

It was like a big fish being slapped round their faces. So chuffed.
So in relation to the original post, I'm guessing that most parents don't have a CLUE what's going on. Whether it's just keeping the kids entertained and out of their hair, or not giving a flying rats ass what's going on, I'm so not surprised about what happened in the store

 

[Jonluw]

Yeah, I'm going to go with the people who say that the mother might have thought the child was mature enough to handle it. There is of course the possibility that she was a bad parent, but I'd rather give her the benifit of doubt.

 

[thom_cat_]

I stood there speechless as this person just offered her 8-9 year old son 2 games both rated MA15+ (Aus, they'd be R 18+ elsewhere yeah?)

Which city are you in? Because I just feel like hanging around JB and just waiting to slap some parents.

 

[Ldude893]

Heh, and they're blaming the Industry and Retailers for being responsible for selling M rated games to kids when the real responsibility falls on the parents. They've got ratings on the boxes of video games for a reason.

 

[Phantom_IEC]

I got the original GTA when it was released, that was 1997 so I would have been 12 or 13. I tried to purchase it myself but was turned away so my mum bought it for me.

If the parent is aware of the content and is sure that the child can handle what they are seeing then IMO it's all good. Parents always have the final say of what their children are exposed to.

On the other hand I am a primary school teacher and I am often shocked at the games pupils have access to. Legally i'm supposed to report everytime a child talks about a game that has an age rating as a child protection disclosure. I make pupils aware of this when it does come up in conversation and they quickly get the message. I'm not going to report it but they need to be aware that a different teacher may do and that it shouldn't be discussed at school.