What age would you allow your kids watch The walking dead?

My kids watched some of what I consider "Junk" when they were growing up and they never watched without me or their dad watching it with them. Lots of good discussions came about from it.
I can remember our family walking out of a holiday celebration with extended family because the chosen movie was full of vulgarity. We calmly got our coats and went for a walk to see lights and when we got back the movie had been changed.
While it's good to put a shield up for young minds , it's also not a good idea to shelter older ones from what they will have to deal with after they leave the nest.

blackribbon said:

Good for you. My adult kids still come to me for advice and my opinion. I value that more than celebrating that I got them to 18 without the tools they need to manage in the real world or making them completely dependent on me. They are both moral, ethical people who know the Lord.

A seventeen year old isn't any more a "child" than an eighteen year old. The difference is only in legal status, not really in maturity.

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That was placed in a joking manner. I believe that we should do our best to raise kids right and teach them the truths of the Word of God from an early age. If you raise them right, of course they will return. It is out of the love that was shown t6o them that they return.
With that said there are days that a parent wants to pull there hair out and that is why I said "celebrate" because I had just finished being mocked by my 8 yr old nephew. He is in the stage where he likes to pick at people and repeat everything they say. :]

My kids are grown, in their 20s and still wont watch it. I can't imagine a kid having the slightest interest. I did manage to get my youngest to watch zombies vs. strippers, I'll never hear the end of it. She thought it was just dumb but we were scraping the bottom of the barrel with Redbox.

I started watching it in middle school, back when it was actually good. Funny thing is, a fellow at my church, man about 45 I think, loved to talk about how he saw Christian themes in the show.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

What age would you allow your kids watch The walking dead?

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Same as YHVH and Yahshua, (God and Jesus) teach.

NEVER.

Wet Squirrel said:

120 because bad parents let thier kids listen to gangsta rap and watch movies like these and then wonder why they shot each other in schools .

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Yes. Bad seed, bad trees, produce bad children.

mark kennedy said:

My kids are grown, in their 20s and still wont watch it. I can't imagine a kid having the slightest interest. I did manage to get my youngest to watch zombies vs. strippers, I'll never hear the end of it. She thought it was just dumb but we were scraping the bottom of the barrel with Redbox.

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I asked my kids whom are also older and they flat out said no they wouldn't watch it and have zero interest in stuff like that. They can't see how it would benefit anyone, any age, for any reason.

If it's all the kids see and hear at home from the parents and the thing they allow in the home, then yes, they will go through phases of repeating things they hear and stuff people do. And it won't be pretty.

Go Braves said:

I started watching it in middle school, back when it was actually good. Funny thing is, a fellow at my church, man about 45 I think, loved to talk about how he saw Christian themes in the show.

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Yes there are a lot of christian themes......especially the episode this pass Sunday with the priest. I can actually see something spiritual in almost everything.... There are those and will always be those who can see bad in any and everything.....I have no problem with them either.....

Southernscotty said:

Never, Same with all the other garbage that is produced in Hollyweird. :]

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Wise.

RaymondG said:

Yes there are a lot of christian themes......especially the episode this pass Sunday with the priest. I can actually see something spiritual in almost everything.... There are those and will always be those who can see bad in any and everything.....I have no problem with them either.....

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Interesting, thanks for letting me know. I haven't watched this season. I got bored with that Neegan fellow, or however you spell his name. Maybe over the summer I'll catch up. I liked the 1st season a lot. Probably one of my favorite shows of all time, then I lost interest in that season where they were on a freeway for several episodes.

As for my own rules, it would be when they are teenagers, with caution. However, my ex-husband has fewer rules and limits. I have no control over what he allows and encourages. My children have been exposed to things they should not have way before it could even be considered to be age appropriate.

My method of dealing with that is to watch or research whatever it is they are being exposed to so that I could try some damage control, which is not always effective. Once something is seen or heard, you can't undo it.

I have learned discussion skills that have enabled me to have conversations about why something is bad, or why it won't work, and how to pick out the good from the bad, and also reminding them of reality.

I want to add that although somethings were viewed (or played as in video games) before my children should have been exposed to it, I don't think it has caused any lasting damage, no more than life in the real world does.

It's akin to telling children bedtime stories. Bad things happen in some of those stories, and in some nursery rhymes, especially if you tell the original version. Disney can be viewed as some soft-core horror. Why do we do this? It mentally prepares our children for bad things that have not happened to them yet.

Was it sad when Bambi's mama was shot and killed? Yeah. It's also sad when people we know die. Kids get a mini dose of that and have some frame reference and bit of prep so that when it does occur, it's isn't as shocking and disorienting as it would be if they had never heard of the possibility that someone they know and love might die.

Is it scary when cars crash on TV and people get hurt? yes. But if a reck occurs in their life or to someone they know, they have an idea of what that means before hand.

As far as the Walking Dead goes... ick.

I don't watch it. My kids watched a lot of the series with their dad. My oldest son wanted me to watch with him. I did see a few episodes, but I was disturbed and lost interest quick. Why? There doesn't seem to be a central goal or plot or an end in sight. It is a long series of events that never get better.

However, I LOVED that movie World War Z because it had goal, a mission, and shred of hope. And it came full circle. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end with a solution. Humanity was saved.

Teaching my son about this, he was able to connect it to the series Z Nation, and wanted me to watch that with him. I resisted, and then he finally convinced it was different from the Walking Dead. He was right. There are central characters with a goal and mission. It has changed a lot since the series began, but the overall arching theme is sticking with a team, teamwork even when you don't like your teammates, and finding a way for human race to survive.

In my opinion, if you can find something of merit to teach about, then there is a broad range of things that can be watched when it is age appropriate. If there is nothing that you can redeem from the story, then it's trash. But use everything you can as a teaching opportunity.

JAM2b said:

As for my own rules, it would be when they are teenagers, with caution. However, my ex-husband has fewer rules and limits. I have no control over what he allows and encourages. My children have been exposed to things they should not have way before it could even be considered to be age appropriate.

My method of dealing with that is to watch or research whatever it is they are being exposed to so that I could try some damage control, which is not always effective. Once something is seen or heard, you can't undo it.

I have learned discussion skills that have enabled me to have conversations about why something is bad, or why it won't work, and how to pick out the good from the bad, and also reminding them of reality.

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That's smart. Worst thing you could do would be to try to bash their dad for letting them see stuff. That'd make the kids more inclined to want to watch it. What you're doing is much better.

JAM2b said:

As far as the Walking Dead goes... ick.

I don't watch it. My kids watched a lot of the series with their dad. My oldest son wanted me to watch with him. I did see a few episodes, but I was disturbed and lost interest quick. Why? There doesn't seem to be a central goal or plot or an end in sight. It is a long series of events that never get better.

However, I LOVED that movie World War Z because it had goal, a mission, and shred of hope. And it came full circle. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end with a solution. Humanity was saved.

Teaching my son about this, he was able to connect it to the series Z Nation, and wanted me to watch that with him. I resisted, and then he finally convinced it was different from the Walking Dead. He was right. There are central characters with a goal and mission. It has changed a lot since the series began, but the overall arching theme is sticking with a team, teamwork even when you don't like your teammates, and finding a way for human race to survive.

In my opinion, if you can find something of merit to teach about, then there is a broad range of things that can be watched when it is age appropriate. If there is nothing that you can redeem from the story, then it's trash. But use everything you can as a teaching opportunity.

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The 1st season of TWD really did have a central plot & humanity to it. I was 11-12 when I watched it & wasn't bothered by it. There's not any nudity or cussing, & the violence is pretty much all pretend since they're zombies. I don't think my parents were wrong to let me watch it back then. We live in Georgia & it was all filmed there, local folks got to be extras. So there were a lot of people who watched who probably wouldn't have otherwise. Now, as the seasons went on, it did lose a lot of the central plot. I've seen a few episodes of the other seasons, haven't watched it all yet on account of how it became more about the goriness than the story. That is pointless to me. I may watch it over the summer since a lot of folks have said it's gotten a lot better, back to having a plot like season 1 did. Fear the Walking Dead is pretty good IMO on account of how there's less goriness in season 1. Haven't watched the other seasons of that either.

Go Braves said:

That's smart. Worst thing you could do would be to try to bash their dad for letting them see stuff. That'd make the kids more inclined to want to watch it. What you're doing is much better.



The 1st season of TWD really did have a central plot & humanity to it. I was 11-12 when I watched it & wasn't bothered by it. There's not any nudity or cussing, & the violence is pretty much all pretend since they're zombies. I don't think my parents were wrong to let me watch it back then. We live in Georgia & it was all filmed there, local folks got to be extras. So there were a lot of people who watched who probably wouldn't have otherwise. Now, as the seasons went on, it did lose a lot of the central plot. I've seen a few episodes of the other seasons, haven't watched it all yet on account of how it became more about the goriness than the story. That is pointless to me. I may watch it over the summer since a lot of folks have said it's gotten a lot better, back to having a plot like season 1 did. Fear the Walking Dead is pretty good IMO on account of how there's less goriness in season 1. Haven't watched the other seasons of that either.

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I liked Walking Dead because it was serious zombie cinema, always before it was some kind of a b film. It takes some things from Romeros Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. The second season of Walking Dead has an amazing farmhouse stand, and echos of the Romero movies. At one point before reaching Alexandria Rick says they are us and we are them, Daryl response, I'm nothing like them. That was the line after the farm house scene where the heroine is looking at the rednecks acting a fool after the big battle, we are them and they are us. It's not just a struggle for survival but a struggle to save your humanity, those who care about that are at risk. This is a repeating theme, most recently Carl was bit trying to help a guy who turns out to be a doctor. Dale, Andrea and others were both conflicted at the violence it took to survive and it cost them their lives but they kept their humanity.

Rick wants Negan dead, he makes no bones about it. But Carl wanted them to make peace. Tyreese was one of those guys that was conflicted, he often hesitated when it came to violence, at one point sitting in a car while others had fled, guess he was thinking it over. At one point he gets the drop on someone and doesn't finish him. He is finally killed after being bit by a child zombie. Rick severs his leg and he is fighting for his life and goes into like a dream world. He is in a car and those who went before him are telling him it's better now, he dies.

My daughter took a class in college she was telling me about, it covered zombie cinema. The first movie was a Boris Karloff classic called White Zombie. He is trying to save this girl who is being turned into a Zombie. It became something else over time but two themes emerge, the threat to your humanity vs. the need to survive and when the dead walk it's time for the killing to stop, a line from Night of the Living Dead.