Am I too overprotective of my Son?

faded_flowers

So legally a under 18 can:

Buy a pet ,

Not from Pets at Home

tyllwyd

Welshwoofs wrote: »

... What I've seen is young kids being gobby little shytes, griefing and bullying other players, splattering their semi-literate musings with extreme expletives and racist phrases and when they get banned (which is inevitable with many), some even threaten to try and get staff fired by inviting tales of 'inappropriate contact'. ...

I don't doubt that there are kids out there who behave in the way you've described, but I think you have to remember that there must be lots more kids who don't behave like that, so you never notice that they are there, and lots of kids who don't play those games. Just because there are kids who get into trouble doesn't mean that all kids or even the majority of kids are bad.

Welshwoofs

cheepskate wrote: »

So legally a under 18 can:

Buy a pet ,
Die for your freedom
Have sex, infact have multiple partners
Marry
Legal have a child
Own a firearm(cond.apply)
Work in a slaughterhouse
Drink
And probably a lot more,

but has to ask mums permission to play a computer game....absurd

We're not talking about 16 or 17 year olds though are we? We're talking about 11yr olds and at age 11 you can't do anything on that list legally.

Joons

Welshwoofs wrote: »

We're not talking about 16 or 17 year olds though are we? We're talking about 11yr olds and at age 11 you can't do anything on that list legally.

Exactly, what a pointless post.

VestanPance

It did have a point in that it was pointing out the absurdity of arbitrary age ratings on media.

Maybe people should take time to think about things rather than just view numbers on a box.

Tiddlywinks

VestanPance wrote: »

If age limits and regulations don't seem absurd you have to wonder why a young man of 16 can join the army and go to war as a soldier in the UK, but not play a computer game like Call of Duty!

You can join up at 16 BUT you will not be deployed to an operational theatre until you reach 18yo.

Anyway, this thread was started by the mother of an 11yo...

cheepskate_2

Welsh woofs, as has been indicated by the OP it's not just the children that play computer games that have potty mouths.
If you also look at statistics I would bet a lot of the teenagers getting into trouble thought nothing of throwing swear words at their parents or other adults in authority and their parents did nothing about it. , thought it was ok and where parental control was thrown out the window.

So if the research came back and stated only computer playing kids got into trouble and swore at adults, then you may have a point in your post.

Welshwoofs

cheepskate wrote: »

Welsh woofs, as has been indicated by the OP it's not just the children that play computer games that have potty mouths.

I'm not talking about being 'potty mouthed', I'm talking about young children left to run riot on age-inappropriate games (which incidentally don't have the level of moderation games aimed at their age group do so those kids are also potentially at risk) with absolutely no supervision from parents and what the people who actually run those games see and deal with on a daily basis. I'm talking about the reaction of parents of these types of kids when they're told about their offspring's exploits (or in one notable case I was involved with...when a SWAT team in the US kicked the kid's front door in.)

If it weren't for a small matter of the Data Protection Act I could post reams of logs on to this forum from kids the age of the Op's (and younger) that would make you eyes bleed. I'm talking about such things as coercing young girls into virtual prostitution (naked photos for virtual currency or real Paypal transactions), encouraging other kids to self-harm or commit suicide, coercing young kids to look at the kind of extreme material found at rotten.com to 'prove themselves' and a whole host of other appalling behaviour you get when you're in a virtual 'Lord of the Flies' situation. Not to mention peeing off the people who are of an age to be on the game and don't want gobby pre-teens griefing it in numourous dumba-rse ways.

I've probably said this about a billion times over tea breaks with colleagues in various companies down the years....but honestly some parents are truly blind and deaf to what their little darlings are up to behind their backs....and it's generally the parents who saw no harm in little Johnny having no Internet supervision whatsoever because he's so quiet he must be being good. Oddly they're also the ones who'll scream the loudest if that same kid gets banned from their favourite game.

TV used to be the nanny of choice for some parents...now it's the Net.

halight

32 year old male here,

I would say you are doing a great job of bringing your boy up.

Now that he is growing up a bit. I would let him have the chance to be into some older thing type tings (not sure iv used the right words)

If your boy like reading. How about taking him and buying him some book's that are aimed at teenage boys?

Iv never been into gaming, and there are many people who are not.
I have also never been into sport. and there are many who are not.

I would try and find some local clubs were he can make some friends with people that are into the same sort of things he is.

I would also take the bulling up with the school and make sure they keep him safe,

You tube has some great fully Videos on there. Maybe he could have a look with Dad or anther male that he is close too?

I can remebr when i was his age and I use to like bottom
(the tv show lady's calm down!)
My Mum did check it out before she let me see it. She let me see it as she new I was growing up but she did not think the show was too bad.
Maybe you could let him see some tv shows that are for older people, But don't cross the line too much ?

As for !!!!!!. well you know it will come. He is a boy after all.
I do think that kids see it far too early nowadays. Keep an eye on what he looks at online. If you see in the history that he has looked at !!!!!! then take a look yourslef at what he has looked at. Make sure that its just normal !!!!!! and nothing that's "bad" there is all sorts online. Stuff that when I was a teenager I would never have been able to see/come across (Not a pun!:rotfl:)


Your doing a grand Job of bring a polite young man up. Keep up the good work. Just remember as he gets older the length of rope need to get longer. He can not be your little prince for ever.

That said my twin Girls will always be my little princesses !

And the boys with there hormones better stay away !

Lucky for the boy my girls are only 4 and a 1/2 so they ahve plenty of time.

z.n

On the gaming front DS realised that even if he got an Xbox or Playstation 3 and tried to join in he would get grief for a low score etc if he ever went online. And that being online was necessary to be 'in with the in crowd.' That ran the risk of the unhappiness getting past the front door and the reality was he didn't want to be friends with these people he just wanted them to leave him alone. So he opted for a gaming pc instead. He started out offline on age appropriate games and now he is a bit older (y10) he has a decent pc and is allowed online on a wide range of games and has a good group of real-life friends he can get together with online. I still keep an eye on what he is up to (pc is downstairs) and it seems to have worked out well. He is currently creating a game with various obstacles for a friend using software from Steam (like itunes for pc games)-there might even be an educational element in there??? He has played COD at other boys homes but is not allowed it in our home. So far as I know the COD guys stick to their thing and the PC guys stick to theirs. I have noticed the PC guys spend a lot of time messing about on games younger than their age-but there is some very quiet swearing I try not to hear.