Irresponsibility does my head

So my boyfriend and I were in HMV earlier today buying some DVDs. We go to the queue at the check-out and in front of us there's a bunch of little boys (no older than 10 year olds) paying for the GTA4. Which is totally ridicilous because the game has 18 rating. What do you think about this?

We asked the cashier guy whether he knew that selling that game to those waaaay underaged kids is illegal and he went bright red and started mumbling something stupid.

And behind us in the queue was this woman with two very young kids and she was buying the same game for those kids. She starts having a go at us for holding up the cashier but when she hears what we're talking about she goes bright red also. Tim then asks her whether she thinks it's irresponsible of her to be buying a game made for adults for her little kids, you should have seen her face then... and all she could say was "I do whatever I want" or something along those lines..

Some people really shouldn't be allowed to have kids...

It's parents like that that end up producing fucked up little shits you see on streets running around with kives and acting like twats.

And it's parents like that that make people blame all the bad things in the world on computer games... sure, any 10 year old can go psycho if they're allowed to spend their time on video games they're NOT MEANT TO BE PLAYING. And of course it's the game that's to blame, not the irresponsible parents who let that happen...

Really pisses me off.

 

Oooh I would be bothered too, lady. Good on you for pointing it out and not just standing idly by.

 

If I saw that I really wouldn't care because they can see far worse stuff on daytime TV...
If they want to get that for their kids then so be it really...

 

I know Im going to be a strict mama.

 

Sure, kids can see anything they want on tv.. but only if the parents don't give a shit and set boundaries.

It's beyond me how you see so many fucked up kids everywhere and yet everyone's pointing fingers anywhere except at the parents.

 

I don't see a problem with it.

Hell, with all the violence that kids are exposed to today, I'd rather see them take out their aggression on a video game than on each other.

 

Daytime TV is shit but some of the role-playing games are way more involving, allowing you to actually do the stuff rather than see it. I don't blame the games and I suppose the parents can do what they like really, but yeah, I think that they are fucking idiots.

 

Aren't you pointing fingers at a video game and not their parenting? You basically said that the parents getting a violent video game will turn them basically into bad kids, so therefore you are really blamming the game yourself saying it will turn kids bad... If that is not what you meant, well, that is what I gathered from your post.

 

i'm not too bothered by that. i'm really not. i don't care what the kid plays. i don't believe the game has much hold on how the child will turn out. parents need to parent, it really doesn't matter if the child plays a violent game...

10 year olds who see more real life shit on the streets than any video game could ever show them.

 

Kids are exposed to a ridicilous amount of violence because not enough parents are setting boundaries for them.

I'll be damned if I let my kids play video games that contain killing, drugs and sex when they're 10.

 

Well that is not what I meant at all. The video game is made for adults, and should thus be played by adults, not kids. It's not the video game's fault if a kid plays it, it's the responsibility of a parent to make sure that it doesn't happen.

 

I've never seen anyone being shot on a street, getting raped or even injecting heroin, and I'm 23.

 

I don't think that it turns kids bad but I sure as hell don't see it making them any better either. Allowing kids to be completely desensitized by constant portrayals of violence surely can't be good for humanity.

And BSR, I would rather give my kids a controlled outlet for excessive anger/energy than letting them act out their violent urges/fantasies on a game that glorifies and rewards violence.

 

I, on the other hand, would encourage them to play the game if they show interest in it. Then I would explain what's wrong with the game and what's right. You can easily educate children through showing them the wrong thing to do.

I just cannot possibly blame video games for bad behavior. I also do not believe in setting boundaries for children... I think they learn much better and faster if they are allowed to roam free and experience the world for what it is. GTA, sadly enough, is a pretty damn realistic depiction of real life. You cannot shelter kids from it. I'd rather have my kids exposed to all of the bad things in the world at an early age, so that they develop an understanding of why they are bad, instead of throwing them out there in some sort of jaded oblivion.

 

I know exactly what you mean Kosmic. Selling 18 rated material to a minor or buying it for a minor is the equivalent of buying them porn.


Video games aren't all aimed at children these days. It's a shame that companies like Rockstar take the blame for it.


Kudos to you and your b/f for pointing that out at the HMV queue

Unfortunately, explaining any form of moral standard to a chavy parent amounts to nothing

 

I really think it depends on the kid. My mom never restricted me from seeing any movies or anything like that. I saw so many rated R movies since I can remember. With my mom, with my sister, whoever, there was really no sense of censorship at my home. Some were violents movies, some very very sexual, some were just disturbing and I cant say that it affected me (negatively) in any way. It didnt make me sexually premature (the first time I ever had sex I was 18, almost 19), Im not a violent person at all. If anything, it enriched my vocabulary and my perception on so so many things. I was told as a kid, many many times that I spoke like an adult (my communication skills are much much better in Spanish), but that was me, Im not saying that every kid that becomes exposed to those kind of things will have the same result. I think it depends a lot of what your parents are teaching you along with the liberties they give you.

 

Please explain then why you said the video games will turn them into a 10 year old psycho if they play games that are not to be played and please don't say "because their parents let them play it" that's beyond the point because you saying the game will turn them into bad kids that run out on the streets with knives and guns just becasue the parent let them play a game..

And sorry, parents who buy their kids games they shouldn't play aren't the cause for the troubled kids out there...

 

Once again, we agree

 

Red, what kind of controlled outlet?

You should really thank the Finnish government and your parents for providing you with such safety.


I have seen all of those things by the time I was 12ish. I'm glad that I got to see them too. My parents weren't there to explain what they were, but luckily I was smart enough to realize that there is no good in them.

I think that my kids would be able to come to the same conclusion, especially if I'm there to guide them.

 

Strangely enough, middle class educated parents also frequently lack in moral standards, not only the chavs.