Up to the teen years, say 15-16, I refused to allow my kids to watch South Park. After that I “discouraged” watching that and some other shows. Mostly by suggesting there must be something better to watch and, if that didn’t work, by mentioning homework. In the end, I think SP was just to over-the-top with some of the messages and characters, satire though it may be.
Of course, when my oldest went away to college he became a serious South Park junkie, so that’s what I got for my trouble.
Sort of like girls who are sheltered from any mention of sex as kids are the ones that grow up to be pornstars 
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
This subject is a bone of contention in my house. I absolutely will not allow my 8 year-old to watch it, of course, but I have a 14 year-old and a 16 year-old, too, and I don’t want them to watch it, either. But they do- behind my back and at their dad’s. It really bothers me. I love the show myself and think it witty and all that good stuff, but there is no way that a child or a teenager could possibly be mature enough to process it in a healthy manner. Just my opinion.
No.
Not for anyone who isn’t at least 13. Probably not anyone under 16 years old.
H3Knuckles, 23 year old South Park fan
Nobody under sixteen? I don’t think I was that much more mature now than as a teen. I’m pretty sure I “got” it back then. I mean, it’s not all that subtle when it comes to satire. Once you’re old enough to get that it is satire, isn’t that enough? Granted, you have to get the concept of satire/irony, but considering the age we live in, is that too hard?
I first saw the show when my daughter was watching it one night. At the time, I think she was 11.
We’ve never, since she could crawl, told her she could or couldn’t watch/listen to read any TV show, CD, book or movie. She was watching horror slasher movies as a small kid. About the only thing we ever made sure to turn when she came in the room were things like Skinemax, or the hooker and strip club HBO specials.
She turned out just fine and dandy. My sister, the control freak has been very strict about what her kids are allowed to watch. A couple years ago my then 14 year old niece stayed a couple nights with us. Her mom said she couldn’t watch the Sopranos or South Park, along with a whole list of other things. She recited the list and then said she watches it anyway, but sneaks around to do it behind her mom’s back. Her friends DVR all these ‘forbidden’ shows and they all watch them together.
YMMV, but if you have an open door and sit with them if they want to watch something and talk with them about it, it loses all the shock value. If you’re there with them, they hear those words and see that behavior but know it’s not what you want from THEM, and at least in my experience, that works out just fine.
But…wait. Eight? That means…huh?
It’s a new show still right? Ten years?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
:eek:
Yep, I’ve been watching it about since it debuted. What, am I making you feel old, Mahaloth?
I wouldn’t let my kids watch South Park before age 15. I teach my kids to be polite and respectful, and South Park teaches the exact opposite. Personally, I don’t see the humor in little kids swearing like sailors.
A TV show that’s meant to be outrageous humor isn’t TEACHING anything any more than a movie or a song does. By that logic, someone raised only listening to hymns and kum-ba-ya folk music and that only watches “acceptable” TV or movies is more likely to grow up as a model citizen.
Kids learn behavior from what their parents model. If they’re left to watch South Park because mom & dad treat the TV as a babysitter, then that’s on the parents, not the show the kids are watching.
If I, as a parent, say “it’s okay to watch this show,” then I’m providing a tacit endorsement of the show.
Before you jump in and say you hope I don’t let them watch murder mysteries (for example), the overall message of such shows isn’t “murder is okay,” but “the murderer did a bad thing and is being pursued for it by the good guys.”
The message in South Park, on the other hand is that kids should be obnoxious, rude, foul-mouthed little cretins.
I’m sorry, I guess I just don’t see a message in South Park. I see make believe. Generally kids know the difference. They mimic it if they don’t get taught that it’s unacceptable.
Between all the kids from my daughter’s school, or that I know from working around kids for years, I know most of them have watched South Park when they were young, most of them listen to a lot of music that sounds objectionable to parent-types. Damn few of those kids behave anything at all like Stan and Cartman. Do they swear? Of course they do. Do they make sexual based jokes and comments? Yep.
Did we do the same thing back in the 60’s and 70’s? Yes, and without South Park to teach me. It’s what kids do, they push boundaries, and test new behaviors.
My kid started watching reruns of SP when he was around 12. He also watches Simpsons & Family Guy, and also Python.
My rule: a kid is old enough to watch shows with profanity when he’s old enough to know not to repeat any. My kid knows this rule, and keeping his language relatively clean results in more TV privileges. I am not particularly shocked by the word “fuck” (which robs it of power) but I think using it constantly is a bad habit.
Also, my kid–now 13–likes to “get the joke” and hates feeling left out of a gag. I told him that he could watch, say, Family Guy with us…but I’m not explaining every joke as it happens, or I wouldn’t get to enjoy the show myself! I explain anything he wants to know at commercial or after the show. Usually he won’t ask why something is funny anymore, since explaining it doesn’t really make it funny if you didn’t get it in the first place. I do define terms for him, including bad words. I don’t want him overusing profanity, but any kid ought to understand what the bullies are calling him, or implying about his sexuality. That makes it much easier to destroy said bullies with a perfect snide put-down.
I found my 11 month old nice likes the M’kay song as a one leg kicker. She went with Blame Canada as a two leg kicker. Leg kicker being they get excited and start kicking their feet around. I had to watch her for 15 minutes and the deal is I don’t watch her, since I know I can’t. South Park was for me. I told her parents they had better get some stuff she can watch in the future. She’s speaking and I don’t think they want her saying mother fucker, or bitch.
Let them?! I’d force 'em! Make them grow up faster so I can kick them out sooner.
It’s probably best I don’t have children.
Eleven. South Park just resumed the second half of its 11th season. And it has a commitment to stay on until at least its 15th.
I don’t have kids, but it seems to me that since South Park usually doesn’t air until at least 10 p.m., if you can enforce an earlier bedtime, the subject of your kid watching it wouldn’t come up. It’s when they’re old enough to stay up past 10 that you would need to make the decision whether to let them watch it.
Sometimes they show it at 9:30 pm. But usually it’s on ten or later.
No kids here, but a couple of nephews that I’ve watch SP with. They started watching when they were around 10 or so. They were old enough to get the satire and know that they weren’t supposed to actually act like the kids do on SP.
I think we tend to underestimate children.
I’ll go with 12ish, or whenever the person is able to understand satire and irony. Also, I wouldn’t want a kid under that age to see the episode with Mr. Garrison’s sex change operation, which in my view was rendered as disgusting and violent. Yes, all surgery can be made to look that way. But they chose this surgery, and it was merely gory, not funny or a more considered commentary.