What age did you/will you . . .

[joshsmom]

. . . allow your children to watch Cops and/or America's Most Wanted?

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

I never thought about not allowing them to watch it. But come to think of it, I don't think they ever have, because they aren't interested in it.

 

[Acklander]

Same here - they've never had an interest in either show, but I wouldn't have a problem with them watching it if they wanted.

 

[CF'er]

We allow DS10 and DD8 to watch it and have for awhile. We do use it to reinforce the fact that if you do things you shouldn't this is what can happen. Since most of the people shown have something to do with drugs/alcohol it makes it easy to show cause and effect.

(We are not anti-alcohol. Social drinking and alcoholism/drunk driving are totally different things.)

 

[kristen821]

I think it depends on the child. If it is a child that scares easily never if the child doesn't scare easily then if I am watching they can watch it. I never really thaught of the show being bad, we don't watch it much but if nothing else is on and we are in a lazy mood we might watch it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

They have no interest in it. In fact they hardly ever watch TV.
Although all 3 of us girls have been watching Heroes.

 

[NMAmy]

DD is 16 and has always been fascinated by it. She's watched it since she was fairly young. I think it's because her dad is a cop--she kind of has an idea what he does at work. Although I truly hope she doesn't follow in his footsteps because I'd worry about her.

Funnily enough, her dad has always hated that show. He used to say that the last thing he wanted to do after a 10 hour shift was watch someone else do the same thing.

 

[TheGoofster]

I put other. In my home we have other ways of punishing our kids that don't seem quite so cruel.

 

[powellrj]

the only one of our kids who ever had an interest in watching it was our oldest DS and he watched the first couple of seasons it was on. Our other 2 kids have never expressed an interest in it, so they have never watched it so it wasn't an issue. If you watched it as a family and talked about it, I would think any school aged child would be fine watching it.

 

[va32h]

I've never watched either program - just have no interest. So I don't think the situation would come up in our house.

 

[joshsmom]

Long story, short. My DS is 11. He is fascinated with Police officers, fire fighters, and their jobs. He and I watch Cops/AMW together and we talk about it if he has any questions. My mother had a FIT when she found out that he was watching these shows (as if it were a crime of some sort). Her fit will not change what we watch, but I was just wondering about the age other people let their children watch.

FWIW, its sparked very good conversations between me and DS about personal safety, STUPIDITY of some people and their drinking/drug habits, and more respect for the men and women in law enforcement who put themselves out there everyday.

Thanks for the responses guys!!!

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

I've watched Cops since I was little. I'd always watch it with my dad. I used to watch America's Most Wanted, but I saw an episode that scared me when I was about 10.

 

[MichelleVW]

We don't watch it very often, but I never minded the girls watching it because all it shows is stupid people getting arrested. Most of them are on drugs or drunk and it just shows them what NOT to do!! We drink in this house, but it's a glass of wine with dinner...not a case of beer then get in a fight with the neighbors like on Cops!!

What I don't understand is that those people on Cops have to sign a waiver allowing their stupidity to be on tv???!!! Why would you do that??

 

[Kath816]

DH just retired as a PO. Our oldest son was not interested. It scared our young son. If it happened to come on after another show, he would jump up and change the channel. DH felt the same as Amy's husband above. He didn't want to watch it after a 12 hour shift. He'd prefer to sit in our quiet back porch and unwind with a book. So, bottom line, it was never on in our home, still isn't.

 

[azgal81]

Cops is one of the funniest shows out there. However America's most wanted scares me and my boyfriend won't let me watch it!

 

[backalleysally]

We're not into those kind of shows around here, so it's never come up. I don't know, I guess I would say 13+ they could watch it. We try to keep violent stuff to a minimum.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

I honestly don't remember when DS started watching those shows, but he was pretty young. Neither is a show I would have banned.

These days, DS is 12 and we'll watch Cops and laugh at the stupidity. If anything, my son doesn't want to be moronic like those people.

 

[minnieandme]

My DS8 likes to watch Cops and that's because he wants to be one when he grows up. Either a cop, SWAT team or FBI Agent. I don't see anything wrong with watching this show as it mostly drug related.

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

We watch both. Especially COPS. My kids are (recently) 4, 11, and 15. We watch COPS everyday in syndication & AMW on Saturdays. The oldest two consider AMW their favorite show. My youngest dd loves the theme from COPS.

The younger one is in & out of attention with the shows, but I think it teaches great things to the oldest two. Ex: watch who you travel with, don't do drugs or drink at all if possible & especially never when driving, tell the truth, etc.... AMW helps them realize why its important that they always tell us where they're going & with whom. Shoot, the 11 considers it her job to take the "Have you seen ......" flier that we get in the mail around the house to ask each of us individually if we've seen that person or people.