The internet loves this mom’s genius rule: her kids can’t watch grown-up movies and TV shows, but they can read them
If you have kids who are constantly clamoring for the remote—but mostly to watch movies and shows that are beyond their years, this tip is for you. A TikTok mom is going viral for her genius parenting hack—in her house, her kids aren’t allowed to watch “grown-up” movies and shows, but if there’s a book version, they’re welcome to read it.
Caroline Lefebvre shared that the rule was established by her own mom when she was growing up.
“When we were like 11, 12, 13, we started to really push the buttons on what we wanted to be able to see and consume on film or TV,” she explained. “My mom was very strict about film ratings when I was a tween. She really put the PG in PG-13. And certainly, no R, forget about it. But her one rule was, you can’t watch anything that’s for adults, but you can read whatever you want.”
@carolinefev I have no idea if this is applicable in this day-and-age or even a good parenting idea, but i think it was kinda brill #tweenparenting #parentingtok #fyppp #booktok
♬ original sound – Caroline Lefebvre
Lefebvre shared an example of when kids at school were talking about The Shining. Her mom wouldn’t let her watch the movie, but she let her read the book.
“You see a book in the house? It’s a novel for adults, maybe even a romance novel. By all means, take a crack at it. This world is your oyster,” she added.
When I was growing up, my family was not a TV family—but we were a reading family. Our living room had floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves around all but one wall, and they were filled with “grown-up” books that I started helping myself to when I was definitely too young to read them. But it mostly worked out, because even though Stephen King is definitely too scary for a nine-year-old, my imagination could only go so far.
That’s the point that Lefebvre goes on to make.
“When you’re being shown adult content in a film, especially sexual content, there could be violence, whatever it is, you have no choice when you’re that age on how it’s being shown to you,” she says. “And you’re being shown things that you have never been able to compute before and potentially before you’re ready to see it. So if you’re watching a sexual scene, like you’re now seeing people having sex and you’re seeing body parts that you’ve never seen before. But in this book where it’s being described, it’s almost like a dream. Like it’s kind of hazy. You understand the concept of it.”
Then again, though, it’s possible for that concept to go too far. “50 Shades of Gray?” Probably too explicit for kids.
At the end of the day, it’s a good rule of thumb, but it won’t work in every situation. It’s still up to parents to exercise good judgment about what is and isn’t child-appropriate.
