What age for Star Wars??

[maybemom05]

I've just upset my little one by telling him he's to young to watch Star Wars, even though his friends were watching it. The friends are lovely neighbors, but a few years older - and I trust the parents completely, so if they are okay with Stars Wars for their kid, then great, but my kid is younger, so I made him come home. And now he's annoyed with me.

I'm pretty comfortable with my decision, plus it was his bedtime anyway, but I'm curious, at what age would you let your LO watch Star Wars??

[mata]

I won't let my 9 yo watch them-and yes, many of her friends were seeing the movies at age 5.

[mata]

oh, and I did something similar (made her come home) but it was Pirates of the Caribbean. She was not happy!

[journeymom]

I never did not let my kids see them, though I stopped and fast forwarded some things. For example, Revenge of the Sith, I didn't let my son see the end where Anakin gets whacked and burned until ds was nine.

[mirlee]

DS saw episodes four, five, and six when he was about six. There was a little bit of parental editing for these films, but they are fairly tame by today's standards.

Episodes one, two , and three, were seen after they came out on DVD. Even then, he saw parental edited versions of the films. He still has never seen the entire scene where Anakin is pretty demolished.

[Verity]

As I recall, age 8 or so. By the time Revenge of the Sith came out, my son was 11, and I let my husband take him to the theater to see it. I did find that one disturbing, and feel now that my son was a bit young for it.

I agree that the first three movies (the ones that are now the 4th, 5th and 6th in the series) are pretty tame by today's standards. My youngest watched bits and pieces of those (she wasn't all that interested and kept leaving the room) as early as age 6.

[Daffodil]

DD has seen the original 3. She's 6 now, but I think she was 5 when she watched them.

[Stayseeliz]

My kids just watched them with my DH at 5 and 7 but I do believe he did some "editing" or certain scenes.

[ma2maya]

I remember going to see Episode 4 when it came out in the theater. I must have been 4. It was a double feature too with Jungle Book.

[christinar]

We just watched Episodes 4, 5 & 6 with my 3.5 & 6.5 year olds. I had been holding my husband off for a while ;-) I would not have shown them to my older one at my son's age - he isn't scared by movie violence (like the wolf scene in Beauty & the Beast, for example, or T-Rexs in the Little Foot movies) like she is - he doesn't seem to see himself in the movie like she does. If that makes any sense.

There are other movies I wish I'd screened before my daughter watched them (Dumbo comes to mind - she watched it once and it's never been on again for either of them), but didn't because they were Disney. They haven't seen Bambi either...

Anyway, they want to watch 1, 2, & 3, but that won't be for a while - they seem much more intense and "adult".

[zinemama]

We said 10 for my oldest, but we let him watch it when he was nine. He's only watched the original first movie (the one that came out in 1977 - I can't keep up with the new names and numbers).

I didn't think he was ready for it before, and besides, he's got his whole life to watch movies with this level of violence. I didn't see the point in introducing it to him at 4 or 5 like some of his friends were. And I'm not into hovering with the remote to ff.

[MommyofHero]

i will definitely let my daughter watch the Star Wars movies as soon as she gets old enough to pay attention to movies!! Star Wars is incredibly meaningful and insightful, even for little kids. We are Taoists and those movies explain many powerful Taoist concepts

[Drummer's Wife]

My 6 yo DS has just now gotten interested in Star Wars (thanks to the Lego Wii game ).

We haven't (yet) bought any of the movies, but I would be comfortable with letting him watch them.

[TEAK's Mom]

My dd1 (who just turned 7) has recently become interested in the whole Star Wars milieu. She is also a pretty sensitive kid when it comes to movies. I told her that we could watch Episode 4 together if she wanted. Instead, she decided to read the original novelizations first and then decide when she wanted to see the films. She's gradually working her way through them, but (in case anyone else's kid takes this approach) George Lucas wrote the first one himself and, well, there's a reason the man is not a novelist.

[meemee]

i tried my dd at 5. she wasnt interested.

my friends son has been a big fan since he was 4. my dd still has a hard time watching 'emotionally intense' movies. so i will be waiting for a while before she watches that movie. mostly though she is not really interested.

[Lynn08]

I'm surprised she hasn't seen them yet. ,

As I explained to my sister when this very conversation came up shortly after lovey was born, dh will ensure that our children will know Star Wars no matter what age they actually watch the films. While I agree with pp's that some of the violence is too graphic (esp in the newer films and even the "kids" Clone Wars cartoon), I think the morality of the films is something that all kids can benefit from. And that's what the ff button on the remote is for, right?

[burke-a-bee]

My son read the books at about 7 and watched his first one last year 8. I think the older ones are better. The newer ones he finds scary.

[SAHDS]

I think Star Wars falls along the lines of other fantastical movies - Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings - and I wouldn't not "let" my LOs watch them. They didn't get into Star Wars until they were 7+, though. HP and LotR was before that.

[KaraBoo]

DD started watching it when she was 6 and then as soon as Darth Vader came onscreen, she asked me to stop the movie. Two years later, she was okay with it and fell in love with the films.

It really depends on your child. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about age-appropriateness concerning movies or books. Ok, well, maybe porn is out of the question but you know what I mean LOL

[KaraBoo]

Forgot to add, I think I was 7 or 8 when I saw the movie in the cinema. With neighbors, funnily enough.