Which is exactly why the U.S. needs to lower the drinking age! Even if it is just to 19 or something like that.

I'm almost willing to be incline with you, but the problem with this article is that it's so damn ambiguous. What sort of school is this? How old are the kids? How serious is the "reporting parents to authorities" part (what consequences could be had)? For example, I have a younger brother who's 12 and he plays GTA V and Halo often pretty often.  Despite the fact Halo is rated M, I'd argue an 8 year-old could play it and not feel really disturbed, even more so a 12 year-old. GTA V is a bit iffy, but a smart authority figure will know when the time is right to let their kids play or watch something.

I know my brother, he's a nice kid, he's smart enough to know the difference between reality and fantasy. GTA V is practically a parody of violence considering how over the top it is. I don't think I should be reported to authorities for letting him play that. And I don't think it's abuse either considering he goes to school everyday with good health both in mind and body.

It's just a question of good judgment. I agree; let a 5 year-old play Manslaughter or Hatred (God, I'm 21 and even I can't stomach that filth) and then I think a case could be made. Kids that young are very impressionable and being exposed to that kind of level of violence that young is awful.

I honestly want to bitch slap the parents when I see them buying a 9 year old games like GTA and COD... I did play PG13 and some older rated games when I was 10 years old but most of those parents don't even know their kids well enough to make an educated decision on what to allow them nowadays, they just want them off their back.

Besides, graphics and violence on screen are way more graphic then they were 20 years ago. Playing Street Fighter and playing GTA are two very different things.

To be fair, that kind of stuff is only allowed after the watershed.

Mortal Kombat 1 was pretty violent and graphic.. totally messed me up as a kid

Teachers should just forget that idea as that's a parenting job. It's the parents job to teach their kids so that it'll be their own fault if their kids ends up messed up or not.

To me it is not so much the buying as the attitude.  My parents bought me M rated games before I was 18, but they also talked to me and took notice of any poor behavior with discipline (I lost my Sega Genesis for month after I shouted a swear word...and that was losing at NHL 94).

On this issue, children being exposed by parents to media is not a crime or a form of abuse.  It may be irresponsible or neglectful, but we cannot micro manage every aspect of parenting.

this is very true. when parents give their kids access to any kind of media and liberties they need to be responsible and aware of how they interact and react to it. my problem is most parents have no freaking clue what they are being permissive about and they dont spend the time to take notice of their kids becoming major douches

My biggest problem is that a lot of parents would rather be friends with their kids than true and responsible parents. Some want to live vicariously through ther children. Some are just lazy and will roll over at the fist sign of conflict, or will do anything their kids say so they can have some time to themselves

so true Reim, parents dont spend time with the kids and then at the end of the day they say yes to every whim just because they dont want to be the bad guy and are desperate to have their kids like them despite being almost strangers living inside the same house.

I'm glad to see it's not a trend among my closest friends who are parenting now