Teachers threaten to report parents to authorities if they let kids play 18+ video games

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KingdomHeartsFan said:

Isn't it okay for a child to play a M rated game as long as the parent approves?  As long as the parents know about it and say its okay I don't see why teachers should get involved.  I played M rated games and I'm fine. 

Depends on the law in the country. In some countries it is legal to allow a minor to watch restricted content as long as you are the legal guardian. In other countries it is illegal to supply restricted content to an underage person under any circumstances.

My son wanted to buy Ass Creed 1 back when he was 12. I didn't realise it was restricted to 13 and over under our laws, so I sent him to the game store to buy it and they refused. So I went in to buy it (and my son came in with me) and the sale's person refused to sell it to me because I was buying it for my son, and the store is legally not allowed to knowingly sell even under those circumstances.

Of course I went back out of the store, gave the cash to my brother and he went in to the store alone and bought the game for me.

I have allowed my sons to play age restricted games, but only after I've played them and deemed the "offensive content" to be "not that bad". I do find that here at least games get age restricted for content that in movies and TV shows would not attract age restricted ratings.

As a gamer and a parent I think I have enough knowledge to know what's OK and what's no OK for my kinds. However I know lots of non-gamer parrents who have no clue what their kids are playing and they seem to ignore the age restrictions, and when it comes to movies and TV shows, where they are more clued up, they are fairly strict. So I am a bit conflicted about where the right balance is with parental control. If parents act with knowledge then it's fine, but if they are acting in ignorance then that's not fine.