Parents are more afraid of their kids playing Grand Theft Auto than drinking beer or watching porn says an informal poll on video game parenting site.
The poll asked 1,600 parents what they'd be most concerned about their 17-year-old child doing at a sleepover. Grand Theft Auto (19%) was second to smoking marijuana (49%) and closer to watching pornography (16%) and drinking beer (14%).
"Although these findings seem surprising at first, they hint at fears parents have about video games," says Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D., co-author of Grand Theft Childhood. "To some parents, video games are full of unknowable dangers ... Of course, parents don't want their children drinking alcohol, but that's a more familiar risk."
Grand Theft Auto in particular has been a target for concerned parents and politicians. A hidden sex game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas kicked off the Hot Coffee scandal in 2005, which was followed by lawsuits, protests, lawmaking attempts and negative press. Three years later, Grand Theft Auto is still one of the best-selling games of all time, but this poll hints that parents remain wary.
Source: WhatTheyPlay.com
Reader Comments (71)
You wanna know when this whole rebellious nature of our children started? During the 50s and 60s, the birth of the Teenage Rebellion. Seems like that trait passed down to your children. Blame the parents? What should we do then? Blame our teachers, who want to help educate our children, and yet, these damn kids won't listen to the teachers? Who should we blame then? The media? Guess so, I mean, the media are the one who're raising YOUR children. The media are the ones who are paying YOUR house bills and making sure your children have a bite to eat for dinner and a roof over their heads.
Spare the rod and spoil the child- It works-
To kaleykai16: I have a question for you? Are you a parent? I know kids that have come from the best most loving families and this sort of thing is happening. Kids are a lot less respectful than kids were when I grew up in the 60's and 70's. They also don't seem to respect others' property. You can't always blame the parents.
Trishe, we need more parents like you in this day and age. We got some many stupid ass parents letting thier children listening to music and other type of media without informing them that the **** they are watching shouldn't build them (the children). I honestly blame parents of this era for failing this generation in terms of moral. Parent: "Oh, with work and all of this, I don't have time to spend with my children!" Me: "Make ****in' time and make sure you're a part of your children lives."
I'm sorry, I can't get past the GLARING grammatical error in the headline to read the article. Maybe parents, especially Libe Goad's, should be more concerned about their children's education.
When I was a child 55 years ago, I remember they took the Three Stooges off of TV, and my parents were happy, because my stupid brothers acted out what they saw them do on TV, which I thought was stupid of them because they always hurt each other. And times haven't changed, kids DO copy what they see, the stupid ones like my brother's try to do what they have seen. Parent's don't explain enough to their kids, just like my parent's didn't talk to my brother's, thank goodness my brother's were saved because TV was censured back then, and I wish they would do it again. With my own kids there were rules followed in our home, and certain types of musice wasn't allowed in our house either, and the way they dressed to a point I ye or ne. Now my daughter sees pics. of her and her friends and THANKS me for not allowing her to dress like them back when she was in school. Parent's MUST take more notice and guide their kids.
"I think we should all be more concerned about video game-playing kids 10-15 years from now when they realize they've squandered their precious youth playing video games instead of having fun outdoors. Expect a lot of moey being spent at REI and psychiatrist offices...." Or you can ****in' unplug the PS3 and Wiis and take you kids to the ****in' park. How about puttin' time aside and spend some damn time with the kids. Oh and parents talkin about wastin' money about REI and psychiatrist offices. Guess what? YOU PARENTS spend money buying your children video games and game consoles. It's your fault. Why not blame movies and music? Children spend most of their free time on watching TV and movies. Oh wait, those things are "entertainment" but video games are just "toys".
Some of you parents make me sick blaming video games for YOUR and YOUR CHILDREN problems. Hey, how about you TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT FANTASY AND REALISM. Oh wait, never mind. You damn parents are using the TV as baby-sitters and don't have time to be there for your children. And to those who do have time are acting like you're best friends with the child. Don't. Be a parent!
I think we should all be more concerned about video game-playing kids 10-15 years from now when they realize they've squandered their precious youth playing video games instead of having fun outdoors. Expect a lot of moey being spent at REI and psychiatrist offices....
I personnally think the image of the woman bent over and a little side bar about both only his excitment and power to be really overall degrading. It's one thing to view porn with a grown adult male mind, but when you having young men who are developing and these are the kind of attutides the see directed to women being glamerized and exciting, do you honestly think young men are going to grow up having respect for women? And do you really think your daughers aren't going to encounter men that treat them no better then a piece of trash. I'ts really upsetting to see.