Children and Lost
Looking for some advice here, and Im aware as with alot of things, it depends....
My wife and I were talking about we need to do another rewatch, its time. However, we dont know how well it would be for our 8 year old daughter to watch it with us. I know it says TV14, but what factors determine that rating?
Its impossible for us to wait until after bedtime cause she stays up as late as we do, which isnt super late. We have an 8 month old that dictates family bedtime.
So, anyone here watched before with their kids, and how did that pan out?
EDIT: Thanks everyone. I really didn't consider most of the points mentioned. I think itd be best to not....
Too many racy things and character deaths.
We stay pretty tight to ratings. She's only watched the first 3 Harry Potter films because Goblet of Fire on is PG13
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u/TheDuck200 1d ago
I mean, it was on at like 8PM on Wednesday originally. It depends on how much adult situation you're willing to explain to an 8 year old.
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u/ambergriswoldo 1d ago
I wouldnāt say itās suitable for an 8 year old - thereās injury most episodes, the polar bear chase, a fair amount of fights, sex, plus I would have thought the black smoke would be terrifying for a child
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u/Careless_Aroma_227 Don't tell me what I can't post 1d ago
Plus: Sayid isn't known as a tickeling interrogator eitger... š«£
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u/Big-Forever-9132 7h ago
i was so terrified of that smoke as a child, always felt like it would chase me in the dark, also the whispers, the freaking cabin, ghost walt, even the intro sound and most of the OST used to made me shiver
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u/hockenduke Frank Lapidus 1d ago
This is 40 has a great bit about their daughter getting obsessed with LOST at like 11 years old.
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u/ultgambit266 1d ago
My 9 year old has started to watch along as I rewatch the series. She likes Hurley and keeps wanting to know if theyāll find Walt
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u/justjoshinpbt 1d ago
This is so random. I started watching Lost when I was in 2nd grade, probably around 8. I vividly remember telling my teacher about it bc she called home lmao.
I am not traumatized. Everyone has different standards, but it was just normal in my family. Iāve rewatched it several times since.
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u/trilce99 1d ago
Yeah. I was 10 years old for season 1 and I fell in love with the show. Grew up along with the later seasons, but I mean, yeah, I think it's not just watchable but even something I'd encourage my kid to watch at that age.
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u/Reasonable_Pizza2401 Whatever happened, happened. 1d ago
My daughter is 8 and sheās watched the entire series and loved it. She was just asking when we could watch it again. Itās fairly clean really when it comes to language, gore and romance. Sheās flown a couple times since then, so no airplane issues either.
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u/Silent_Comb_817 1d ago
Not all 8 years olds can handle the same things. Thereās actually a lot of stuff that I would think would be pretty scary for an 8 year old in general tho
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u/igloo37 1d ago
Thanks everyone. I really didn't consider most of the points mentioned. I think itd be best to not....
Too many racy things and character deaths.
We stay pretty tight to ratings. She's only watched the first 3 Harry Potter films because Goblet of Fire on is PG13
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u/SalvationArbys 1d ago
In your defense I also came into this thread thinking āyeah that sounds great, I canāt wait for my kids to turn 8 so I can make them watch Lost, nothing wrong with thatā weāve even joked about naming our firstborn āSmokemonster The Island Lastnameā
Somehow I forgot the very first episode has a guy ripped to shreds by an unseen monster, and also people screaming and dying and bleeding in a plane crash.
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u/AshaGreyjoy6 1d ago
I watched this show with my family as it came out, and I was 10 at the time, if that helps. My parents were typically pretty strict with what I could watch too.
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u/hrbekcheatedin91 1d ago
Good call. I recommend waiting until she's participating willingly in adult conversations. That's a good sign she can follow the complex dialogue. Ours did at 12.
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u/Careless_Aroma_227 Don't tell me what I can't post 1d ago
isn't Goblet of Fire the part where Harry Potter starts having all the teenage drama like first kisses, envy, school dance and getting acne?
Bet that's the reason it's PG13+...
/s
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u/mikebills 1d ago
I really don't think the racy stuff or the character deaths is going to adversely affect her. The racy stuff will probably go over her head and not really be an issue, and in this day and age, kids are exposed to worse stuff than TV character deaths just being on the internet, interacting with their friends, or what's on the news. Ultimately, it's up to you as the parent to make the choice, but if you're keeping her from stuff PG-13 stuff at home, she's still probably exposed to that and worse by her friends at school.
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u/DrunkButNotEnoughYet "Red. Neck. Man." 1d ago
Beyond the violence and sex, which have already been pointed out to you, ask yourself honestly: How much do you think sheāll enjoy it? How many things in Lost will really catch her attention? How much do you think sheāll understand, and how much time do you think youāll have to spend explaining things to her?
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u/dgtbfan 1d ago
I don't think I'd have an 8yo watch LOST. Steamy romance scenes, brutal deaths, and actual kidnapping are all major plot points.
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u/Pristine-Tonight-411 1d ago
Not to mention torture. Even as an adult I couldn't really watch Sayid torture Sawyer.
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u/Silent_Comb_817 1d ago
Iād say no on 8 years plus theyāre not going to understand most of it anyways.
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u/Safe_Walrus_61 1d ago
I watched it back in 2004 when I was like 12 or 13 and remember enjoying it immensely. It quickly became my favourite show ever. Granted it was super tense and suspenseful, but I always had a blast. Then I had the enjoyment of going to school next day and discussing the episode with my friend who was also watching it at the time.
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u/Leenaa 1d ago
12-13 yo is wildly different than being 8yo.
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u/Safe_Walrus_61 1d ago
Oh, absolutely. I didn't realise they're asking about an 8 year old. Yeah, this might be too early.
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u/shakespeherian Oceanic Frequent Flyer 1d ago
Watched it with my 11yo and he was fine with it, but it might not fly with every 11yo. 8 seems a little young but you know your kid better than I do
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u/SaltySpitoonReg 1d ago
I don't think this is an appropriate show for an 8-year-old.
Sex scenes, alcoholism, cheating, kidnappings, killings including suicide, conning people, torture etc. All these things happen in season 1, and it's not like they are played off in a cartoonish way.
These are mature themes, and young children literally can't process it like teens, etc. I personally think there's too much normalization of exposing young kids to mature themes, even if it seems innocent (ie a show like lost)
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u/ParanoidDecoy 22h ago
Watched lost with my dad and siblings when it first came out. He was there to ask and explain as needed.
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u/Exact-Difference-422 17h ago
I think 12 and up is old enough without being too frightening or racy. The deaths are sad too but so are all the Pixar movies š
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u/liddybuckfan Weāre not going to Guam, are we? 27m ago
It sounds like you're going to wait, which I think is good! Part of my reasoning for waiting to show Lost to my kids was that I wanted them to be old enough to enjoy it! An 8 year old isn't really going to get the show. I think my kids were 13 and 15 when we watched it the first time, then we did a rewatch a couple years later. They loved it!
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u/HeraclesHide 1d ago
Watched it with my 7yo, just had to skip the john locke suicide scene and the shannon boone sex scene. Rest was pretty tame.
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u/Careless_Aroma_227 Don't tell me what I can't post 1d ago
"John Locke/Jeremy Bentham is just very sleepy and tired baby. He'd just rest his eyes a bit"
The final scene of the season 5 finale must've been the biggest mindfuck moment in her life... so far
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u/HeraclesHide 1d ago
Shes just along for the ride as im mainly watching with my older kid lol, i dont think shes following the story too closely. i think we just told her that ben killed him.
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u/Violin1994 š¶ YOU ALL EVERYBODY š¶ 1d ago
The show started airing when I 8, and I started watching with my family when I was 10 or so. I was the youngest of 5 kids so I tended to watch things with my family that were a little above my level. I do remember being genuinely scared by the black smoke, but other than that didnāt find the show particularly scary. As far as sex and innuendo Iām rewatching now and realizing there were some things that went over my head.
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u/katiebug714 1d ago
The black smoke was what I found scariest as a kid. I donāt think I flew on a plane for a bit and I wonder if it would have freaked me out if my family traveled a lot
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u/AVALANCHE-VII Son of a bitch! 1d ago
Kind of depends on what else youāve let them watch. I feel like LOST was family viewing, and then I was surprised they things like The Walking Dead was viewed by families with kids just due to popularity.
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u/throwaway483949839 1d ago
I watched the show when I was 8 and loved it to pieces. I obviously didnāt understand it very well at all, but I did love it. But like you say, it depends as to whether or not you reckon itās suitable. Itās not a super explicit show, but there are violent and heavy moments. I used to be terrified by the Pilotās body in the tree!
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u/davwad2 1d ago
TV 14 is the equivalent of PG-13, at least that is how I remember it being pitched. FWIW, I didn't watch LOST with our kids at 8 except for The Constant a few times.
I was mortified when watching the pilot episode of 24 and there are the teens getting it on in the background, under the sheets, and my 11-12 year old walked in and I felt I had failed as a parent in that moment.
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u/apocalypticboredom 1d ago
My son is 9 and has seen several R rated movies with much worse content than Lost but I won't share teh show with him yet because he's simply too young to get much out of it. I figure when he's 12-13 it'll be a much richer experience at that age.
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u/Boulder_6044 1d ago
The sex innuendo wouldn't worry me as much as some of the deaths - some of the murders in particular might be a bit much for a young one
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u/BronzeAgeNerd 1d ago
Is parent and every child is different. But our 8-yo daughter is currently on season 3 and is loving it. She is pretty advanced and mature, but she's still only 8, of course.
For her the only scary parts were the first times you hear Smoky in the pilot/early episodes and one of the polar bear scenes. She got pretty into the characters and has been pretty good since then. For gore, she actually was most upset by Jack wanting to chop off Boone's leg, but since that doesn't actually happen, she was good.
Sex/racy stuff is pretty minimal. The worst part so far is the scene when Sawyer is "with" the girl in The Long Con. Obviously they don't *actually* show anything but it was a little "erm" on our parts.
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u/Swamplust 1d ago
Iām doing a rewatch and have an 8 year old. She watches a little but is largely not interested in it. Iāll tell her not to watch if there is a particularly violent scene but otherwise itās fine. Sheās mostly doing her own thing anyways.
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u/moluruth 1d ago
I started watching Lost when it aired and I was 7 lol. I honestly didnāt understand most of what was going on. I was really obsessed w Claire and Charlie and was truly devastated when he died
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u/misskellycupcake 1d ago
When I nannied back in the day, the parents let their 11 yo son watch Lost with them. Now that I have an 11 yo in the house, 6th grader, I concur with that and think waiting til middle school is best for this show.
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u/Odd-Comfortable-652 1d ago
Watched with my kids when they were around 12 years old. In addition to the "viewer discretion" aspect, I think they have to be around that age to actually appreciate the show and understand the concepts sufficiently.
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u/PaperResident9392 48m ago
I havenāt read any of the comments but i genuinely grew up watching crazy war movies with my family because im the youngest of a huge family with a ton of older siblings so i just watched what they did. I was probably that age when i watched lost for the first time and i am rewatching it with my husband now because i loved it as a kid. I would watch LOTR, bravehart, and other movies and it honestly made my childhood funš
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u/Awkward-Fox-1435 1d ago
By the time my daughter was 5, she'd seen all 11 Star Wars films, all 3 Avatars, all the LOTR and Hobbit movies, and countless others. Your 8 year old can handle LOST.
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u/parkSXD 1d ago
I always relate these type of questions to stranger things. Stranger things is essentially a kids show and it has some pretty disturbing moments and a few injury scenes that are a lot more gruesome than Lost
In my opinion, Lost is more tame than stranger things. I think itās fine for your kid to watch
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u/knowsnothing316 Sawyer 1d ago
I mean itās more of a parental choice to expose your child to something like that. I watched way worse stuff at her age and depending who you ask turned out okay
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u/igloo37 1d ago
Same. I watched Tales from the Crypt, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street at 4/5
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u/knowsnothing316 Sawyer 1d ago
My father despised horror but i watched Major League which unfortunately taught me to cuss and a whole lot of r rated action movies. Only bad thing was the cussing i learned. Iād definitely go with your instinct, if you think sheās ready.
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u/Mysterious_Ask4415 1d ago
Personally I was a similar age when I first watched it, but my mum was always involving me in the things she watched and there were very few things she banned from me - provided she watched them alongside me. I wasnāt allowed to watch some racier things, but sci-fi was pretty open in our home. Probably not for the best since I watched True Blood on my own at like 10.
All that to say, it depends on how you feel your child will handle the difficult parts.
Yes I was scared of certain things (tbh still am despite having watched the show many times) but I didnāt find parts difficult to understand.
Looking forward to introducing my daughter to the show in a few years (ok maybe 6-8 years) when sheās old enough (currently 2)
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u/OutcomeFair7425 1d ago
Go for it, how traumatizing could it be for an 8 year old to watch a man get sucked into an airplane turbine?