I don't have any personal experience with this, since I don't have kids.  But I would say it depends on the child.  Some kids are more mature than others.  Obviously, there's some cursing and some sexual humour and themes in some of the episodes, but whether you let your kid see that depends on you and the culture you grew up in, I think.  Sexual stuff often goes over kids' heads. and sometimes kids have already heard swearing before, anyway.  If they are in it for the mysteries and enjoy the mysteries, that might be all that matters to them.

I'm sure other users who have kids might have a better answer for you than I do, though.

I show it at school all the time. My experience is that 12-years old are less interested in it than 15-years old are. I think it is the complexity that younger children don't fully get.

Well, my 8 yo is too totally into BBC Sherlock, but only from a couple of pictures and the soundtrack so far

Schmiezi,
why are you showing the show at school and in which language?

Maybe I'll try watching the first ep with my kid and then check what she got.

Schmiezi wrote:

I must admit that I mainly show it because I love it. I usually show it in German so my (un-brilliant) pupils get the chance to love it too. When they do, I show them single scenes again in English.

The best motivation, lol!
I've just been wondering into what subject Sherlock would fit best!

I started out being pretty strict about what I would let my kids watch, sticking to "G" (general) or "PG" (parental guidance) rated shows and films, but I've grown less so over the last couple of years. My two are currently 9 and 6 years old. When I first discovered Sherlock I used to watch it at night when they were tucked up in bed, but the more I got... obsessed... with Sherlock (and Benedict) the more I wanted to watch it, so I used to sit at the kitchen bench with my mini DVD player and my headphones and watch it while I prepared dinner or whatever, and the kids would sometimes see the screen and want to know what was happening or what they were saying. Eventually it got to the point where I would watch it on the family room tv while they were playing in another room, and they probably heard most of it, but I didn't think they were really paying attention. After a while it must have been a combination of me talking about the show and them seeing bits and pieces of it, I think they pretty much knew the plot of most of the episodes. They started asking if they could watch it with me. I was still a bit reluctant for a while, but then we let them watch The Hobbit and some of the later Harry Potter films which are rated "M" (mature), and we've also watched some classic 80's family films which have a surprising amount of scary scenes, swearing and mild sexual references in them considering they are PG-rated. Just think of the sorts of things we were watching as kids... I think I saw The Terminator when I was about 10 years old! I was scared, but it didn't traumatise me. I knew it wasn't "real". I know Sherlock is a bit more realistic than those examples, but I don't think it's as extreme as some films that people let their kids watch. There are worse things on the 6:30 news, which my husband insists on watching while the kids are in the room. They've heard news about bombings, murders, suicides etc, they've learnt most of the swear words in the school yard by now, we've talked seriously about drugs and sex and I've made sure they know about lgbt people and relationships. I kind of feel guilty that they have lost some of their "innocence" in being exposed to all this, but it's pretty hard to avoid it really. And then I read somewhere that Martin and Amanda let their kids watch Sherlock (their kids are similar in age to mine)... So basically I decided to let my kids watch Sherlock with me, and they love it! I really don't know how much they understand of the finer details of the show, but they like the action, and humour. My daughter loves TSOT and my son's fave is THOB, he also loves the scene in TEH when Sherlock and John are on the train trying to defuse the bomb. I hope they watch the show again when they're older so that they can appreciate it with a more mature POV

Last edited by ukaunz (September 10, 2016 1:18 am)

ukaunz,
thanks for coming over to discuss it
I don't think that the BBC version would be traumatizing for children, not at all. I'm just sort of sorry that they can't understand the finer points until they are much older. I definitely wouldn't be showing 2x01 to my daughter until she can appreciate the plotting, the mirroring, the beautiful tension of this ep. Maybe the first season, but in English? German? Russian? lol I have only the English/German version now while German/Russian are our main languages at home, however I am really opposed to watching anything dubbed. You lucky people who can show their kids stuff in English and be sure that most of it will be understood.
I've also been revisiting the old Russian movies lately. Maybe we really should watch them first, even tho that Watson is such a wet blanket in the beginning
 

By "finer points" I really just mean stuff that we as adults take for granted because we've watched so many shows and films, we're familiar with most tropes, cultural references etc. Our experiences obviously help us to understand character motivations, innuendo, subtext, story arcs, and as you say, artistic allusions. Then there is appreciation for the technical aspects of the show which probably goes over most kids' heads. I think dialogue and plot can be quite complicated for children with their limited life experience... There are so many words, phrases and situations that young kids aren't familiar with. Doubtless some kids understand more than others, and maybe some kids don't bother to ask about the things they don't understand or figure it out for themselves eventually. I remember having to explain quite a lot, although I can't think right now of many good examples. My 6 year old son didn't understand why John said "I'm nobody" to Donovan in ASIP. He also didn't understand why Sherlock was going to take the pill when he didn't have to, and (in TGG) why Moriarty detonated the bomb which killed the old lady after Sherlock had solved it in time. But there's so much more than these examples, I'm sure. Then there was the whole "do I explain what a dominatrix is" dilemma

Kids can be sharp as adults, sometimes more so, we can't forget that.

But I can understand why a kid might ask about those things. With the Moriarty example you give, though, I think the fact that it's somewhat beyond comprehension is the point. He's evil.

Ha! Not a bad answer, though I think some of us just keep more observations to ourselves as we get older.

Last edited by Yitzock (September 10, 2016 5:14 pm)

ewige wrote:

I've just read in the introduction thread that young children do sppreaciate BBC Sherlock. I remember loving ACD as a kid and my 8 year old loves the stories too, however I'm hesitant to show her the BBC version. It's rated for ages of 12 and above in Germany, but the regulation part itself is not the main reason for me to wait. I think my kid won't be able to appreciate the complexity of the show for a long time yet and it would be a shame to reveal the plot now without her having any chance of getting the emotional implications too.

So how do you handle that?

Ah I think I know exactly what you mean. I can imagine it would be a hard decision for me, too. You don't fear the swearing or violence. You fear that you child will miss major points of the show, the subtext, the thrill and fun and drama that adults see and get out of it. The things you and we all here love so much. Which makes the thought unbearable that others (children) might only appreciate the show for the one half, maybe not being able to see the other half.

Don't know if this applies to you, but speaking for myself, I feel these thoughts even are be a bit egoist. I would want that others (especially my beloved ones) enjoy the show (that I love and care so much about) in the same way as I do.

I am in my twenties and don't have children so I can't share any experience... I can only share my opinion with you.
Something similar happened to me when I was a kid. The Lord of the Rings films. I was a nine year old girl when the first movie came out. I didn't see it in cinema, neither the films one and two years later. No family or close friends were interested, but still I knew there was this big thing called Lord of the Rings going on, with "knights and magic and stuff" for the cool slightly older kids than me. And then one day I was visiting a friend and her older brother had the DVD of the second film "The two towers" showing on his Computer and every now and then we sneaked into his room to watch several scenes with him. And I was fascinated. I had a bad conscience because I knew I wasn't supposed to see it even though my parents never explicitly said so. Of course they didn't know but I was sure they wouldn't approve.
But as I said, I was fascinated from this day on even though there were lots of things I didn't understand back then. It took years until I saw the trilogy completely, from beginning to the end and then even more time to grasp everything. But even as a kid it was a joy, looking back maybe even the greatest joy, diving into this world of mysteries, being scared, fascinated, being in awe of this huge story. Do you know what I mean? Not understanding everything was the thing I loved the most I think.
Looking back, you can't say that watching LOTR as a (too young) kid has ruined it for me as a teenager or adult. I enjoy it very much until this day.

Ok, so I think it's not really the same comparing Lord of the Rings to Sherlock, I believe Sherlock is even "harder" to understand and more can be "spoiled". But I think you understand what I meant to say. And it is true. I believe children get more than we think and some children are even more developed than others for their age.
In case of doubt I think I would rather show Sherlock to children. If they absoluteley wish to see it, why deny it? Show it to them now, while they are still interested. You never know, but maybe in three, in five or in ten years they have other things in mind and don't want to see it at all.
However, I would start slowly and careful. Show them A Study in Pink. Talk about it, see how much they've got. Take a scene. You could ask 'Why has character x done this?' 'How do you think character y feels now?' 'What was scary for you?'

Last edited by Rache (September 22, 2016 2:23 pm)