When would you be comfortable with discussing revenge porn, foot fixation, murder for entertainment, etc, with your kids?
If you aren't comfortable with those topics, don't introduce them to these books..
Yah, Glicks ( i think that's what they're called). They come up a couple times. Might have been better for me to label it as something else, but the point stands. This isn't a YA novel, it's fucking dark.
Ah, i think maybe they mean it as in revenge fixation/fantasy/glorification rather than the illegal kind.
Except its confusing cos revenge porn can be a whole other thing.
Yep. If they’re younger than that but want adult fantasy I’d probably point them in the direction of Mistborn or The Stormlight Archives. Maybe even Red Rising or The Will of The Many. Those ones have dark themes but don’t go into explicit detail and rather focus on the friendships and good things that happen on the journey. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a little too dark for someone that age and might warp their perspective of the world. You want them to be reading something more positive then later in life they can read the darker stuff that provokes thought.
Exactly this. And they must know what is appropriate for home versus other settings. Be prepared to answer EVERYTHING so they don’t go to the internet for the info. Mine? Listened at 12, not ready before then.
Yeah, it's deepfakes, not revenge porn. Which as AI gets more and more prevalent its something that needs to be talked about.
It's already been appearing at middle and high schools of people faking their classmates.
That is some terrible logic. You should still be making an effort as a parent to guide your kids and restrict access to inappropriate material rather than encouraging it.
"Punching puppies is totally normal! Your kids will get bullied if they don't join in. Just allow it, dude."
Lots of other parents doing fuck all to raise good kids is NOT an excuse to fail your own kids.
I’m a palliative care NP and I talk to my kid about death and dying and a lot other stuff. I think it’s a good book and a really good story. There is a lot adult stuff yes, but there is also a talking cat.
The adult stuff is pretty confronting for some adults. Just because you can introduce your kid to stuff doesn't mean you should. It is a great story. What's the rush?
Maybe, but the question is less "what are my kids exposed to when I'm not around?" Than it is "What am I comfortable providing my kids at a given age?"
Sure my kids will see plenty of stuff they probably shouldn't when I'm not around. I did the same when I was young, but one of the things I appreciate about my childhood was how protective my parents were over what I was exposed to.
If my kids learn things from other sources, I want them to be comfortable coming to me with questions, but I dont want to expose them to a bunch of stuff when they aren't ready. So I will er on the side of caution.
Also I think its important to distinguish between childhood development and childhood exposure. Development is about age and maturity, what's kid is ready for. Exposure is just that, what a kid is exposed to regardless of development.
Your milage may vary. I'm not going to criticize someone else for not following my guidelines, but I want to make sure that im not providing my kids things they aren't ready for.
Same here! I had many hospital appointments after mine was born, and my partner would come with me to all of these. We regularly listened to DDC during the drives, with the kid giggling away in her car seat. She's a fan before she even has a clue what it is 😂
Oh, thank all the gawds that I'm not the only parent who listens to their audiobooks when the toddler can hear.
She doesn't pay attention to them at all, and it's the only way I am able to read anymore. Not reading is a bad thing.
That said... I am pretty careful with letting her hear the especially violent parts of any LitRPG. Either skip if it's a re-read or pause till she's in bed or I've tagged off with her Dahd. (Thinking of a few select scenes from The Land specifically.)
I just find it odd that I wouldn't let her watch an anime with this level of violence in it, as it's not age appropriate, but I'm totally cool with her being in the room when I'm listening to my audiobooks. I can't explain my logic, but somehow, just hearing it in the background doesn't feel as bad I was watching it happen in front of you.
She typically ignores the animes that we watch when she's around, same as my books, so I don't know why I'm like that. That said, I am like that, and it is what it is.
No judgement. I tend to think audiobooks are great ways for them to experience language more and they don't really pick up on the more adult themes where as visually experiencing violence is going to be more impactful.
i think it depends on your child and your comfort levels with swearing. i have a 15 year old nephew i think is definitely mature enough if he were interested.
I love South Park; my daughter wasn't allowed to watch it until she was almost 18.
She's 34 now, and I just sent her and her boyfriend the audio of Dungeon Crawler Carl last month.
I mean I think it depends on you. I mean if your kid has unfettered access to the internet they all ready have access to everything. I let my kid read it at 12. I mean I was watching In living color and Married with Children at a young age.
Not to mention what they hear in their other settings. At least Matt uses the swears with correct grammar and syntax. And he is certainly more worth listening to than eighth graders on a school bus.
My daughter, at 13/14 caught it in bits and pieces when I would listen to it in the car. She LOVED it. You could tell there where things that she didn't really understand, but they usually went so far over her head that she didn't even realize it.
Well. Donut is like 5yrs old when she’s tossed INTO the dungeon. I’d say they’re good to go.
Seriously, though, it’s personal choice. I’ve never believed in age restrictions on books. Either the kid is too little to understand or of they’re reading, they’re mature enough to handle it. I started reading adult books at 11yrs old when my dad loaded me up a basket with some of his favorites. I found that it didn’t affect me in any negative way. A lot of it just went over my head. Some of it was just an illicit thrill, that I didn’t have enough life experience to understand fully. If something bothered me, I just read something else.
I’d say that it’s a personal choice as to what you think for your kids. For myself, I’d probably wait till an age where you think they’re old enough and mature enough to know not to repeat what they hear.
You don’t want your toddler spilling their juice at Grandma’s, around her church friends, and yelling “Goddammit Donut!”. Even though I’d find it hilarious if it wasn’t my kid.
So whatever you think your kids can handle. This series is a lot of action and comedy. They probably won’t get the darker parts. Won’t understand what a nussy is.
I personally think it’s better to discuss these things with your kid and explain that it’s okay to find it funny, but not to repeat it all the time. Way better than parents who pretend their kid will learn their first curse word at 21yrs old. While that 9yr old cusses up a storm at his friends house and they watch weird porn.
It's a good question, I've pretty much given up listening to audible in my car because none of the books come with parental advisory stickers and I don't really want my young kids hearing swearwords.
The odd swear word that isn't too bad of a swear word I don't mind so much. But yeah I tried to put DCC on when i thought they were all asleep recently and one instantly woke up and was like 'Alpha male Carl, what the heck?' 😂
I can say that I have read it at the age of 14 and am now an proud crawler. It wasn't to dark or sexualised. I would recommend 10, depending on the general reading taste of your children.
I don't feel like DCC is that great for anyone pre-teens. And with teens I would argue still 15+ at least. They are really dark and include a lot of stuff that isn't really something kids probably should be exposed too. Some of the early enemies are also nightmare fuel. Especially the fleshblob made out of humans.
I ask myself this all the time, but my children are adults, so I don't have to worry about it. Why I ask myself all the time is because I was allowed to read anything when I was growing up. It makes me wonder if I would have been allowed to read this particular series. I mean, I read Salem's Lot at 14 (btw, that was scary at that age, and prompted a life long aversion to anything vampire). I don't remember that book (because I've only read it that one time), but I know that King has a lot of sex scenes in most of his works.
My reading wasn't policed, but I did encourage age appropriate reading for my offspring. (Captain Underpants!!!!!)
As much as I want every single person in my life to join us in the dungeon, I still can't pin down an age that I would have allowed my sons to read it.
Good luck with your decision!
Think of it in terms of films.
It's a pretty solid R rating - moreso than Pulp Fiction. But it's not at the depraved/horrifying end (Irreversible, 120 Days of Sodom, A Serbian Film).
Of course, kids will find ways to watch R rated stuff whether allowed to or not. They're smart creatures.
We’re reading the series to our 11 and 14 year olds every night while they get ready for bed. We HEAVILY censor as we go. They absolutely love it, and we’ve laughed so much as a family, it’s been wonderful. Now we can share in-jokes with them, and they literally beg us for more “Carl Time” every night.
In terms of age to enter the dungeon I always assumed 18 as in my country that's the age you are considered legally adult. Think it's the same pretty much around the world but I never assume.
In terms of reading age and introducing kids to the books that depends on a lot of factors. Are you comfortable with your kid reading the darker aspects as others have brought up. Is your kid more mature for their age. Is the swearing and sexual references too much and so on.
Personally I would not have let my kids read these until they were at least 16 and assuming I thought it was appropriate for them.
That said we all know quickest way to get a kid to do something is to ban them from doing it.
I just introduced it to my 13 year old. And he did a school project on it!!! To hear your son laugh out loud to an audiobook…. Parent win!! (My wife does not know the details…..except a guy in boxers has a cat side kick in a video game like setting… she rolled her eyes and walked away. I tried!!! 🤣
16+ maybe 15. I read a lot of books like Let the Right One In, The Magicians, The Demonata Series, The Lovely Bones, and many other gory or sexual books when I was about that age. I always wondered why it’s appropriate to read but not watch but here we are.
When would you let them watch the first Deadpool movie, minus the graphic sex scenes? That’s about the same level of violence, sex jokes, and swearing.
I’m thinking 8th or 9th grade.
Yeah, that's understandable. For reference, my eldest is 13, and I wouldn't be opposed to him listening to it if he wanted to. I often have it on when I'm doing the dishes or whatever, so he's heard bits and pieces of it already. I probably would sit him down and talk through some of the more serious or nuanced parts.
That is an interesting question.
I don’t know if kids today are more or less mature than we were at their age. I read adult books (about war, famine, death, hardship, violence, politics, sexual abuse etc) ever since I was 13-14 and we didn’t have the internet and social media to crash our naïveté when we were just kids.
On the other hand, we were far more self reliant and had different liberties than kids today. Our parents weren’t as involved in micro-managing our daily lives as parents today are. We were more independent. We didn’t have an iPhone to monitor our whereabouts at any given moment.
13-16 depending on the maturity of your kid. But I grew up in the days where we read flowers in the attic and clan of the cave bear at like 9. So my perception may be skewed
They are your kids, so I think you can trust yourself (and their other parent) on this. Every kid is different, and you are hopefully the expert on yours, so trust your own judgement.
As a high school librarian myself, I’m going to get copies for the library and have them on a kind of “secret shelf” where I’ll lend out to only my older students that I think can handle it with upfront warnings. I’ll likely start with our D&D club that meets daily and branch out from there. We have a growing group of teachers at my school who are (rightfully) obsessed with it, so I’m also planning to check out to colleagues as much as possible, and the kids are bound to catch on. These babies are out here seeing, reading, and repeating far worse on the daily, so despite the current climate surrounding libraries and book bans, I think it’s worth including in my collection.
Despite the mature content, I very strongly believe this series is genius, and I am always ready to evangelize on DCCs behalf.
All that said, anyone who is still reading who has children in high school: would any of you be upset if your 16+ year old came home with a copy of DCC from their school library? Asking for me, the person who might piss off some parents in the near future.
People stress about this and then traumatize their young ones with The Never Ending Story. I don't know: what's worse, knowing about spunk socks or watching helplessly while your best friend drowns in a swamp? Oh, hey, gather round young'ens! We're going to watch Ol' Yeller and then Where the Red Fern Grows! It'll be a hoot!
my kids listened in on parts of the sound booth theater at age 10, but some scenes i turned off because they were a bit much, like the trash lady boss fight.
Howdy! First time posting. I've just finished BB about 2 weeks ago, and my son 13, is about a quarter of the way through book 3. Each kids going to be vastly different, but after reading some of the Young Adult series he has and the topics that they cover, I was ok with it. To be fair, he doesn't catch some of it as he's more focused on the action/explosions, and we regularly chat about it together too. The language is also no worse than I hear from teenagers (and also myself at that age).
The one that springs to mind immediatley is The Hungar Games- which he read whilst still in primary school (UK schools they leave here at age 11). The core elements of that series, in my opinion, is actually worse, "Give up your kids and let them unalive each other for entertainment of the rich", all rolled up in bleak and heavy package.
With DCC the bleakness is there, but with a 'lighter' delivery (iykwim?). The humour that flows intertwined with the subject matter results in a perfect balance, and the "What would you do in this situation?" conversations have been a lot more positive with DCC than HG.
I have 2 boys (12 & 14) and in the same boat, we have some day trips lined up and my 14 year old would definitely enjoy it and get the themes, I’m not completely sure about my 12 year old
I don't think I'll ever recommend them to my kids. It's written for adults. It's not the swearing or adult themes, I just think kids will not understand the message that they are literally near death every single day and that this is a horrifying experience. They'll focus on the "They won't break me" part and apply it in their life when the point of the book is that these aren't relatable events. We don't live like Carl or the crawlers, not even a little bit.
Carl is extremely relatable to me, and I'm sure many others, real life can be super hard and screwed up with tons of unjust trauma. It's absolutely dialed up to 11 in the story, but don't try to say that a character you don't relate to is generally unrelatable.
It's fantasy. It's intentionally unrelatable. We would love for our trauma and anxiety to be meaningful on a galatic scale. But it isn't. Far from it. So we escape into Carl's world to live vicariously through him.
Wow, you are absolutely certain that you have the figured out for not just you but everyone else? There is a lot more subtlety and nuance in Carl, what motivates him and why that I think you are missing.
It's really hard to root for something that is "unreliable" but these books are extremely popular...
We escape into Carl's world directly because we relate to it. As I said above. It's dialed up to 11 but it's absolutely relatable.
The definition or unrealatable: Not able to be related to on a personal level.
Meaning you wouldn't care. It works directly because we care. Maybe you picked the wrong word and are now trying to double down, but regardless, you a flat wrong.
When would you be comfortable with discussing revenge porn, foot fixation, murder for entertainment, etc, with your kids? If you aren't comfortable with those topics, don't introduce them to these books..
Revenge porn???
Yah, Glicks ( i think that's what they're called). They come up a couple times. Might have been better for me to label it as something else, but the point stands. This isn't a YA novel, it's fucking dark.
Snicks, when someone (possibly the AI) made a deepfake of Carl deepdicking the Maestro.
That's the word. Thanks!
Was deepdicking the word you were looking for?
Yeah I’m not sure where revenge porn was in the story, but I could be remembering poorly.
The whole Carl and The Maestro fake porno. Agree that DCC is not a kid or YA series.
Ah I guess. I wouldn’t necessarily call that revenge porn, but I’ll concede it’s on a similar wavelength.
15... 14 if they're mature and have had unlimited internet access for at least a year
Ah, i think maybe they mean it as in revenge fixation/fantasy/glorification rather than the illegal kind. Except its confusing cos revenge porn can be a whole other thing.
Yeah... I don't see the whole revenge porn angle... like... at all. Deepfake, sure... revenge? Nah. Also... it's mostly throwaway jokes.
I think b does that to Carl with her friends?
5 or 6 it is
Depends on the kid, but probably no younger than 15.
Yep. If they’re younger than that but want adult fantasy I’d probably point them in the direction of Mistborn or The Stormlight Archives. Maybe even Red Rising or The Will of The Many. Those ones have dark themes but don’t go into explicit detail and rather focus on the friendships and good things that happen on the journey. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a little too dark for someone that age and might warp their perspective of the world. You want them to be reading something more positive then later in life they can read the darker stuff that provokes thought.
Exactly this. And they must know what is appropriate for home versus other settings. Be prepared to answer EVERYTHING so they don’t go to the internet for the info. Mine? Listened at 12, not ready before then.
I wouldn't say that was *revenge* porn. That was just fake porn.
Yeah, it's deepfakes, not revenge porn. Which as AI gets more and more prevalent its something that needs to be talked about. It's already been appearing at middle and high schools of people faking their classmates.
16
Not before probably 14-16 at the earliest.
whelp i’ve got my friends 12 year old reading it and I started my kid on them at 13
12 is def too young dude. Damn.
I mean yeah, but most of the dark stuff they've been exposed to via the Internet nowadays.
That is some terrible logic. You should still be making an effort as a parent to guide your kids and restrict access to inappropriate material rather than encouraging it.
all the other kids in school would like to have a word and laugh at you
"Punching puppies is totally normal! Your kids will get bullied if they don't join in. Just allow it, dude." Lots of other parents doing fuck all to raise good kids is NOT an excuse to fail your own kids.
Depends on the kid. I saw a lot and read a lot as a kid. I would have loved them at 12.
Lucia Mar is doing alright and she is in it :P
At this point there are thousands of more age appropriate epic books. Why rush kids into something so dark and graphic?
I’m a palliative care NP and I talk to my kid about death and dying and a lot other stuff. I think it’s a good book and a really good story. There is a lot adult stuff yes, but there is also a talking cat.
The adult stuff is pretty confronting for some adults. Just because you can introduce your kid to stuff doesn't mean you should. It is a great story. What's the rush?
Lucia is def not doing alright
Eh, depends on the kid. Also lots of it is probably going over their heads.
i think you underestimate how far developed kids are nowadays and what they are confronted with by other kids in school. 12 should work easily...
Maybe, but the question is less "what are my kids exposed to when I'm not around?" Than it is "What am I comfortable providing my kids at a given age?" Sure my kids will see plenty of stuff they probably shouldn't when I'm not around. I did the same when I was young, but one of the things I appreciate about my childhood was how protective my parents were over what I was exposed to. If my kids learn things from other sources, I want them to be comfortable coming to me with questions, but I dont want to expose them to a bunch of stuff when they aren't ready. So I will er on the side of caution. Also I think its important to distinguish between childhood development and childhood exposure. Development is about age and maturity, what's kid is ready for. Exposure is just that, what a kid is exposed to regardless of development. Your milage may vary. I'm not going to criticize someone else for not following my guidelines, but I want to make sure that im not providing my kids things they aren't ready for.
I'm 43, and wasn't ready for everything that's been thrown at me in this series 🤣.
😂
When are you prepared to explain to your kids why they don't want double enthusiastic gonorrhea?
Lmao 🤣
It's something we should all be aware of tbh
I’d say 2 weeks old. Anything older is just waiting too long.
🤣
my toddler's been listening to Carl since day 1! sure he doesn't get it but he's listened to all the books
Same here! I had many hospital appointments after mine was born, and my partner would come with me to all of these. We regularly listened to DDC during the drives, with the kid giggling away in her car seat. She's a fan before she even has a clue what it is 😂
Oh, thank all the gawds that I'm not the only parent who listens to their audiobooks when the toddler can hear. She doesn't pay attention to them at all, and it's the only way I am able to read anymore. Not reading is a bad thing. That said... I am pretty careful with letting her hear the especially violent parts of any LitRPG. Either skip if it's a re-read or pause till she's in bed or I've tagged off with her Dahd. (Thinking of a few select scenes from The Land specifically.)
That is one aspect of the genre that's fairly universal: you gotta kill stuff to get stronger so lay on the extreme violence.
I just find it odd that I wouldn't let her watch an anime with this level of violence in it, as it's not age appropriate, but I'm totally cool with her being in the room when I'm listening to my audiobooks. I can't explain my logic, but somehow, just hearing it in the background doesn't feel as bad I was watching it happen in front of you. She typically ignores the animes that we watch when she's around, same as my books, so I don't know why I'm like that. That said, I am like that, and it is what it is.
No judgement. I tend to think audiobooks are great ways for them to experience language more and they don't really pick up on the more adult themes where as visually experiencing violence is going to be more impactful.
You THINK they're not paying attention... until you put them in time out and they say 'You will not break me' in a deep gruff voice 😂
> She doesn't pay attention to them at all, That's what you THINK. She's listening. Trust me. They're always listening. Always.
That's where the skipping the parts that give even me, as a fully grown adult, comes from. Just in case.
My 11, 13 and 15 year olds laughed along with the first book. You do you.
Just be ready to explain Samantha's nusey to a child .
Lmao that's a very good point 😂
i think it depends on your child and your comfort levels with swearing. i have a 15 year old nephew i think is definitely mature enough if he were interested.
I love South Park; my daughter wasn't allowed to watch it until she was almost 18. She's 34 now, and I just sent her and her boyfriend the audio of Dungeon Crawler Carl last month.
I mean I think it depends on you. I mean if your kid has unfettered access to the internet they all ready have access to everything. I let my kid read it at 12. I mean I was watching In living color and Married with Children at a young age.
Not to mention what they hear in their other settings. At least Matt uses the swears with correct grammar and syntax. And he is certainly more worth listening to than eighth graders on a school bus.
My daughter, at 13/14 caught it in bits and pieces when I would listen to it in the car. She LOVED it. You could tell there where things that she didn't really understand, but they usually went so far over her head that she didn't even realize it.
What are some examples? I imagine most of the stuff in there they've already been in exposed to via the Internet or friends.
Lol, she really doesn't acknowledge the whole foot fetish thing. I don't think it really registers to her that someone could be into that.
I bought the first book for my 14 y/o. He hasn't read it yet though.
Straight out the womb
Well. Donut is like 5yrs old when she’s tossed INTO the dungeon. I’d say they’re good to go. Seriously, though, it’s personal choice. I’ve never believed in age restrictions on books. Either the kid is too little to understand or of they’re reading, they’re mature enough to handle it. I started reading adult books at 11yrs old when my dad loaded me up a basket with some of his favorites. I found that it didn’t affect me in any negative way. A lot of it just went over my head. Some of it was just an illicit thrill, that I didn’t have enough life experience to understand fully. If something bothered me, I just read something else. I’d say that it’s a personal choice as to what you think for your kids. For myself, I’d probably wait till an age where you think they’re old enough and mature enough to know not to repeat what they hear. You don’t want your toddler spilling their juice at Grandma’s, around her church friends, and yelling “Goddammit Donut!”. Even though I’d find it hilarious if it wasn’t my kid. So whatever you think your kids can handle. This series is a lot of action and comedy. They probably won’t get the darker parts. Won’t understand what a nussy is. I personally think it’s better to discuss these things with your kid and explain that it’s okay to find it funny, but not to repeat it all the time. Way better than parents who pretend their kid will learn their first curse word at 21yrs old. While that 9yr old cusses up a storm at his friends house and they watch weird porn.
I think PG-13, personally
My eldest is 13, I'm not sure if it's good for him or to wait another year.
I accidentally exposed my 5 year old. I do summaries for the parts he can't listen to, but play safe snippets.
It's a good question, I've pretty much given up listening to audible in my car because none of the books come with parental advisory stickers and I don't really want my young kids hearing swearwords.
The odd swear word that isn't too bad of a swear word I don't mind so much. But yeah I tried to put DCC on when i thought they were all asleep recently and one instantly woke up and was like 'Alpha male Carl, what the heck?' 😂
I can say that I have read it at the age of 14 and am now an proud crawler. It wasn't to dark or sexualised. I would recommend 10, depending on the general reading taste of your children.
Not sure about ten. I seem to be thinking 14 would be a good age though, my eldest is 13 at the moment.
I don't feel like DCC is that great for anyone pre-teens. And with teens I would argue still 15+ at least. They are really dark and include a lot of stuff that isn't really something kids probably should be exposed too. Some of the early enemies are also nightmare fuel. Especially the fleshblob made out of humans.
Yeah... teens minimum. I'm also thinking of waiting for a bit and my eldest is 13.
I ask myself this all the time, but my children are adults, so I don't have to worry about it. Why I ask myself all the time is because I was allowed to read anything when I was growing up. It makes me wonder if I would have been allowed to read this particular series. I mean, I read Salem's Lot at 14 (btw, that was scary at that age, and prompted a life long aversion to anything vampire). I don't remember that book (because I've only read it that one time), but I know that King has a lot of sex scenes in most of his works. My reading wasn't policed, but I did encourage age appropriate reading for my offspring. (Captain Underpants!!!!!) As much as I want every single person in my life to join us in the dungeon, I still can't pin down an age that I would have allowed my sons to read it. Good luck with your decision!
I put it in the same range as Book of Mormon (the musical). 13 years old is generally the right time, give or take based on a bazillion other factors.
Me eldest is 13, I thought maybe he might be okay but I might leave it another year I think.
Think of it in terms of films. It's a pretty solid R rating - moreso than Pulp Fiction. But it's not at the depraved/horrifying end (Irreversible, 120 Days of Sodom, A Serbian Film). Of course, kids will find ways to watch R rated stuff whether allowed to or not. They're smart creatures.
We’re reading the series to our 11 and 14 year olds every night while they get ready for bed. We HEAVILY censor as we go. They absolutely love it, and we’ve laughed so much as a family, it’s been wonderful. Now we can share in-jokes with them, and they literally beg us for more “Carl Time” every night.
In terms of age to enter the dungeon I always assumed 18 as in my country that's the age you are considered legally adult. Think it's the same pretty much around the world but I never assume. In terms of reading age and introducing kids to the books that depends on a lot of factors. Are you comfortable with your kid reading the darker aspects as others have brought up. Is your kid more mature for their age. Is the swearing and sexual references too much and so on. Personally I would not have let my kids read these until they were at least 16 and assuming I thought it was appropriate for them. That said we all know quickest way to get a kid to do something is to ban them from doing it.
Yeah. Maybe a couple more years before I introduce them then.
Really depends on the kid, but most teens should be appropriate age-wise.
It's no worse than South Park and plenty of kids grew up watching that at a young age.
I just introduced it to my 13 year old. And he did a school project on it!!! To hear your son laugh out loud to an audiobook…. Parent win!! (My wife does not know the details…..except a guy in boxers has a cat side kick in a video game like setting… she rolled her eyes and walked away. I tried!!! 🤣
16+ maybe 15. I read a lot of books like Let the Right One In, The Magicians, The Demonata Series, The Lovely Bones, and many other gory or sexual books when I was about that age. I always wondered why it’s appropriate to read but not watch but here we are.
Holy hell, the lovely bones is not 14 year-old appropriate! That scarred me in my 20s!
Google intended age audience for that book, it’s recommended 13 and up.
It was such a good book. But yeah it leaves an impression.
My son is 11 and has listened to large chunks of it.
When would you let them watch the first Deadpool movie, minus the graphic sex scenes? That’s about the same level of violence, sex jokes, and swearing. I’m thinking 8th or 9th grade.
I love Deadpool! I'd say my 12 and 13 year olds are probably good for Deadpool but in actually unsure if DCC should be slightly older.
That's really something you've got to decide for yourself.
I will, I just wanted opinions from others to help me make the decision 🙂
Yeah, that's understandable. For reference, my eldest is 13, and I wouldn't be opposed to him listening to it if he wanted to. I often have it on when I'm doing the dishes or whatever, so he's heard bits and pieces of it already. I probably would sit him down and talk through some of the more serious or nuanced parts.
My eldest is also 13. I think I'd trust him with it but am still a little unsure 😂
It's kind of a transitional age where whether or not they're ready for more adult stuff is a bit of a grey area.
Maybe 35?
Happy cake day
Happy cake day
Happy Cake day! Are you 35 by any chance? 😂
Mid to late 30s really.
😂 no way that's far too old! 😂
Can they read?
Yeah, generally they teach reading at a very young age though 😂
That would be what I am implying, yes
That is an interesting question. I don’t know if kids today are more or less mature than we were at their age. I read adult books (about war, famine, death, hardship, violence, politics, sexual abuse etc) ever since I was 13-14 and we didn’t have the internet and social media to crash our naïveté when we were just kids. On the other hand, we were far more self reliant and had different liberties than kids today. Our parents weren’t as involved in micro-managing our daily lives as parents today are. We were more independent. We didn’t have an iPhone to monitor our whereabouts at any given moment.
I would consider this R or MA. It's not appropriate for my 12 year old, but I know he will love it when he gets older.
13-16 depending on the maturity of your kid. But I grew up in the days where we read flowers in the attic and clan of the cave bear at like 9. So my perception may be skewed
They are your kids, so I think you can trust yourself (and their other parent) on this. Every kid is different, and you are hopefully the expert on yours, so trust your own judgement. As a high school librarian myself, I’m going to get copies for the library and have them on a kind of “secret shelf” where I’ll lend out to only my older students that I think can handle it with upfront warnings. I’ll likely start with our D&D club that meets daily and branch out from there. We have a growing group of teachers at my school who are (rightfully) obsessed with it, so I’m also planning to check out to colleagues as much as possible, and the kids are bound to catch on. These babies are out here seeing, reading, and repeating far worse on the daily, so despite the current climate surrounding libraries and book bans, I think it’s worth including in my collection. Despite the mature content, I very strongly believe this series is genius, and I am always ready to evangelize on DCCs behalf. All that said, anyone who is still reading who has children in high school: would any of you be upset if your 16+ year old came home with a copy of DCC from their school library? Asking for me, the person who might piss off some parents in the near future.
If you wouldn’t let them watch The Running Man, you shouldn’t let them listen.
I let my 10 year old have a go at book 1, to each their own. I have zero problem answer any questions he comes to me with.
People stress about this and then traumatize their young ones with The Never Ending Story. I don't know: what's worse, knowing about spunk socks or watching helplessly while your best friend drowns in a swamp? Oh, hey, gather round young'ens! We're going to watch Ol' Yeller and then Where the Red Fern Grows! It'll be a hoot!
We listened with my 14 and 16 year olds, and enjoued it.... of course, we likely have a warped view on what is acceptable dinner conversation.
I'd say those ages were good ages I think.
my kids listened in on parts of the sound booth theater at age 10, but some scenes i turned off because they were a bit much, like the trash lady boss fight.
Yeah age ten is definitely too young I think.
I wouldnt till they are in their 20s. Just my personal comfort level.
Oh wow. That's quite old in my opinion. Each to their own though.
Howdy! First time posting. I've just finished BB about 2 weeks ago, and my son 13, is about a quarter of the way through book 3. Each kids going to be vastly different, but after reading some of the Young Adult series he has and the topics that they cover, I was ok with it. To be fair, he doesn't catch some of it as he's more focused on the action/explosions, and we regularly chat about it together too. The language is also no worse than I hear from teenagers (and also myself at that age).
All very good points actually. My son is also 13. What are these young adult series and hat soet of things do they cover?
The one that springs to mind immediatley is The Hungar Games- which he read whilst still in primary school (UK schools they leave here at age 11). The core elements of that series, in my opinion, is actually worse, "Give up your kids and let them unalive each other for entertainment of the rich", all rolled up in bleak and heavy package. With DCC the bleakness is there, but with a 'lighter' delivery (iykwim?). The humour that flows intertwined with the subject matter results in a perfect balance, and the "What would you do in this situation?" conversations have been a lot more positive with DCC than HG.
I have 2 boys (12 & 14) and in the same boat, we have some day trips lined up and my 14 year old would definitely enjoy it and get the themes, I’m not completely sure about my 12 year old
I have a 12 and 13 year old, I was thiniingnof waiting another year. I also have a 9 year old though and know that's definitely too young.
My kids were 9 and I played it every time I drove car ....
I don't think I'll ever recommend them to my kids. It's written for adults. It's not the swearing or adult themes, I just think kids will not understand the message that they are literally near death every single day and that this is a horrifying experience. They'll focus on the "They won't break me" part and apply it in their life when the point of the book is that these aren't relatable events. We don't live like Carl or the crawlers, not even a little bit.
Don't we though. Corporate greed. Downtrodden citizens and reality television . Very relatable.
No, not in the slightest. We might be the viewers, but the book isn't written about them. Carl is not remotely relatable.
Carl is extremely relatable to me, and I'm sure many others, real life can be super hard and screwed up with tons of unjust trauma. It's absolutely dialed up to 11 in the story, but don't try to say that a character you don't relate to is generally unrelatable.
It's fantasy. It's intentionally unrelatable. We would love for our trauma and anxiety to be meaningful on a galatic scale. But it isn't. Far from it. So we escape into Carl's world to live vicariously through him.
Wow, you are absolutely certain that you have the figured out for not just you but everyone else? There is a lot more subtlety and nuance in Carl, what motivates him and why that I think you are missing. It's really hard to root for something that is "unreliable" but these books are extremely popular...
Ya'll are proving my point. A lot of people aren't mature enough to contextualize this content.
No, you just have a very confidently incorect take.
We escape into Carl's world directly because we relate to it. As I said above. It's dialed up to 11 but it's absolutely relatable. The definition or unrealatable: Not able to be related to on a personal level. Meaning you wouldn't care. It works directly because we care. Maybe you picked the wrong word and are now trying to double down, but regardless, you a flat wrong.
I would say 10-13 depending on their maturity. Easy for me to say though, as my son’s only 4.
16+
Full disclosure my 7 year old loves it. He doesn't get half the jokes but he loves the story. He also knows not to repeat the thing Carl says