A mum is worried she’s being ‘unreasonable’ for not letting her 13-year-old daughter watch Love Island.
The woman took to parenting website Mumsnet and shared her dilemma in its popular ‘Am I Being Unreasonable’ chat forum. She explained that her daughter ‘keeps asking to watch it’ and said she’s in disagreement with her husband over whether to let her tune in to the ITV2 reality TV show.
The popular programme sees single men and women looking for love and choosing who to ‘couple up’ with. Previous series have featured contestants talking explicitly and even discussing when they’ve had sex on the show away from the cameras.
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Taking to Mumsnet to share her thoughts, the mum wrote: “She keeps asking to watch it, she kept asking last year as well. DH [dear husband] thinks she’s ok to watch it but I disagree, AIBU [Am I Being Unreasonable]?
“I’ve never watched it so don’t know what it’s like really. I just think that 13 is a bit young for something like Love Island, this is only based on the little that I know about it though.”
Plenty of other parents waded in to share their thoughts, but not everyone was in agreement. One person said: “I don’t see the issue tbh and all of her friends will be talking about it!”
Another person said she ‘didn't allow’ her daughter to watch it at 13 saying it’s “far too explicit.” But a third person said: “I would let her- it opens up discussions about what is and isn’t ok in relationships - watch it with her and see what she thinks”.
A fourth added: “I think there is an argument for not watching it. But I think there are also arguments for watching it with lots of discussion around the toxic elements of it, why some of the relationships aren't healthy etc. Avoidance isn't the same as education”.
A fifth person said: “She will just watch it at her friend’s houses if you don't allow it. She's 13 not 3”. And the responses kept on coming. One person said: “I wouldn't be happy with that level of explicit language either. My ds luckily shows no interest but it would be a no if he did.”
And another added: “Would she watch it with you? Otherwise I'd say no, from what I can see, it has lots of unhealthy attitudes to relationships and life in general and I wouldn't want my child having an unfiltered viewing of that. I would want to discuss the themes that come up and make sure they have an understanding of healthy relationships etc.”
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