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Letting Children be Children

What is more, the broadcasters we spoke to accept that, to a certain extent, the watershed really only serves to protect younger children, typically those of primary school age, and that once children are old enough to be able to choose the programmes they watch, then they are also mature enough to enjoy stronger content in the later part of the pre—watershed period and just after it:

"There are variations in how the watershed is used to regulate children's television viewing. The watershed plays a crucial role for parents with children aged 5-8, and the trust in pre-watershed programming, particularly that leading up to 7. 30pm, forms an essential part of parents' regulation and control of children's viewing. However, by the time children reach their teens, parents believe that 'they know it already' and that it is no longer appropriate to protect them too much. While violence was the type of content identified by viewers as the type of content which caused most concern, they were most likely to nominate programmes with sex and swearing as those they did not want their children to watch." Broadcaster, Call for Evidence response

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