Unless you have been living in a closed-off world on a distant unknown island, you’ve probably been hearing a lot about the popular Korean dystopian drama on Netflix. Kids are begging parents to watch it, sneaking off episodes on their own, and those pink jumpsuits seemed to be all the rage on Halloween. My girl Ellie and her husband pulled off the Squid Couple of the Year with this awesome get-up!Schools are concerned about kids mimicking the game on the schoolyard with many school boards issuing official statements warning parents about the series.

After personally watching the entire series and discussing it with my ragtag crew of other child advocates and screentime experts, here is what you need to know about Squid Game. 

The series contains:

1. Intense violence, torture, sadistic pleasure from said torture and violence
2. Lots of blood, RED blood. Not the fake black colored blood of the typical American action movies… The red oozing kind of horror movies. Cue: blood curdling scream.
3. Content of sex in a bathroom stall, oral sex, organ harvesting, dead people, lots of dead people 455 to exact, in various states of death… shot in the head, at far range, stabbed, broken necks, falling from great heights, just to name a few. 
4. Overall fascination and elevation of gambling, conning, secrecy, and winning at all costsAdditionally, here is what is happening now because of the series:

1. 111 million Netflix accounts have watched the show. #SquidGame has been viewed more than 22.8 billion times on TikTok
2. Parents and kids disagree about what age the show is appropriate. Common Sense Media reports that parents say 17+ and kids say 14+. 
3. The game Red Light, Green Light* (see footnote)  is very popular on EVERY schoolyard
4. Everyone knows that Koreans are the most amazing content producers of this generation 🇰🇷 strong. #Koreaproud
5. Unless you understand Korean and spent some time in Korea*, you missed the nuance of this truly innovative and thought-provoking series (see footnote)

So, should your kid be watching Squid Game?

If your kid is in elementary school,

ABSOLUTELY NOT

If you have kid is in middle school, probably not. 

Beyond that, it all depends on your family’s values. Taking on a new series should always warrant a discussion, the debate of the pros and cons, and a deliberate step into understanding the choice to watch or not.

My advice would be to have your child read the reviews about the show and have her come to her own conclusion about what she shouldn’t be exposed to. Having your teen have the skills to curate their own media choices is part of them becoming an adult and crafting their identity. Help them make the right choices by giving them the tools. (Remember your Deelite collection of B-sides and vinyl boots? Groove IS in the heart!)

General rule: When he asks to watch something, the simple retort of “Have you done the research to see if it is appropriate for you?” Is something that puts the agency back in the kid’s hand. There are consequences of them having seen something inappropriate. (Anxiety, worry, night terrors,  etc. )

In our house, we ask. “Have you Common Sensed it?” That usually stops them in their tracks.

That being said… if there is content that is borderline but fits with your family’s values  (my youngest saw most of the Marvel movies since age 7) then watching it together in a safe physical space (lights on, snuggles, comfort, frequent breaks) is the way to go!!!

And for reasons 1-9 above, resistance to squid may be futile. Trying to block it entirely might not be a battle worth fighting. Instead, think of ways that you can integrate it into your family safely. My 9 and 12-year-old daughters were curious about the show because everyone was talking about it at school and their parents (us) seemed to be rushing them off to bed early to watch it!

So first we explained the reasons why they would not be able to watch it. (see 1-4 above). But rather than keeping the show a secret, we decided to do dramatic storytelling of each episode after we watched it the next day at dinner. They were riveted for the first 3 episodes, and then they only wanted to hear who won the game. And yes, they were just as disappointed as us with the unresolved ending. 

Would love to hear if you watched Squid Game too!

* As a Korean born in America, it was a shock to find myself living in Seoul for 13 years raising my three children. For the first five years of my time in Korea, I had to reposition my identity as a Korean from my American perspective to truly understand what it meant to be Korean. For example, the American childhood game, “Red Light, Green Light” is about following the rules of a traffic light. In the US (my NYC peeps!), jaywalking is common practice. You get caught, you are fined, but honestly pushing the boundaries of the rules is the American way of life. In Korea, there is no such thing as jaywalking. Even if there wasn’t a soul on a street and there is a red pedestrian light on the walkway, you wait. Trust me, when I first moved to Seoul, I would wonder why people would stare at me when I tried to jaywalk in my little neighborhood! 

The first game featured in Squid Game is ubiquitous in every Korean schoolyard. The phrase, “Mugunghwa Kochi Pieotseumnida” is about catching sight of a blooming national flower of Korea. This flower, also known as the “Hibiscus Syriacus” is featured in the national anthem and blooms shortly, lasting only a day. To catch a sight of this flower in bloom is national pride. So, when the contestants are playing this game, it’s beyond freeze and tag, it’s about playing the game of Korean survival.