Squid Game: what to do if your child is obsessed

Squid game, the most watched TV series of the moment and ever, about 87 million Netflix accounts have finished it in the first 23 days of its launch, it is forbidden to children under 14. Because the drama in which “hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games,” as Netflix’s description goes, is actually kind of cruel Hunger Games, not set in a dystopian future but in the South Korean present, in which there are countless sequences of physical and psychological violence, torture, mental manipulation, as well as some sex scenes. In conclusion, Squid Game it is definitely not suitable for an elementary school audience.

As the psychotherapist wrote Alberto Pellai on Facebook: «The minds of children and pre-adolescents are unable to metabolize the contents of a series such as Squid Game», and therefore his vision should be effectively prohibited under 14 years. However, some children have already watched it and others have modified their games after hearing about this new trend: either on TikTok or at the interval they replicate the games of Squid Game, for example changing the deletion from One, two, three star! with a slap or a pistol shot, or by playing the free (unofficial) online video game of the famous One, two, three star! mortal. What to do in these cases? We asked the pedagogist Daniele Novara for advice to draft 3 tips for parents.

1. Watch the series if you haven’t already, it can be used to understand exactly what we are talking about, and therefore if it is a content that your child can understand and interpret correctly: but only if it is a teenager. In the case of children under 14, on the other hand, it makes you understand why you cannot show it to them. “We must absolutely avoid that children get there: it’s like a horror film, at 8 or 9 it would create a trauma in the child’s psyche,” explains Novara. “Just as we do not allow children of that age to drink alcohol or visit porn sites, even this kind of” playful “products are prohibited».
2. If it comes to «Challenges» on Tik Tok, and your child has already seen them (the account for minors under 13 is forbidden), talk about them. Try to explain to him that there are various types of “violent challenges” on social media and what risks they entail. “It’s about harm reduction at that point,” continues Novara. “Very different from the theory of some that ‘just look at them with an adult’ to be sure. If the contents are not suitable, they are not suitable even if you have a parent next to you ».
3. Ally as parents. «In this case, the intervention of the fathers is fundamental, who must not delegate the management of the problem to the mothers. Which should never be trivialized: adult content can become fixed in the memory and become disturbing, re-emerging in unexpected moments ».