Hi,

At what age do you think it would be ok to let young ones watch the Sarah Jane Adventures?

Thank you.

I'm not a parent, but my youngest sister was only 5 when The Sarah Jane Adventures' first series started, and she watched it from then without a problem... never too scary or anything for her, and it always held her interest too. By 6 she was watching Doctor Who as well.

The CBBC guidelines state that content is generally aimed at those aged between 6 and 12, so they're not putting out anything that they don't think is suitable - as always, kids are different in what they can handle and it's always at the parent's discretion...

Was it something you were particularly concerned about? Whether it's scary? Whether the stories are too hard for younger kids to follow?

Does it matter, its a family show.

Let them watch Torchwood.

I'm not a parent, so I couldn't really say.

One story that stands out to me as being rather scary for young kids would be "The Day of the Clown" but many would be fine for young children. Depends on the children, really.

Tamer than dr who and I presume you let the kids watch dr who? I was 5 when I started watching and apart from being scared of Cybermen in the dell near me, sea devils at my uncle's caravan site at Knott end and a zygon spaceship being in the sea when we used to go to Blackpool it had no long lasting effect on me.

It was the scariness of the tone that concerns me. I know SJ Adventures is much tamer than DW, but as I haven't really watched them, I'm not sure at what age I should consider it for a young child. I will of course watch them first, but I just thought I'd ask on here what people thought.

No, I haven't let her watch Dr Who yet, she is too young at the moment (only 3.5 yrs) - and I was thinking ahead to when she is 4 - 5, and whether this would be an appropriate age.

I assumed that SJA would be a safer option to start on (with selected DW episodes thrown in), as it is designed for younger children.

I am the Dad of a 3YO a 6YO and a 9YO

We all sit down and watch (rewatch) Doctor Who together, yes some of the content could be scary, but some of the cartoons I watch (I mean the kids watch) contain peril and scares and general jeopardy.

SJA is great and I would let kids of any age watch it. But then, I was watching Doctor Who in the early 70s (from when I was just a toddler) so I'm probably a bit more blasé.

It really just depends on how much you tolerate as a parent, or how much you think your child can handle. My parents never had a problem letting me watch Doctor Who with them as a toddler, even though it frightened the life out of me, but that's part of what I loved about it. Sarah Jane Adentures I would consider more than fine for any age, but that's for you to judge after watching them for yourself.

The Sarah Jane Adventures isn't that scary, its some Doctor Who Episodes you have to watch out for: "The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit", "The Waters of Mars" and a few others. I wasn't too restricted when I was young like I remember watching South Park and Family Guy from a young age.

Kids like to be scared. I mean its not like your letting a 8 yr old watch Nightmare on Elm Street.

Honestly, it depends on the child. My older son and daughter started watching both around the age of 7 and were just fine and loved them. My younger son started at 7 too but some of the Doctor Who stories gave him nightmares (the psychologically scary ones as opposed to the monster scary ones) so I filtered the ones I thought would scare him after that but he was fine with SJAs.

So if a child is of a nervous disposition maybe filter out the episodes you think might scare them. A parent usually knows what sets their child off.

How old were you when you was watching Who? For me id probably say a toddler age.

If you are the parent, its your discretion for your children.

I suppose I started watching as a toddler, but my friend's son is 5 and can't watch Dr Who because he finds it too scary.

Its not that scary.

I'm not sure why it's difficult to believe that some young kids find Who too scary. I've met one of them. He told me he finds it too scary and I'm pretty sure he's not making it up.

I'm impressed that your 3 year old can follow and understand a whole episode of Dr Who: (s)he clearly has greater powers of concentration than mine did at that age!