What Age Is Appropriate to Watch Dancing with the Stars

They're not making out, having sex, and there's no nudity or violence. It's ballroom dancing, sometimes freestyle gets silly, but all ballroom dancers wear those costumes. No big deal to me! My kids like it sometimes.

Oh goodness.. Let her watch the show! It's adults dancing, so "sexy" or not, she could understand that only adults can dress that way. All you have to do is talk to her about it.

Its not a show we watch regularly, but my son (5 next week) has seen it before and likes the dancing. I don't think its inappropriate for him, but I tend to have more issue with violence and am more relaxed about nudity, so revealing costumes aren't a big deal in our house.

It's dancing. Dancing is appropriate for all ages.

When I was a child, we watched Lawrence Welk. My mom said I was a fuddy duddy for liking it. We only had 3 TV channels back then, for heaven's sakes, and I even visited little old neighbors to watch it. They served me milk and cookies while I watched it with them.

As an adult, I don't watch dancing with the stars. I'm not offended by it, it's just not my thing. It's up to you to decide if it's too risque.

If she loves watching dancing, I would suggest that you introduce her to ballet and the opera. I'm sure, in Encinitas, there are plenty of productions you could actually take her to as opposed to watching on TV.

Even ice skating routines in the Olympics could seem a little "risque", but as a child, I never thought about any of that. I just wanted to be that beautiful floating on the ice.

Don't send me mean messages, anyone, but dancing with the stars is stars getting out of their comfort zones. Sometimes they push the edge for pushing's sake. It's a competition.

Only you know if it's too much or not.
It's a television show.
That's why we have remotes to change the channel if we feel we need to.

My boys (5 & 3) think it is cool, but I don't let them watch it because I don't want them growing up thinking that it is a good thing to be seeing barely-clad people grinding up against each other. There are definitely better options for her age group.

You could ask yourself: How would you feel if she watched it regularly and you found her imitating some of the more grinding and sexy dance moves? Referring to people as "hot" or "sexy"? And so on? If you would have a problem with that happening, then say no to the show.

As for the argument some make that "there's worse stuff on TV that kids could be watching" -- wow, way to set the standards very low!

My daughter is 11 and a serious dancer. I might let her watch it if she were interested (she isn't) but for five -- no, I wouldn't. I know others are saying "kids don't get the sexiness," basically, but it's not just dance as others say. The costumes are designed to be revealing and the moves can be intentionally risque. And the discussion of dancers' "hotness" is all about appearance and sexuality, not skills. Of course that might be over her head, so to speak, and she'd just notice fun moves and a lot of glitter, but I think that ignoring the sexuality behind things like this show and saying "it's fine for young kids, they don't get that part of it" is not wise. They may not get it now, but they'll understand it all the sooner if they're hearing about hotness and booty-shaking every week. And yeah, I'm saying this as an adult who likes most every form of dance, even the overheated version of ballroom that they use on shows like this, and whose daughter sees men and boys in skin-tight ballet tights all the time and doesn't bat an eyelash.

Your daughter's five. In two minutes she'll be interested in something different. Don't overtalk this with her or overexplain if you choose not to let her see it. Just drop it and distract her with something else.

my 5y loves that show.

This is up to you. My personal opinion is that there is much worse for a 6-7 yr old on prime time tv.

It just depends on how wound tightly you are on what You do with your child.

My personal opinion... There's a lot worse out there as in a the blood and gore shows.

I'd much rather my child see a little nudity ( omg) vs people getting heads blown off on a tv show.

Bottom line your choice!!

I would let my kids watch it they are around your kids age-- I think its fine. Even with the sexy dresses and dancing--its a good opportunity to get your kids excited about dance. There are much, much more risque shows on than DWTS.

I have always allowed my daughter to watch America's Next Top Model. When they get in fights, curse too much, or it is too risque, I click the previous channel button and we watch something else for a few minutes.

I think 5 is too young. They do sometimes slip up and swear on the show, and it is too sexy, in my opinion, for a 5 year old. commonsensemedia.org rates it for 10 and up, as well. It sounds like you have good mommy instincts. :)

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/dancing-with-t...

My kids watch it and they're 5 and 8. They don't notice the clothes. Parents do. So many times parents think too much about stuff and we think they will be jaded or mixed up about stuff. Most of that stuff is over their heads and they have no idea what we're upset about.

My sister taped Dirty Dancing but skipped the scenes with Baby and Johnny where he took her shirt off in his room. My niece did not know that scene was in there until she watched it as an adult. She had no idea there was anything pertaining to sex, pregnancy, none of the stuff the actual story was about. She just thought is was a cool movie about dancing. Those of us that saw it an adult sees a movie know it was about the blonde being pregnant and getting an abortion then Baby's dad having to take care of the clean up when she started hemorrhagic bleeding. My niece did not know what that was all about, she thought the blonde lady had an upset tummy or something.

Kids do not see the world the way an adult sees it.

I remember an old story that gets passed around every now and then.

A mom is driving down the highway and all of a sudden she sees a convertible ahead and a naked young woman is standing up in the back seat flashing her birthday suit for all to see.

The mom frantically worries about her child seeing a naked woman doing this. The kids notice the woman. But only make a comment about how she isn't wearing a seat belt and isn't being safe....kids perspective is different than ours...

It's dancing. Maybe mute the judging parts if the language is something you have a problem with?

I would think there are more things out there that are appropriate for her, why would you need to let her pressure you into this.

Nah. I am a dance teacher and I think its over the top. Why do all the thin girls have to be half naked? Nah--pass on it.