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Sometimes it's hard to read a newspaper review and decide if the program or film is really suitable for your kids. You don't just want to drop your teens off at the cineplex and hope for the best! Plenty of Internet resources exist to help parents cope. As always, please preview my recommendations to make sure they are appropriate for your children.
Parents Television Council
Last week a grandparent wrote to me and asked for help. "I don't have kids in my house all the time," she said, "What's suitable for family viewing?" She was looking for programs without bad language, violence, or subjects that make kids (and adults!) squirm. I suggested this site to her. The Parents Television Council rates each evening's shows on exactly those criteria.
TV Guide
It's not all family-friendly TV out there, but TV Guide's Web site tries to give you a way to sort it all out. Click on TV Listings, then enter your ZIP code. Just follow a few more brief instructions to get a localized TV schedule. See the little tabs that say Children Only and Family Only? Select either one to get a specialized list of quality shows. Click on the name of each program to see its rating and read a short review.
V-Chip Education Project
Since January 2000, all U.S.-manufactured TV sets have a V-Chip inside them. Not a snack food at all, it is a tool for parents to ensure "tasteful" family viewing habits. It can be set up to block individual shows or even entire channels. At this site, you can learn about the V-Chip, the criteria used to rate TV content, and what all those rating label letters at the beginning of the shows mean.
Grading the Movies
Besides movies, this resource also grades music and other media on violence, sexual content, language, and alcohol/tobacco references. It's a terrific resource and I found it well-designed and easy to use. Why does that CD have a parental warning sticker on it? Find out here.
The Movie Mom
Nell Minow, the Movie Mom, offers advice on the best movies to see. She rates films not only on profanity, nudity/sex, language, alcohol/drug, violence/scariness, and tolerance/diversity issues, but also on artistic merit. Many of these other review services ignore that important piece.
Kids-In-Mind: The Parents' Guide to Movies and Video
In this one, artistic merit is not considered. Movies are rated on their level of sex, violence, and profanity. The reviews aren't as complete as some of the other services I recommend, but the scope of its collection is so broad, you should definitely visit to compare notes.
Screen it! Entertainment Reviews for Parents
Each movie and video title is scored in a variety of areas of concern to parents. How much blood? How much profanity? How many instances of disrespectful behavior or nudity? The plot is usually entirely revealed in the write-ups. There is also a section on whether or not the movie has any entertainment or artistic merit. This site helps parents "know before you go" so there will be no surprises later.
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