Parenting Sites 411

Regardless of whether you can actually get to a movie theater with your children to see movies or if you do most of your film viewing at home with DVDs, chances are at one time or another you’ve wondered if the movie you’ve selected is indeed appropriate for younger viewers.  Hopefully you aren’t left wondering this AFTER you’ve already purchased movie tickets or rented the DVD and are already seated and watching the movie in question.

The good news is there are a BUNCH of great websites out there that specialize in family-centered movie reviews and give you a specialized idea of what you can expect once the movie begins.

• The Movie Mom - sponsored by Yahoo! Movies,  gives each movie and dvd a ‘grade’ based on how appropriate it is for children.  Plus she’ll tell you exactly what gave each movie the rating it has.
• The Parents Council Television Reviews - Don’t be fooled by the name, this website also reviews DVDs and films and holds each program/movie to very stringent guidelines.  You can expect no fooling around from this site.
• Parent Previews - Like Movie Mom, they give each film a “grade” and then break the movie down and grade it on sexual content, alcohol and drug inclusion, violence, and language.
• Kids in Mind - Reviews each movie and gives it a three digit number.  Each number refers to a rating from 1-10 on sex/nudity, violence/gore and profanity.  Plus they go further and site each incident where one of those three areas appears in the film so you actually know EXACTLY what to expect.
• Plugged In Online - Goes beyond just movies to review television and music as well.
• Family Style - Also reviews each film based on the “big sins” as well as displaying other critics reviews of the film but includes no in-depth review.

So the next time you want to take your family to the drive-in or check out that big blockbuster at rental store, check these sites first and see if the movie you want is REALLY the movie you want.

I’ve mentioned before that our television viewing area has two PBS stations- one for Chattanooga and one for Georgia. It is kind of like a mother’s little helper everyday. In fact, this post right now is being brought to you by the words Curious and George.

I was a big fan of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. My cousin likes to tell the story of how I always knew when Mr. Roger’s would be on, even though I couldn’t tell time. I would drop whatever I was doing to go watch Mr. Roger’s. I have fond memories of Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow. I am glad to pass this along to Fuller in his early development of learning skills.

Last week Fuller’s morning viewing schedule was interrupted by nice ladies telling the kids to get their parents so they could hear an important announcement about their station. It was the standard “Please give to PBS” pitch that comes about once a quarter.

Our PBS station, WTCI, has a Kids Klub program where you can support the station and get a bunch of kid stuff in return. For $40 we got a Curious George t-shirt and tickets to a lot of local attractions. Fuller’s name will be on TV the week of his birthday (every kids’ dream, right?), and we get to go to a special fun day at Lake Winnie this summer. The nice ladies wore me down and I called up to pledge my $40. Fuller’s t-shirt should be here in 4 to 6 weeks. Hopefully it will still fit.

Another bonus of watching so much PBS is that we heard about the Family Fun Day with the Walk Around Cookie Monster. It was held this past Saturday and I made it a point to get out of the house and take Fuller to meet the famous Cookie. It was also another small way to support our local PBS station ($3 per person to get in). And Fuller got to do one of his favorite activities- bounce in an inflatable obstacle course.

Is public television part of your family? Do you support local public television? Do you remember PBS as a kid?

PBS, Public Television, television, Cookie Monster, kid’s tv