Challege to Write Day 7: Did you have a favorite movie when you were a child? What was it?
I was a child in the 70’s and 80’s so I was at the perfect age to fawn over Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy. Yes, I imagined myself as Princess Leia. And my poor little prepubescent heart broke when Han was cryogenically frozen in “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Remembering the movies I watched as a child got me thinking about the movies my own children watch now. In a day and age where words that were considered profanity when I was a child are commonly uttered on primetime television and people wear less in public than I wear in the privacy of my bedroom, I have to tell you that I don’t trust the broad rating system in place for modern movies.
Consequently, I’ve spent a fair amount of time looking for recommendations I can trust when it comes to appropriate movies for my children. Here are my favorite resources:
Kids In Mind
This site rates each movie in three categories: sex/nudity, violence/gore, and profanity. In addition, they explain how they arrive at their rating so that you can determine whether or not you are comfortable with the material that negatively impacts a rating. They also include any instances of substance abuse in the movie. If this still isn’t enough information for you, they also summarize the main message of the movie and provide a list of discussion topics so you are prepared for all the likely questions your kids will ask if they watch the movie.
Parent Previews
This site rates each movie based on sex, violence, language, and alcohol/drug use. Included with each review is a detailed synopsis and content details so that you can make your own judgments about the appropriateness of the material for your family.
Movie Mom
This site gives each movie a letter grade for family-friendliness. While the grading system is more subjective (in my opinion) than Kids In Mind and Parent Previews, this site is a great resource for finding family-friendly movies if you don’t already have one in mind. You can sort by age appropriateness, find movies for your Netflix queue, and choose from Movie Mom’s Top Picks for Families.
Mommy Bear Media
If you want to purchase family-friendly movies, this site offers the largest selection of movies and TV show videos that are rated G, PG and a few PG-13 at the most competitive prices you will find. For those of you interested in supporting other moms and/or small businesses, this site is owned and operated by a mom!
Have you tried any of these sites? Do you use something different? Please let me know!
Thanks for these sites; I’ll definitely check them out.
What we’ve used before:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/
http://www.pluggedin.com/
http://www.dove.org/
Thanks Adam. I’ll have to check these sites out.
I haven’t heard of Mama Bear Media before. I will have to look into that.
When I was little we didn’t watch a lot of movies. As a teen though, I watched the Indiana Jones movies and loved them!
Annie and the Goonies were my favorite. Thank you for these insights though!
Thanks for sharing this useful information.
I don’t remember watching movies as a child, though I must have done. I always seemed to have my nose in a book. But that was a lo-ong time ago, and the culture today is totally different. So this is a fab list for parents with young ones. I’m sharing with my folks.
Princess Bride! OMG, watched it on repeat 🙂
That is my husband’s favorite! (I hope he doesn’t mind me publicizing that) “As you wish………………..” 🙂
I cant believe I was 8 watching Grease I so loved it but shocked now with what it was about:)
I was a big Disney movie fan when I was younger. I loved pretending to be a Princess 🙂 Great post, I need to get back into the #ChallengeToWrite soon!
I am very glad to hear that there are places you Mom’s can go to make absolutely sure what a movie contains before you allow your children to see them!! My favorite movie was and still is The original Wizard of Oz!!
I’m always looking for good shows for the kids for road trips…we watch so many over and over and over that finding something new to engage them in the car is a challenge. Love that it’s a site owned & operated by a mom!
I need to check out Mommy Bear Media, we are taking all our kids and Grandkids on vacation with us and I want to have some kid friendly movies for them to watch. Thanks!!