What are your movie rules?

[Anonymous]

My 4 year old sits through G and some PG movies. Sometimes we have to take her out of the room during scary parts or talk through them to explain things will get better. She's watched a lot of Disney movies with her older siblings. I would say hard no to Toy Story, it was terrifying. I agree with PP on some of the older Disney movies - she liked Cinderella and Snow White although Maleficient is a little scary. Frozen and Frozen 2 are really great for this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No screens except to FaceTime distant relatives until age 7. Then up to an hour per week.

LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10yr old and we also use Common Sense Media as a guide, and talk with other parents. Even if it's PG, things with large amounts of inappropriate language or sexual innuendo or drinking are no-go's for us. An occasional bit of language isn't a huge deal, but we're aware of it. First real movie wasn't until age 4 when Frozen came out.

I agree with this.

I really don't need my tween thinking that teenage drinking and casual sex are normal. Less than half of high schoolers drink, but a lot of movies make it seem like everyone does except for one lonely social reject.

[Anonymous]

Agree that Common Sense Media is a GREAT resource, because they not only give a guide for ages, but they tell you what that recommendation is based on (i.e., what are the aspects of the movie that may make it inappropriate for some audiences). And their guidance is pretty comprehensive, too, and includes things outside of the obvious stuff like sex (including innuendo), drugs, drinking, violence. They also often explain what the actual behavior is (e.g., is the violence guns or martial arts, is it one scene or throughout, is it fantastic or realistic).

Also be aware of movies you watched as a kid. Apparently the rating system is more strict now, and what might have been rated PG 20 years ago is now PG-13, and you may not recall all of the iffy content. For instance, we watched Mrs. Doubtfire and there's a scene where one of the characters makes repeated innuendos to sex toys. It's innuendo, but goes on for so long that my kids realized it was some sort of sexual innuendo, even though they didn't understand what it was.

[Anonymous]

My 10 yo favorite movie is the matrix.
It’s R, not sure why.... but most of the kids in his class have seen it as it’s on tv all the time now.
Other than that cobra kai is about as mature as he can watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3 year old could never sit through a full length movie.

Well that’s distressing. We were a no screen household, but our 3 year has at thru both Frozens, both Incredibles, and Ferdinand a couple of times — to the point she can act out a lot of scenes. She wants to watch with her siblings, so hard to say no since not much fun they can do together. Worried that she is now primed as screen junkie!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No screens except to FaceTime distant relatives until age 7. Then up to an hour per week.

LOL

First child, bet you $100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Common Sense Media is a GREAT resource, because they not only give a guide for ages, but they tell you what that recommendation is based on (i.e., what are the aspects of the movie that may make it inappropriate for some audiences). And their guidance is pretty comprehensive, too, and includes things outside of the obvious stuff like sex (including innuendo), drugs, drinking, violence. They also often explain what the actual behavior is (e.g., is the violence guns or martial arts, is it one scene or throughout, is it fantastic or realistic).

Also be aware of movies you watched as a kid. Apparently the rating system is more strict now, and what might have been rated PG 20 years ago is now PG-13, and you may not recall all of the iffy content. For instance, we watched Mrs. Doubtfire and there's a scene where one of the characters makes repeated innuendos to sex toys. It's innuendo, but goes on for so long that my kids realized it was some sort of sexual innuendo, even though they didn't understand what it was.

PG13 didn’t exist until temple of doom I think

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Common Sense Media is a GREAT resource, because they not only give a guide for ages, but they tell you what that recommendation is based on (i.e., what are the aspects of the movie that may make it inappropriate for some audiences). And their guidance is pretty comprehensive, too, and includes things outside of the obvious stuff like sex (including innuendo), drugs, drinking, violence. They also often explain what the actual behavior is (e.g., is the violence guns or martial arts, is it one scene or throughout, is it fantastic or realistic).

Also be aware of movies you watched as a kid. Apparently the rating system is more strict now, and what might have been rated PG 20 years ago is now PG-13, and you may not recall all of the iffy content. For instance, we watched Mrs. Doubtfire and there's a scene where one of the characters makes repeated innuendos to sex toys. It's innuendo, but goes on for so long that my kids realized it was some sort of sexual innuendo, even though they didn't understand what it was.

PG13 didn’t exist until temple of doom I think

Nope, Red Dawn was, but PG13 was created out of outrage over TOD

[Anonymous]

At 3 my kids only watched animated G rated shows or movies, and rarely had the attention span to sit through an entire show much less a movie..really wasn’t much of an issue at that age either way!

Mine are now 9 & 11. I find movie ratings pretty irrelevant. We often show movies we have already seen (movies like ET or Karate Kid etc). If it is something new, I read some reviews online and decide from there. Some things don’t bother me at this age (mild language/cursing, gross out talk, etc) and some things bother me a lot more (violence). I don’t necessarily go by ratings, but more so by “what” is objectionable specifically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At 3 my kids only watched animated G rated shows or movies, and rarely had the attention span to sit through an entire show much less a movie..really wasn’t much of an issue at that age either way!

Mine are now 9 & 11. I find movie ratings pretty irrelevant. We often show movies we have already seen (movies like ET or Karate Kid etc). If it is something new, I read some reviews online and decide from there. Some things don’t bother me at this age (mild language/cursing, gross out talk, etc) and some things bother me a lot more (violence). I don’t necessarily go by ratings, but more so by “what” is objectionable specifically.

I think I agree with this. I hadn't really considered movie "rules" because my 8 yo has seen so few of them. Maybe half a dozen? Since the circumstances/opportunities have been random, frankly, I think all of them have been PG, except for the one her dad was in, which was PG-13. But the content was fine as far as we were concerned. I will check Common Sense more as this becomes a thing-- I did for one she was shown in Kindergarten. To be honest, she's seen a lot more plays that would be rated PG-13 or maybe even R! So either I'm a poor judge of inappropriate content or just have a different value set or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 3 my kids only watched animated G rated shows or movies, and rarely had the attention span to sit through an entire show much less a movie..really wasn’t much of an issue at that age either way!

Mine are now 9 & 11. I find movie ratings pretty irrelevant. We often show movies we have already seen (movies like ET or Karate Kid etc). If it is something new, I read some reviews online and decide from there. Some things don’t bother me at this age (mild language/cursing, gross out talk, etc) and some things bother me a lot more (violence). I don’t necessarily go by ratings, but more so by “what” is objectionable specifically.

I think I agree with this. I hadn't really considered movie "rules" because my 8 yo has seen so few of them. Maybe half a dozen? Since the circumstances/opportunities have been random, frankly, I think all of them have been PG, except for the one her dad was in, which was PG-13. But the content was fine as far as we were concerned. I will check Common Sense more as this becomes a thing-- I did for one she was shown in Kindergarten. To be honest, she's seen a lot more plays that would be rated PG-13 or maybe even R! So either I'm a poor judge of inappropriate content or just have a different value set or something.

Your 8-year-old has only seen 6 movies? In theaters?

[Anonymous]

Nothing until age 7 except on planes or at relatives houses. Not planned that way, but we didn't have a tv, and it was never asked for. We got a projector and started a weekly family movie or game night at age 8. Now at 10, mostly just G and PG movies, about once or twice a month. Hamilton is the only PG 13 I can think of that we've chosen.

Very sensitive to violence and scariness, so I always check common sense media. It's kind of nuts when you think about it, how desensitized to violence kids can get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3 year old watches some G movies like Frozen, The Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians. We follow her lead though since there is a lot of variation in G movies as far as scary goes. We started to watch the little mermaid, but she though Ursula was too scary, so we turned it off. I can't imagine watching anything PG until Elementary school or a little later.

There was a scene in one of the Winnie the Pooh movies that sent my daughter running from the room. Nothing had ever scared her before, ever, but the Backson somehow hit a nerve. She loved all the Pooh movies and shorts, but it was a good six months before she’d watch that one again.

You really never know what will be OK and what’s going to hit them wrong, so you just have to help them learn to cope with whatever crops up. Sometimes even commercials or trailers for things you’d never let them watch can be a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 3 my kids only watched animated G rated shows or movies, and rarely had the attention span to sit through an entire show much less a movie..really wasn’t much of an issue at that age either way!

Mine are now 9 & 11. I find movie ratings pretty irrelevant. We often show movies we have already seen (movies like ET or Karate Kid etc). If it is something new, I read some reviews online and decide from there. Some things don’t bother me at this age (mild language/cursing, gross out talk, etc) and some things bother me a lot more (violence). I don’t necessarily go by ratings, but more so by “what” is objectionable specifically.

I think I agree with this. I hadn't really considered movie "rules" because my 8 yo has seen so few of them. Maybe half a dozen? Since the circumstances/opportunities have been random, frankly, I think all of them have been PG, except for the one her dad was in, which was PG-13. But the content was fine as far as we were concerned. I will check Common Sense more as this becomes a thing-- I did for one she was shown in Kindergarten. To be honest, she's seen a lot more plays that would be rated PG-13 or maybe even R! So either I'm a poor judge of inappropriate content or just have a different value set or something.

Your 8-year-old has only seen 6 movies? In theaters?

I guess she's seen 2 movies in theaters. Maybe 4 or 5 at people's houses or school. Just realized I wasn't counting those short planetarium and IMAX films at Air & Space. She's seen a handful of those but I'm sure they're all G?

I'm like that other poster who doesn't have TV/streaming/etc. and it wasn't asked for. We're just not a big screen-using household outside of work-- and now, by necessity, school. It's no big deal, and it ain't broke so we ain't fixing' it (for now).