Media Choices

G is always hoping to be able to watch PG-13 movies.  When I read the parental guides for those movies, I'm never comfortable letting him watch movies with so much bad stuff in them.  To me PG-13 is "almost R".  In general when I have watched PG-13 movies, at the end I feel mentally dirty and wish I hadn't watched it.  "Failure to Launch" is an example of that.  I've actually seen rated R movies that were less sexually explicit than PG-13 movies.  I don't think the violence in R movies inspire every day violence the way implied sex scenes kindle the sexual curiosity that many PG-13 movies generate.

We haven't had broadcast TV for 7 years.  My children have grown up watching Dora, Wiggles, Backyardigans, Busy Town and other series from DVD.  On PBS.org they've enjoyed watching Odd Squad and Arthur.  They have not been exposed to a wide variety of media. 

G recently watched High School Musical 3 at a youth event and that led to us all watching it at Grandma's.  P shows the older kids movies like Princess Bride, Star Wars (4, 5, 6) and someday he'll show them Harry Potter.  I look forward to watching Lord of the Rings with them. 

Watching violent or sexual content is not about being old or strong enough to handle it.  Sometimes Violent content can teach us about virtues like integrity or courage.  But sexual content never teaches about chastity.  Sexual scenes in movies leave you with a titillating feeling of wishing you could do the same.  Even when a movie shows that bad things came of the sexual activities, they still send the message that it was sexy.

I hope my children's lives are not full of violence.  I hope that they are able to marry and have sexual lives with their spouse that are not polluted by explicit images or sexualized drama.  Sex is an awesome part of marriage but it is literally not the most important part of marriage.  Friendship, mutual support, kindness, responsibility and loyalty must be present throughout the marriage.