Guest Author - Terrie Lynn Bittner

Summer is prime movie watching time, but not all movies are suitable for our children. Since they will often attend these movies with their friends instead of you, it is essential to help your children internalize their standards concerning movie-going. A recent study by the National Study of Youth and Religion showed that only three percent of LDS youth see only or mostly R-rated movies. This was the best rate of any religion, with the next closest religion coming in at 20 percent.

Family home evening is a good time to talk about this. As a family, set standards for the types of movies you will watch. Although ratings are helpful, it is no longer certain that a PG-13 or even a PG movie will be appropriate. Teach your children how to evaluate a movie for themselves before attending it. We’ve located several websites that evaluate movies for their family-friendly standards. While we don’t let someone else choose for us, we use those reviews to find out what is in the movie that we might object to. Following are some sites for you to consider:

The Dove Foundation This site offers reviews of movies with very clear explanations of problems from a very conservative Christian perspective.

Grading the Movies. This site not only discusses family-friendly issues, but has suggestions for talking to your children about issues raised in the movies, and offers video alternatives.

If you are looking for reviews of LDS movies, look for LDS sites. Once Christian site said a recent LDS movie was very good, very accurate, and portrayed the LDS people as warm, caring and kind—and therefore it was a dangerous movie! (Mustn’t let our gullible readers know Mormons are nice people?)

Talk to your children about what to do if their friends want to see an inappropriate movie. Sometimes, the stories in our lesson manuals make things look pretty easy. A teenager objects, and all the friends agree to choose the right. In real life, it doesn’t usually work out that way. A teenager might end up going home alone or having to find new friends. She might get teased. Role play these types of situations and help your teenagers develop good answers for these situations. If your teenager can honestly say these are her own standards, and not just the ones her parents enforce, she can more easily combat the pressure, and she will be able to realize which friends really care about her. Good friends don’t encourage you to lower your standards.

Set specific standards about what you will and won’t allow, regardless of the ratings. For instance, you might stipulate that no one will watch an R-rated movie. PG-13 and PG movies must be checked to find out why they have that rating. You might decide that without question, no movies that have sex or nudity will be allowed. How will you handle movies rated for swearing or for immoral choices? What about racism or innuendoes? Make sure you follow the rules you set for your teenagers, so you set the example. There may be movies you will see that your children won’t, simply because some movies are better suited for adults, but be sure they meet the basic standards you set. The standards taught our youth are meant for adults as well.

When your children return from a movie, discuss it in detail. This way you can be sure they saw the movie they said they were going to see and also help them evaluate the choices or work out their concerns if they saw something that made them uneasy. If they go to a movie that seemed safe, but turns out to have surprises, teach your children what to do. It is okay to walk out on a movie. The saving of your standards matters more than the loss of the money. We have sometimes followed this up by writing the reviewer who neglected to mention certain important details to point them out.

Summer movies can be a great way to escape the heat, but take your values with you!