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“I previewed a movie for The Hamster last night.” said my husband, the European.

“Ummm – what was it rated?” I asked.

“It wasn’t… I give up on movie ratings.” he continued “Why is it a fleeting glimpse of a nipple an automatic ‘R’ and a violent beheading complete with gushing blood earns a ‘PG’? I can’t figure out the American rating system!”

And I agree. And furthermore, why do “G” movies feature disrespectful language, dangerous stunts, sexism, racism and rude comments? I really don’t need a movie to teach my child how NOT to act…he sees that enough on the playground.

Sure, kids think it is funny but, far too often it’s the hero or heroine of the piece that performs these actions; the ones that I and many parents spend a lot of time chastising our children for doing. Every time I preview a new movie, I find myself disappointed…even if it’s rated “G”. Too violent, rude language, disrespect for others, unruly behavior…the list goes on.

What ever happened to Mary Poppins, Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang, Dr. Doolittle , Pooh ?

Well, they are still there – the old ones, not the remakes. The children are (generally) kind. The violence is slapstick. The moral is clear. They’re fun and easy to find; maybe not at your local video store or in theaters but, online and at the local library.

We’ve been fans of these old movies for awhile now. As my son enters elementary school though, his taste in movies has expanded. Sure, he’ll still watch Pooh but, he wants a few heroes and bad guys fighting it out too. Turns out, it’s not too hard to find out movies in that genre either…and they’re not even rated “G” – they’re not rated at all.

They’re old, they’re classic and they’re fun. So far we’ve watched, Errol Flynn in Robin Hood, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra and Robert Taylor in Ivanhoe.

And there are so many more to come. Rather than previewing new movies that are sure to be a disappointment, we now enjoy watching old classics. And out son does too.

by MC Milker

[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, movies, ratings, previews, rating system, accuracy, fair, reasonable, judgement[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by hundrednorth, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved