Kids in Mind

MPAA Ratings

Most major motion pictures carry Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) ratings. While the MPAA rating system is voluntary, virtually all movies released to the big screen participate in the review process. If you do come across an unrated movie, it's a safe bet that the film probably isn't something you want your children to watch.

Following the viewing recommendations that correspond with MPAA ratings can help parents make informed decisions about which films are acceptable for children to watch, but the system certainly isn't foolproof. MPAA ratings are based on a wide variety of criteria, and categorize films based on perceived age appropriateness of content.

With such a system, there is of course no way to control for maturity levels of individual youngsters. Additionally, potentially objectionable subject matter, such as violence, nudity, sex, profanity, and other topics might be perceived by some parents as acceptable in some contexts and completely inappropriate in others.

For example, some parents find material in certain PG movies unacceptable for their teenagers, yet feel that content of other films with a PG-13 rating is perfectly fine. Parents who want more specific information about the content of movies before they allow their kids to watch can find what they are looking for on the Kids in Mind website.

How Kids in Mind is Different

Parents who want more information about films before they make decisions about whether or not their children can watch them can obtain categorized numerical ratings from Kids-in-Mind.com. This service, provided by Critics, Inc. since 1992, allows parents to see what types of content contribute to the overall film rating, and to what degree.

Instead of basing decisions about what kids can watch based solely on MPAA ratings, parents who use this service can learn additional details about movie content. They will be able make decisions about what is acceptable for their children to watch based on their own values and knowledge about what their kids can handle.

Numerical Ratings

When you look up a move on this website, you won't get a general rating regarding how old kids should be before they are allowed to watch the film. Instead, the ratings provided by this service range from zero to ten, and separate values are assigned to the following three categories: profanity, violence and gore, and sex and nudity.

The higher the rating in a particular heading, the more content the film contains that falls into that category. If a movie has a nine in profanity and a one in sex and nudity, you can expect that the film will contain a great deal of cursing, but little or no content that involves sex or nudity.

Detailed Context Reviews

The categorized ratings are an excellent way of developing and understanding what types of objectionable material a movie includes. However, they still don't paint a complete picture. You can get additional information about the manner in which content is presented by reading the detailed review of each film profiled.

The reviews clarify the particular reasons that films are rated high in particular categories. Further, they provide suggestions for how parents who choose to allow their kids to watch a particular movie can use the content as an educational tool. The detailed review features allows parents to thoroughly understand the context in which material is presented. They can then make informed decisions about what is appropriate and what is not acceptable.

Tools for Parental Decisions

Parents who don't want to leave the decisions about which movies are acceptable for their children to watch up to the Motion Picture Association of America can benefit greatly from utilizing the Kids in Mind family movie ratings service.