Do you trust the MPAA ratings to help you decide which films are appropriate for your children to watch?

I trust my common sense. My kids are still pretty small 7 and under so its not ilke its a tough call to say what they can watch. When they get to be in their early teens I think I will have to do more resarch on the movies they wanna see but I'm not too srtict on things they cant see.. If they watch a lot of scary movies and it starts to affect them ( like nihghtmares etc) then I would tell them no more. If it deosnt effect them then I dont care if they watch them... so its kinda kid by kid case, not by pg-13 or r-rated thing..

I dont think even the mpaa knows exactly what their criteria is. There are some set rules ( like on cursing and violence) but many times it comes down to their opinion on the movie. Theres a documentary called this film is not yet rated ( or something like that) that takes a look on the ratings system. Its pretty good.

That's a very good question because before the ratings board came about as we know it Sue Lyon played a young girl who was having an affair? with a much older James Mason in the movie Lolita. Two of the provisions for the Catholic League not to censor the movie (give it their seal of disapproval) was that Lolita's age never be mentioned in the movie as it is the book which was 12! The other provision was that nobody under 17 be allowed to see the movie. Lyon, the star was at that time 14. I'm betting that she saw the movie but possibly publicly she was obviously too young!

Yes I do. G and PG are the only movies my 2 1/2 yr old can watch and all the movies I have seen with that rating seem perfectly fine to me. Sometimes I will watch a romantic comedy that is PG-13 in front of her but they're never really that bad.

no not really at all, somethings today that are rated pg-13 would have been rated r a few years ago.

she is only four months old but when she gets older, ill either watch a movie with her so i can stop it or fast forward it if it gets to be too much or ill watch it before hand so i know its ok for her to watch.

but i wont say " you cant watch pg-13 movies until u are 13" because some are ok for younger kids and some are not..just depends on the movie

To help, yes. I don't go by them slavishly. And, of course, in the UK the age ratings are more than a guideline - you _cannot_ take a child under 15 into a 15 rated film in the cinema.

We don't go to the cinema very often, though. Mostly we buy films on DVD, and we watch them first to decide if the kids can watch them too.

I personally decide what movies my 3 1/2 year old can watch. If I haven't seen it before it has to be a cartoon or kiddie movie. If I have seen it before and think it's ok for him then I'll let him watch it (rating is PG-13 tops).

I use them as a guideline and then ultimately use my own judgement for my children. My kids are young, so PG-13 or worse is out of the question right away.

For the most part I only let my kids see PG and G so those are safe when it comes to PG 13 I need to see it first to make sure

I rate movies myself. I use the 3 strike rule & my girls gotta leave the room. A movie gets a strike w/language, violence or sex. U can usually tell pretty early if a movie will b inappropriate for a kid

I trust the content labels, but I think the age ratings err on the side of caution too much. I usually prefer reading reviews, synopses and such to see if it's appropriate.