How to Make Better Media Choices for Your Family

Have you ever wondered how your kid's video game got its rating? What's the difference between E for Everyone, E 10+, or T for Teen? What about PG to PG13? Is that new TV show with the funny family really family-friendly?

I came across a website that has changed the way I have monitored my kid's media: books, movies, music, apps, video games, and websites. Commonsensemedia.org gives you detailed reviews from how many swears words and which ones, what kind of weapons are used in violent games, even explanations of what intimate moments you can expect in a movie. For example, this is what was written about Adam Sandler's new movie Jack & Jill:

"Pacino makes lots of suggestive overtures toward Jill, and Felipe also flirts with her. Jill's full-figure bras and control-top panties are shown on more than one occasion for laughs. Jack and his wife hug and are shown in bed together, but they're just getting ready to sleep."

No more covering your kid's eyes and hoping they didn't see it. You can review everything ahead of time! With more information you can make a more informed decision on the type of media you'll allow in your home.

I have Common Sense Media's handy-dandy app on my iPhone. Before we hit the Red Box I check out the movies first. No more shock and awe for this family!

I promised myself that I would tell all the families I know about Common Sense Media. THIS IS NOT A PAID ENDORSEMENT. I am just so happy that I have another way to protect my kids from all the garbage that out there.

Welcome home to Applewood Lane

Lines Written From Home by Anne Bronte

Though bleak these woods, and damp the ground

With fallen leaves so thickly strown,

And cold the wind that wanders round

With wild and melancholy moan;

There is a friendly roof, I know,

Might shield me from the wintry blast;

There is a fire, whose ruddy glow

Will cheer me for my wanderings past.

And so, though still, where'er I go,

Cold stranger-glances meet my eye;

Though, when my spirit sinks in woe,

Unheeded swells the unbidden sigh;

Though solitude, endured too long,

Bids youthful joys too soon decay,

Makes mirth a stranger to my tongue,

And overclouds my noon of day;

When kindly thoughts, that would have way,
Flow back discouraged to my breast; --

I know there is, though far away,

A home where heart and soul may rest.

Warm hands are there, that, clasped in mine,

The warmer heart will not belie;

While mirth, and truth, and friendship shine

In smiling lip and earnest eye.

The ice that gathers round my heart

May there be thawed; and sweetly, then,

The joys of youth, that now depart,

Will come to cheer my soul again.

Though far I roam, that thought shall be

My hope, my comfort, everywhere;

While such a home remains to me,

and My heart shall never know despair!

I can't more aptly describe the feeling and meaning of home than British poet and novelist, Anne Bronte. Over-shadowed by her two older literary sisters, Charlotte and Emily, Anne the youngest of the Bronti, was no stranger to "the wintery blast" of life, yet she knew that when "the spirit sinks in woe" there is a "friendly roof... where heart and soul may rest."

I love my home. It lives. It breathes. It speaks to me. It's more than just sticks and stones. It's the beautiful bubble of peace and calm where my family can grow and love and be shielded from bleak woods and cold stranger-glances.

Welcome, welcome home, to Applewood Lane.