It’s 6:30 p.m. Supper’s over after an exhausting day, and you’d love nothing more than to pop in a DVD and “veg” a little. In fact, now that their homework is finally finished, the kids are eager to join you. What comes next should be relaxing, but it’s usually enough to trigger heartburn: choosing something the whole family can watch together.
While it’s great to have options, we hear from a lot of parents frustrated with being forced to sift through the myriad entertainment options available these days. Take the de Villiers of Ontario, Canada:
“My wife and I really enjoy watching DVDs, and we have been renting TV series on DVD from the local video store (we don’t have satellite TV or cable by choice). We have just found that there’s so much junk out there…”
Allow me to interrupt for a second. Can you relate? I sure can. In our home, the after-dinner TV routine involves Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. Sometimes we’ll watch Wipeout!, catch a wholesome, heartstring-tugging reality series or pull a Cosby Show DVD off the shelf. That’s about it. Like the de Villiers, we don’t have cable (and, consequently, no longer draw straws to see if I get ESPN or the kids get to watch Disney Channel), but I’m relieved to say that we share common ground when it comes to TV viewing. At least for now. OK, back to the letter.
“…Does Focus on the Family have a list of TV programs or movies that you can recommend?”
We get that question a lot. In fact, the Baker family recently suggested how we might solve that dilemma:
We love your site and your reviews. Our problem is that you don't seem to have a 'recommended list'. It would be nice to have a quick look at movies you have given favorable reviews to without having to dredge through the mountains of reviews.
I completely understand. Of course, where that gets a bit tricky is in determining which films/shows would make the cut, and which would be on the outside looking in. There’s a lot of gray area out there. What might be fine for some viewers isn’t for others.
With television, it’s especially hard to give a series an enthusiastic stamp of approval because one episode might be terrific while the next might have you scrambling for the remote. Movies are much easier to categorize. Still, the list of films—even “family films”—we could recommend for everyone on the couch would be short indeed. I’m reminded of a scathing letter we received from a dad who felt we scarred his little one by applauding Pixar’s Up. But we have a solution!
About 10 years ago we developed a way to point families to some of the better, cleaner, more thoughtful movies on DVD—without an official endorsement. We call them Movie Nights. Unlike our normal content reviews, these resources are created specifically for families looking for age-appropriate films to enjoy and discuss together. Some are for teens, others are for younger children. You decide which, if any, make sense for your family. And best of all, you can download them free on our website.
Finding entertainment that’s suitable for the whole family and that everyone wants to see is no easy task, especially if your children are more than three or four years apart. How have you navigated this issue in your home? Meanwhile, if you have a favorite film that you’d like to see us give the Movie Night treatment, let us know!
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