Like many parents out there I monitor what my kids watch. Sometimes it is difficult to know what is on and you can’t always be there to to make sure they are not watching some slasher flick or maybe you Skinemax (Cinemax) and they are plotting to stay up late and catch some soft core porn. I did it when I was a kid. When I was a kid my favorite was the early morning HBO Arobics thing that had chicks wearing those little leotards and pulsating their bodies in all kinds of suggestive ways. I did not know what it meant but I knew I liked it.

As a dad I can’t expect myself to stay up that late or get up way too early every day. So what is a parent to do?

I find rules and structure help. There are times on the weekends when The Queen of the Geeks and I want to throw on a questionable flick to see if it is ok for the kids. We send them to their rooms to watch their movies or outside to play and if they come in the living room we hit the pause button and tell them this movie is not for them. We will even tell them the name of the movie and why it is not a movie for them to watch. I find taking the extra 30 seconds to explain it makes a big difference.

Then there is always what they watch at a friends house or at their other parents house since many of us have been down that road and now find ourselves with blended families. I run into this from time to time and the response to “I saw it at my other parents house” is “Did you think it it was a movie you should have been watching?”

The way my little D.Q. (Drama Queen) responds is “No” as she hangs her head sheepishly as she acts like she just got caught and is awaiting the storm.

“If you think it is a movie you should not be watching then speak up and say something or leave the room.”

“OK”

First you have to teach your kids why a certain movie or type of movie is not good for them to watch. If you drill it into their heads they will respond when those types of flicks come on. They will even point it out to you when you are not paying attention to what is coming on next and they are. “Dad, I don’t think I am supposed to be watching that.”

Happens rarely I admit but when it does you have to recognize it. “Thank you for pointing it out.” Then change the channel or turn the TV off. Like everything else with kids it is all about talking to your kids and increasing their understanding.