I love Common Sense Media. I’m a slacker mom, but I don’t want my daughter watching inappropriate TV or movies. And, being a slacker, I’m definately not volunteering to pre-screen every tween movie. That’s where Common Sense Media comes in.

Their ratings and reviews on movies are thoughtful and give me enough information to let me decide for myself whether this is something my daughter would enjoy. I find their discussion points useful for talking about the movie afterwards, and we’ve had some great family talks using their suggestions. My daughter is getting old enough to ask about R-rated movies (there’s no way in hell I think she needs to watch them any time soon) because some of her friends get to watch them. I used the rating information from Common Sense Media to talk to her about what is allowed at different ratings, and we read the reviews of the movies her friends have watched to discuss why I think they are inappropriate for her. I don’t expect this to work forever, but for the time being she seems to understand and agree with my position. (Please don’t email to tell me how soon this is going to change, denial works splendidly for me.)

They just released a selection of Travel Flicks for various ages. Perfect for your next road trip. The list is pretty short, I’d love to see at least a dozen choices for each age group, but it got me thinking and reading at least.

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