Personally, I don’t care for violent entertainment. I don’t think this is a good influence for SS but DH doesn’t have too much of a problem with it. He purchases him whatever video game he asks for even if it for an adult and rated M. I just assume it’s a guy thing and don’t make a fuss. If it were my child though, I would not be purchasing him graphic bloody video games and would not permit him to talk about such violent things. I don’t think it’s healthy.

I am very big on making sure everything they watch is monitored. Since the tv is in the main part of the house, if i feel something is inappropriate for them then I make them change the channel. We have a huge collection of movies and they know the Rated R ones are off limits. We allow them to watch some PG/PG-13 movies it just depends on the movie and what it's about. I usually handle the music they listen to since I end up putting it onto their mp3 players and if it's got swearing in it then I find the "censored version" of it and I will listen to the songs from beginning to end to make sure it's ok for them. If a song is questionable then I ask for DH's input then we go from there.

My SD is starting to show more interest in Rated R movies (like Orphan and those types) but since BM used to play Rated R movies and it had a bad affect on SD, I try to discourage her from wanting to watch it as well as just throwing the "no" hammer down and telling her she can't. That would be my biggest battle right now is the Rated R movies that BM allows them to watch.

All our children (including skids) are not allowed to watch any movie with a rating over what is age appropriate. For example, SD14 may watch PG-13, but nothing worse. SD11 may watch PG, but nothing worse. BD7 & BS4 may watch G and some PG after we have deemed it okay. That's the point of "Parental Guidance" thus the abbreviation PG. Same goes for TV. They must obey the ratings. And the older two are definitely not allowed to watch SNL or MadTV. EVER. We also make sure there are no sensitive subject matter in their movies before they watch, such as molestation, rape and that sort of thing, even if it is only implied. I see no need to expose them to it. We also don't allow anything with suggestive or explicit speech in it. Sorry to use these terms, but what I mean is words like "dick" "tits" and things like that. I know they hear it at school, but that doesn't mean we have to encourage or support their expanded vocabulary. Their internet use is VERY closely monitored. They are not allowed to add anyone ass their friends on social networks unless they know and have met that person before. No strangers allowed. We also have their passwords and monitor every aspect of their goings on. We have told them not to put anything on their site that they would not want us to see because we WILL check things out and we do. We have already made the oldest remove some pictures from hers that weren't terrible, but we didn't think they were age appropriate. They are also not allowed to be on the internet at other people's homes. They get in trouble for this one often because they always tell us what they found on the internet and we can look at their profile and it tells us when they last logged in. I like that little tool. We may be strict, but at least they are safe for now.

"If your going through hell, keep on going, don't slow down, if you're scared, don't show it, you might get out before the devil even knows you're there" -Rodney Atkins

When SS is with us we monitor everything he watches. He isn't into music yet and even when he hears it in the car he has no idea what it even means. He is 9 which surprises me because at that age I LOVED music. He has a TV in his room which drvies me crazy but it has been in there since he was little (BM thought it was the perfect baby sitter). He also has an xbox in his room but we haven't bought him a new game in 2 years. The most graphic game his plays is halo which is more cartoonish then anything. We do not have cable, switched to antenna to save money so the main tv in the living room has channels to watch but other than that its all dvds which SS knows he isn't allowed to watch any that he couldn't see the first time. We have to be extremely careful what we watch when he is around because he gets nightmares bad if he sees anythign scary. Now at his moms house it is all a different story. He can watch whatever he wants and can play any video games he wants. Right now he is trying to get grand theft auto which we confiscated all the ones he had when we found out BM had bought them. DH told he was NOT allowed to play that game ever and she would do best to remember that but it didn't seem to help. It just pissed her off when we took them to trade in at the game store and got $20 for 6 games when she paid about $30 a piece.

"They are also not allowed to be on the internet at other people's homes."

Crizzle...will you come to my house and drill that in my skids heads please. That is something SD does. The only sites she goes on mostly is clubpenguin...which I can monitor and pogo...which I can monitor since I set it up under one of my emails, plus I have the password. Tonight she and SS are going to BM's and I overheard her telling BM that she (meaning herself) will do what she wants when she is over "their" (BM's). BM is teaching her to lie and hide things. I might just put a block on their penguin accounts because I don't think they should even go on it while at BM's. BM has had them for a visit since the beginning of last month.

no violent shows for my skids I don't care what the rating is. They are violent and desensitized enough already, I tell DH not to encourage it. But BM lets them watch stuff I sure wouldn't so I don't know if I'm doing any good.

With my DD2, she watches age appropriate things but only for an hour or so a day. At the weekend she can watch a full length movie (usually a disney animation). I sometimes pull her on my lap at the computer and let her play a toddler computer game.

Not including BS18 (since he's grown and I can't really control his media consumption anymore). But BD14 spends WAY to much time on the computer and SD8 spends WAY too much time on the TV. We have content filters in place, but the actual time allowed is ridiculous and we really do need to make some changes.