Do your children know about the death of Osama Bin Laden? Can they know about his death without first knowing about his life and the evil he wrought? Have they seen the pictures of the devastation from tornados, floods, and earthquakes in recent months?

Children need to have some awareness of what is going on in the world around them. The trick is knowing where to start and stop. Kids should know about politics. Turn on the TV and you’ll notice that the news media won’t stop talking about Sarah Palin driving around in a bus for a couple of weeks. That seems safe enough. Good discussion about the political process, the two parties, etcetera. What about Congressman Anthony Weiner and his Twitter account? Not so much.

On one channel they’re talking about the unemployment numbers. Good, teaching moment about the economy and the importance of a good education. Switch the channel and they’re going on in unsettling detail about Caylee Anthony. Go on to the next station.

Sports? Good. Nothing wrong with keeping up with the sports news – unless they’re talking about Ben Roethlisberger’s off the field activities or Brett Favre’s texting.

Weather. Love the weather. My 10 year old son wants to be a meteorologist. That’s a nice, safe segment to watch together. So far, no delicate questions have sprung up during the weather segment in our house.

Some parents will have a different idea than others about what is suitable for their children to know about current events. Whatever your standards for filtering the news to your children, there are two constants. You need to have the rules defined in your own mind so you’re not forced to make snap decisions, and you and your spouse must be on the same page to avoid conflicts.

The movie talks about how far technology has advanced and what it has achieved, and what it has also caused.  It is by Rachel Dretzin and Micheal Rushkoff, who previously were pro-technology and some of the first advocates.  The movie travels around the world showing the downsides of technology in many places.  It starts at MIT, where it goes in depth on multitasking and goes as far as South Korea to look into the technology addicts there.

The portion on technology addicts was the most important part to me, because video game addictions are becoming more and more common to teenagers these days.  It may not appear as a straight up addiction, but rather as a constant want to be gaming.  Some kids will spend every ounce of their time on the game system rather than playing sports, doing school work, and interacting in person.  I think that sports has actually helped keep me out of the that hellish nightmare.  I am too busy to play games the majority of the time.  Also, sports are more exhilarating and fun to me than games, so games have limited appeal to me.  But for kids who are already involved, it may seem too late.  South Korea has schools where addicts are rehabilitated and taught to reconnect, but we lack them here in America.  Rather, for now we will just have to have each family handle it on its own.

The movie also talks about how schools are starting to use technology more and more.  This is good, but bad, too.  In South Korea, kids are taught to use computer when they learn to read, which to me is far too young.  That age sets up the child for a life of technology abuse.

This documentary brought a new understanding of technology to me, but it only cast the bad.  Remember, this may all sound bad, but where would we be without computers?  You wouldn’t be reading this, and I wouldn’t be receiving a paycheck.

The new twist that the little one has added is to occasionally say “I don’t want that” when a Barbie or My Pretty Pony or something such shows up on the screen. But for the most part, it’s “I want that on my Christmas list” all day, every day.  If the whole ‘rotting your brain’ and ‘kids don’t get enough exercise’ arguments aren’t enough to get a parent to cut off the TV privileges, the annual yuletide begging binge should be enough to push one over the edge.

Fortunately, at three years old, his tastes are still relatively cheap, and he’ll forget most of what he asked for long before we’ve finished our late night gift wrapping on December 24th.  I know that he’ll still be appreciative of whatever we get him (as long as it isn’t clothes, of course).  But these toymakers need to give us a break and cut down on the toy commercials at this time of year.  Maybe next year I’ll DVR a bunch of shows in June and replay them for the boy in December.  Nah, by 4 he’ll be too tech saavy for such a pedestrian ploy.

Not that it is so great when they grow out of asking for every toy on every commercial.  They just narrow their field down to the far pricier toys.  My eight year old desperately wants a cell phone, even though he’s never ever anywhere without a properly equipped adult.  And he isn’t too interested in the cheap Firefly phone that only calls home, either.  He wants an array of telecommunications equipment that could manage a small call center.

So, hang the tinsel, trim the tree, and repeat after me: “Maybe, we’ll see what Santa brings…  Maybe, we’ll see what Santa brings…”

First off, I am going to give you the basic run down on American movie and TV rating systems.  First off, TV:

• TV-Y (All Children — This program is designed to be appropriate for all children)

• TV-Y7 (Directed to Older Children — This program is designed for children age 7 and above.)

• TV-G (General audiences)

• TV-PG (Parental guidance suggested)

• TV-14 (Recommended for people 14 or older)

• TV-MA (intended for mature audiences)

• G (General Audiences- All ages admitted)

• PG (Parental Guidance Suggested- Some material may not be suitable for children)

• PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned- Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13)

• R (Restricted- Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian)

• NC-17 (No One 17 and Under Admitted)

There is no official rating system to music, but radio stations generally will not play rude music.

These are the official rating systems, but they are not always accurate.  Also, as a parent you may be worried that watching an R-rated movie will have negative effects on your child, but he or she is exposed to plenty of this content anyway.  At school, we children learn many things that you may not even imagine us knowing.  At the same time, don’t just give your kid free reign.  Every child has a perfect age to be exposed to content of a mature theme. Some kids are not as mature as others, period.

Also, we have more access to it than you think.  At certain friends’ houses, I might watch TV after 10pm and can watch M-rated shows. The same is true for R- or even NC-17 rated movies online!  You can get music online also, but it generally it is less graphic.  Finally, if you are overprotective, the child may have a hard time in the real world.  It’s not like the world is G-rated!

Parents, I’m not asking you to have NC-17 movie night with you kids.  Just…don’t try to be too protective, it won’t help.

Now, some of my thoughts on screens (TV, video games, computers, etc.) for kids.  First of all, I believe they are addictive.  Some studies have shown that video games are addictive, they release a drug-like chemical. Here is one article on the study of video game addiction.  I have seen kids at school who are addicted, it’s all they talk about or do after school (World of Warcraft is the most common addiction).

Also, there is a link between screens and obesity.  Sure, there are games like the Wii Fit that exercise you,  but how much of an exercise are they?  To me the Wii Fit doesn’t provide a serious workout, and most games in it are not as effective as believed.

I think screen time for children should be limited.  Screen time should be decided on a child by child basis, but on a school night anywhere from no time to an hour and a half a day is good.  For example, if a child is doing poorly  in school, limit the amount to a low number (for example zero to half an hour).  On weekends, up to four hours a day is a good amount.  I have noticed that kids who are allowed to use screens more get worse grades.  That is because instead of doing homework when they get home, these kids game or watch TV. Also, in class, these kids will think things like, “I need to level up my dwarf mega super warrior” or “What’s on Fox tonight?… oh, it’s that comedy show” instead of “Two plus two equals four”.

These addictions can cause physical injuries, too, such as the ones mentioned in an older Level Revel article, Injured by Living in a Virtual World (Thanks, Bea).

Screen time should be limited because there are many dangers lurking around the corner!

My wife strongly prefers to preview the programs before Max gets to see them. This works well with TV shows. I generally can get a yea or nay on a show before the first commercial break.  DVDs have gotten easier to preview & judge thanks to the wonder that is Netflix.  We’ll get a movie from Netflix and preview a bit of it the night before we let the boys know it’s here.  If it’s a stinker, we send it back, and we’re only out a couple of days worth of movie watching.

Movies are trickier.  There’s only one way to preview a movie that is playing in theaters.  There is no way I’m spending two hours and $8.50 to watch a kids movie without a kid so I can determine whether or not I’m going to have to spend another two hours and $17.00 + snack money to re-watch the kids movie with the kid. That’s just not happening.

Sometimes I ask other parents, but I’ve found that the definition of ‘age appropriate’ can vary drastically from parent to parent.  That has proved relatively ineffective, unless I can find a parent who is on the same page as me AND has seen the particular movie I’m interested in seeing.

There are plenty of websites that will weigh in with their opinion, but you’ve got to get into sync with the mindset of the writer or it is even less effective than the parent-friend referral.  I’ve even found that within one website, different reviewers will have different standards and, therefore, different levels of helpfulness.

My personal favorite is www.pluggedinonline.com.  Part of the Focus on the Family organization, Plugged In tends to provide informative reviews with a minimum of disdainful opining.  For each movie reviewed, the site lists Positive Elements, Violent Content, Language, Alcohol, and Other Negative Elements.

Does anyone out there have any other good sources for checking out a movie before showing it to the kids?

When Max got a $25 Amex gift card for his eighth birthday, I made the mistake of telling him that he could spend it on anything that he wanted. As it turns out, that’s just enough money to buy two Pokémon starter decks. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but I didn’t want to go back on my word. And so it was that Max entered the Pokémon trading card game frenzy.

The biggest problem is that two starter decks just aren’t enough. He needs a Fire deck, a Steel deck, and booster packs with special chromium card inserts and legendary Pokémon. He’s got a Pokémon Guide Book that he has worn the cover right off. He has studies these things with such alacrity that I have to think that he could be graduating from MIT by now if he put that much effort into his schoolwork. He knows their names, their types, their strengths and weaknesses.

Meanwhile, Max’s little brother is too young to play, and his mom is too smart to get sucked into this debacle. So, you know who he’s going to practice against. And it isn’t enough that I play against him. We have to trade cards with each other, swap energy types, and discuss at length the merits of Water Pokémon vs. Fighting Pokémon. The game is absurdly complex, with Byzantine layers of rules and conditions. Did you know that his Pokémon can simultaneously burn and poison mine?

Having said all that, in the final analysis the game is good for him. He’s learning to think strategically, which will help him throughout his life. And since I’ve started insisting on a chess match between Pokémon games, he’s learning to play a strategy game that will last beyond adolescence. Still, the cartoon I could do without.

I suggested three restaurants and told each child to delete one restaurant from the list.  Whatever restaurant remained would be our destination.  With no arguing (Woohoo!), a restaurant survived the process of elimination, and we headed there.

As it was 5:30 on a Monday night, there wasn’t much of a crowd, and we were seated immediately.  Leaving the hostess station, I glanced around the restaurant and noticed televisions everywhere.  This wasn’t a sports bar that we were dining at, yet there were screens galore.  The situation got even better once we were seated at our table, for at one end of the table was a speaker.  Not only could we see the programs, we also could choose which one we wanted to hear.

Although the food was decent, our conversations were lacking, even when the speaker was turned off.  Having so many distractions in this restaurant eliminated one of the benefits of dining in a restaurant.  We could have created the same atmosphere at home by eating in the living room.

Now, I am not a huge fan of television, but I also don’t prohibit my children from watching it.  However, does it really need to be part of our dining experience in a restaurant?