What Movies Are Good for Kids?

What movies are good for kids? It's a simple question that has a complicated answer. Is the Hannah Montana: The Movie appropriate? What about the movie Up? Hollywood has produced lots of G-rated films that contain themes that parents might not be comfortable with: death, bad parents, poop jokes. So how does a mom figure out what movies are right for her kids? Rebecca Woolf of Girl's Gone Child asks, "How do you choose movies for your children?"

How do you determine what movies your kids watch? What subjects are verboten? Join the Momversation by commenting below.

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Showing the Latest of 16 Comments

LadyJess78
3 yearss ago

I think it is a mistake to try to protect kids too much. I want my daughter to deal with death in the movies and to see pets die and to deal with death in a philosophical way before she has to face death in a more personal way. She might lose a grandparent or, heck, one of us, and it will be good for her to already understand the concept, to know our spiritual views about it so she can deal with her own pain instead of struggling to understand the basics. Obviously, I monitor what she watches and I protect her from certain things, but I think that movies can be a great conversation starter about a lot of issues. The key is to know your kid and what they can handle and to watch with them and talk about it when it's over.

kristanhoffman
3 yearss ago

I'm 100% with Alice on this; I agreed with everything she said (although I did love Bambi even as a child). Also, I LOVED Up! :) It might not have been for Rebecca's kid, which is totally fine and understandable (and I don't think she's insane!) but that doesn't mean that it's not for any kid. Like Alice and Karen said, it's a matter of knowing your kid, and probably researching the movie (even I want to check out commonsensemedia.org now - thanks Alice!) to make sure the movie is a good fit.

Barbasaurus
3 yearss ago

I grew up watching everything, and I'm thankful to my parents for that because I wasn't scared of much as a kid (though Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video was a little creepy at that age) and I feel like I had a basic introductory knowledge of everything from death to sex, even at a young age. That's a good thing. I try to be open with my kids (daughter is 6, son is almost 2) and give them exposure to life. For example, I watched "Twilight" with my 6-year-old. She thought the fight in the ballet studio was scary, but otherwise enjoyed it, and now I get a kick out of talking Twilight with her. She likes being involved in pop culture; she knew of "Twilight" from me reading the books and from seeing it advertised everywhere (bookstores, TV... everywhere you look!), and I think it helps her feel like she's a part of society by having that experience.

Barbasaurus
3 yearss ago

Also, I didn't see "Up" (I don't like kids movies, so my husband usually takes my 6-year-old), but I knew it had some heavy topics. After she saw it, I asked how she liked it, and the part that stood out to her was when the old man bonks somebody with his cane (something like that). I asked if it was sad, and she shrugged and said, "Yeah, parts were sad." Her attitude was like, "Eh, some movies are sad, what about it?" I love that about her. She takes things for what they are and deals with it well.

Mindy
3 yearss ago

One word: Kidsinmind.com. They talk about exactly what happens in movies that might concern parents, and rank them on violence, sex, profanity, all kinds of good info. I agree you need to know your kid. For instance, mine have seen all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, so a rating based on a little violence wouldn't stop me from taking them, but sexual content would. It's a fantastic resource.

true.identity13
3 yearss ago

Thanks Mindy for the Link. I'll have to check it out. And Yes, I do have this same problem, especially since I have a 3 year old and a 8 year old, because they are in 2 different stages in order for me to go to the movies with both of them I have to be very careful. I've watched movies like Ghost Busters and Beetle Juice with my 8 year old and she loves them, however there are a few scenes that I find inappropriate for her as it has some kind of sexual insinuations that she doesn't understand (and I want to keep it that way with her NOT understanding.) But I do try to find out enough about a movie before I see it with my daughters and have to evaluate if I can take both or just the oldest one, and sometimes if possible I'll watch the movie myself before allowing her to watch it, otherwise I'll use the same trick my mom used to do with me (cover my daughter's eyes while the "bad" part passes).

LouEffie
3 yearss ago

I agree that knowing your child and what topics they can/cannot deal with is key. My son is 2&1/2 and he's such a sensitive kid already. When we watched Toy Story for the first time, I watched his little bottom lip start to quiver and turn down when Buzz found out he was just a toy. He was literally heartbroken that Buzz was so sad and walking around with his head hung low. As he gets older and movies and TV become more of an issue, I believe that I will know when the time is right to allow him to view movies with heavier situations. I definitely do not want to shelter him though. I was extremely sheltered as a child. Not only was I not allowed to watch movies with certain themes (a.k.a. anything that wasn't unicorns and rainbows), I didn't hear any fairy tales or read books with negative themes. I didn't know of Cinderella or Snow White because there were witches in both of them. I remember going to a Halloween party as a young child, looking at one of the girl's there dressed as Cinderella and not knowing who the heck she was suppose to be. All of that sheltering from "evil" didn't keep me from worrying and wondering about deep issues. It did, however, make me more resistant to talk to my mom about things that were bothering me, because she had never opened any of that up to me before. Leslie

starrlife
3 yearss ago

Interesting points all. I don't usually go strictly by ratings but I think watching them first is best or, barring that, talking to a reliable source with your own clear personal boundaries in mind. I tend to not mind anything that deals with within the range of real life, may be observed firsthand situations. So death is a natural, often experienced thing while explicit sex, hopefully, is not. I know some hate for there to be smoking but it's a good topic for conversation when occasionally viewed. Violence or scary "bad" people or scenarios- I guess it depends on how graphic, extensive or contextual it is. Bambi, Dumbo, Old Yeller, Annie- there's a message and worth that might outweigh the "bad things". Soft romance- it's all around us, social scenarios with peers- all around us. And of course- I believe it is essential that you know your kids buttons, preferences, stages and readiness for whatever!~ I'm lucky- I have a kid who loves Mary Poppins (women's suffrage and parental neglect), Stuart Little (kidnapping and death), My Fair Lady (social stigma, speech disorder), Jungle Book (death,scary tiger, abandonment),Sound Of Music (Nazi's,nuns), Anne of Green Gables (orphan),Toy Story (sad,scary toys), Peter Pan (Captain Hook),Nemo (death, kidnapping, dentistry), etc.... Long post... sorry! As for Up- strange, disjointed and confusing by the end!

NJ_2_NorCal_Mom
3 yearss ago

My son is five and a half, and Up was his first movie in an actual theatre. But then, we don't go to the movies much; my last one before Up a few weeks ago was The Village with a friend five years earlier. (Going twice during my entire pregnancy, to see Calendar Girls and Radio, was not only a new record for me, but it also just proved that everything they say about pregnancy and hormones is true, as I cried most of the way through both of them.) But I digress. We lost my Dad when my son was just four, and I had to explain all that to him. The thing I liked about how it was presented in Up, though, (which I cried through as well) was that it was all given as a complete story up front, and then the movie picked up from there. We got to see a few things happen in the life of the main character: He sets out to achieve a dream on behalf of someone he loved. He does not give up despite the odds being against him. He learns to get past the loss he has experienced, and he takes some advice from his lost loved one to move forward with his own life. An elderly person stands up for himself and is able to do things we might not think elderly folks can do. (Of course, there's a lot of fictionalized stuff in there too, as NO ONE can do many of the things the characters do, but that helps kids to know it's not real. Talking dogs help with that too.) A relationship develops between a child and an older person that shows mutual respect and admiration. I thought it was way "heavier" that the child's father chose to opt out of his son's life than the fact that an old woman died after a very full and fulfilling life. My son was not overly impressed with the entire movie theatre experience, but I knew he wouldn't be. He's also deathly afraid of dogs (still is), but he has begun to both pretend he IS a dog and pretend that he HAS a dog (with toys at home) almost constantly. So I think he's working through some stuff in his own way. Best of all, he already knew several people who died, and now he can get a fuller picture of what that means when it happens to a person at the end of a good, long life. I seriously doubt he noticed most of that, though.

NJ_2_NorCal_Mom
3 yearss ago

What Movies Are Good for Kids?

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