Perhaps your child, like mine, is mildly obsessed with coffee: coffee drinks, coffee ice cream, coffee-flavored confections. When D was younger and asked for tastes of coffee—something I drink occasionally—I told her, “The caffeine will stunt your growth, and you need all the help you can get.” (We’re not the tallest family.) As D entered […]
Tween Halloween: Frights for Scary Movie Nights
Halloween is beloved by our family. Before D came along, my partner and I used to host an annual Scary Movie Night in October. Being somewhat of a horror film aficionado, he would lovingly handpick an often obscure, always creepy Halloween flick to show a small group of friends. Once we had a toddler running […]
Nine Classic Gs to Wait On
Many great movies for kids with a G rating are still not right for sensitive young viewers from around six to eight. While various issues affect kids differently, generally media that portrays death, abandonment, and pain or suffering can trigger feelings of fear and discomfort in younger children. Therefore, you may want to wait on […]
How “A Bug’s Life” almost sank movie night (and thoughts on Common Sense Media)
After we felt it was time to introduce D to more media and to movies, we decided to establish a twice monthly family movie night. Things went great with Mary Poppins and Kiki’s Delivery Service, and movie night seemed like a sweet time for family bonding … until A Bug’s Life. Someone had recommended the […]
Men working: how gendered language affects our kids
As I turned onto my street a few weeks ago, I saw a bright orange, diamond-shaped sign that said, “Men Working.” I passed by the crew of five. Were any women working? No. And why would they be? It’s clearly labeled that men will repair the street. So why would a girl, my eight-year-old daughter, […]
L’s pick for top film for sensitive kids
The animated film Kiki’s Delivery Service stars Kiki, a thirteen-year-old witch. In this story, the custom is for witches of this age to go off and train independently for a year. Thus begins Kiki’s coming-of-age tale in which she heads off on her mother’s broom and ends up settling in a small, beautiful city by […]
D’s pick for top film for sensitive kids
D votes for Mary Poppins as the best movie to show sensitive kids. This was one of the first full-length movies she ever saw and one of my all-time favorites—the start of my lifelong love of Dick Van Dyke (who plays Bert) and Julie Andrews (who plays Mary Poppins).
What do experts say about screen time?
In my previous post, I mentioned that our film reviews will be geared toward kids who are six and older because of kids’ development and attention spans. So I want to share some information that explains why I chose that age. Not many organizations offer specific guidelines regarding the appropriate amount of screen time for […]
Why review kids films?
My partner and I are lucky because we both work from home. This allowed one or the other of us to provide our daughter, D, with pretty constant entertainment when she was a baby and toddler and to delay her introduction to screens. This is a luxury, I know. We thankfully didn’t even have to […]