Blog Posts by Common Sense Media

What do you do when a group of sixth graders (11-12-year-olds)
creates a video and posts it on YouTube showing six ways
to kill one of their friends? The South Park-styled piece, set to the Miley Cyrus song, "True Friend" pictured fellow class member, Piper Smith, being hung, shot, pushed off a cliff, and more. This is wrong on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin. But here's a start: it's hateful, bullying, and a total abuse of the privileges afforded by technology.

Let's start with the fact that kids can be cruel. Especially middle-school aged kids who are smack in the middle of figuring out where they fit in the social hierarchy, and who is "in" and who is "out." But this is no longer a world where cruelty is confined to a passed note in class. The fact is that technology has given our kids superpowers that allow them to be both invisible and everywhere at once. Anything posted on YouTube can be seen by a vast, invisible audience.And not only that, this video was

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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is fun, fast-paced sequel is more upbeat than the original. Find out why Common Sense Media rated this ON for Kids 7 and up

What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this follow up to the smash hit Night at the Museum is very similar in content to the original movie -- so if your kids liked that one, they'll get a kick out of this one, too. Expect lots of generally lighthearted, effects-heavy chaos and action, with slapstick chases and confrontations and some moments of peril and danger (including scenes in which a somewhat scary giant octopus wreaks havoc and others involving creepy soldiers from the Egyptian underworld). Main characters get into fights and are threatened with weapons (guns, spears, swords) and words, but no one is seriously injured. One thing that's "missing" is the uneven father-son relationship from the first movie -- this one skips the family angst in favor of a more romantic subplot that helps keep

My 4-year-old daughter is pretty princess-obsessed at the moment -- with all princesses, including the ubiquitous Disney Princesses. This usually isn't a big issue. (Although she does demand to wear a dress. Every. Single. Day.) But one of my friends doesn't allow her daughter to watch any Disney movies. I know and respect my friend's decision, and she knows that if our girls play, chances are my daughter will want to dress up and pretend she's a princess, which means Cinderella or Aurora or Ariel will likely be mentioned (although I would never put any of the movies on while she's over). If that's a deal-breaker, well, then our girls just couldn't play together anymore.

This issue -- how different families manage media for their kids -- has caused me to think more deeply about how to negotiate the rules around what kids watch, do, and play at playdates.

In my home, I've done everything from facilitate no-media, Waldorf-approved afternoons featuring silk scarves, crafts, and

When the kids are home for summer, you probably don't want them to overdo the electronic entertainment -- TV, videogames, computer. How can you make sure their summer days include active time, too?

It's important for kids' physical and social development to spend lots of time in active, engaged activities like swimming, playing tag, rolling down a grassy hill -- even day-dreaming. But summer's a time for relaxing so you can renegotiate your time limits, doling out videogame time as an incentive for doing more chores or allowing 10 minutes of game time for every 50 pages they read in a book. Learn how to create a Healthy Media Diet so your kids get a balance of electronic entertainment and old-fashioned summer fun.

Use media together and talk about what you see, hear, and read.
Whenever you can, watch, play, listen, and surf with your kids. Talk about the content. When you can't be there, ask them about the media they've used. Practice media literacy - help kids question

Have I become numb? Am I so focused on my kids' online lives that I've forgotten about basic influences in traditional media? The thought crossed my mind as my 15-year-old son and I watched the special '80s-themed episode of Gossip Girl. He's used to my weekly comments about all of the show's drinking and sex. But there, in the middle of one of the oh-so-retro scenes, were lines of cocaine. That I wasn't ready for. At 8:30 p.m.

And just as I was figuring out what to say about the drugs, a character talked about not wanting to give "BJs," which was followed in quick succession by previews for the following week's episode that included footage of a scantily clad Blair Waldorf begging for love. I'm not a prude, but, um, whoa.

The fact is that traditional media remains a powerful super-peer, and kids look to shows like Gossip Girl to figure out what is and isn't socially acceptable. I've used the show to teach relevant lessons. But maybe I've been duped by my own numbness. Because I

The story you are about to read is 100% true, but names have been changed to protect the (formerly) innocent.

Writing reviews for Common Sense Media requires me to attend movie previews once or twice a week. (I know, it's a hard-knock life, but if it makes you feel any better, for every Enchanted I see, I also have to sit through a Miss March.) While I'm at the movies, my lovely neighbor Lucy and her oldest daughter usually babysit my three kids. Occasionally, I take her 12-year-old middle daughter, Sally, with me, so there's one less kid to watch.

One night, I made a horrible mistake. I failed to do any research about my assigned film and invited Sally to see Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. I didn't know it was rated R, because the last time I had read anything about it, it was "not yet rated." It had some raunchy jokes that made me uncomfortable, but I never expected what was to come. To my horror, about a third of the way into the comedy, a man appears completely naked on

Nothing says "summer" like a good fast food tie-in. Among my favorites? The first Transformers movie, which was rated PG-13 but lent its brand to Happy Meal toys aimed at kids 4-9. Too bad the adult meal didn't come with a person to explain why the movie was a non-starter for kids that age.

Age-inappropriate targeting -- arguably begun in 1992 when McDonald's got scolded for pushing toys to kids for Batman Returns (rated PG-13 for violence) -- has become a time-honored practice. This summer, the new PG-13 Terminator Salvation (whose predecessors were all rated R) ties in with Pizza Hut. Subway is shilling Land of the Lost, and Burger King backs Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and G.I. Joe .

Does this stuff work? In the 10 minutes I have him cornered in the car on the way to school, I asked my son if he knew what product placement was. I get the look -- duh. "Well, when did you become aware of it?" "When you pointed it out." "Did it make you want to buy what they

A lot of middle- and high-schoolers use instant messaging on Facebook to make sure they have the right assignments and to help each other figure out answers to questions. As long as they're not cheating or taking advantage of a brainier kid's work, then this type of collaboration may actually result in better understanding of the problems and the likelihood that they'll turn in their work.
Tips to help kids use this feature for good, not evil

1. No cheating. The number-one rule of Facebook usage is if you wouldn't say it -- or, in this case, do it -- in real life, then you shouldn't do it on Facebook. Same goes for cheating.

2. Give as much as you get. Make sure that no one kid is being used for his or her seemingly endless supply of correct answers. You never know someone's true motivations on Facebook, and if one kid seems to be doling out the answers to grateful recipients, your kid shouldn't partake (the group will eventually be found out by teachers anyway).

3. Know