Suppose an investigator walked through your house without you being there, gathering clues about who you are as a family. What would they conclude? If a MPAA rating were to be placed on the environment, what would it be?
Consider the books being read, the movies and TV shows ingested and the language and tone thrown around.
Over the years the rating would have changed in our house as our kids have grown up, books didn’t seem to matter before our kids were readers, TV shows were watched after they went to bed and we were very careful about our language in front of the children. These days some of those details have flipped; books are downloaded and available to all, as are all movies watched and this tends to change the standard by which our entertainment is chosen. Language is looser these days, meaning the jokes are less appropriate and often with an edge – this after years of not being allowed to say ‘butt’ or ‘shut up’!
Sometimes I don’t understand the ratings difference in a PG-13Â or a R rated movie, weighing violence, sex and language on a scale can be objective. It seems to me that there is often a fine line between the two in our house as well, how much snarkiness and cynicism do we allow in a house full of teenagers, how gross can the jokes be before going too far? The line gets pushed on a regular basis, and as parents it’s our job to be vigilant. We must be intentional with the games, movies and friends we allow into our homes because these factors affect the air we breathe.
This is a personal decision for couples to make together, deciding on what is and more importantly, what isn’t allowed in the home. I think we sit at the PG-13 level for the most part and I’m good with that. I want our home to be remembered as a safe place where our family preferred to be, but with room to show and experience grace, as well.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:38
howsyourlovelife 
Hahaha! I love this post but ouch is it convicting! I think it would depend on the day here whether or not we’d get a “G” rating or a “PG-13” rating. Yesterday would have been a “PG-13” for sure. Mostly because I finally lost my cool with my pre-teen who has been pushing a lot of my buttons lately.
I think a good follow up blog to this one would be if that same inspector ran through your head what rating would you get. I’m often times able to reign it in before I say it but in all honesty I think there are days I’d get a definite “R” head rating because my attitude “under my breath in my head.” responses are so…terrible!
Good points! When we had Sam, I asked my husband if we could purge our movie and music collections, because I didn’t want Sam to be exposed to some of it (and I didn’t think we needed to be exposed to it, either). In today’s technology age, we have to be so vigilant…many less-than-pure movies and songs have found their way into our home just from sharing iTunes with friends or sharing movies on Apple TV; we didn’t ask for some of it, and yet it came into our house. We can’t be too careful on this point!