Parental Control - TV Rating System

by Michael Russell

With the increase of sex and violence on television, or as
George Carlin likes to delicately put it, "Sax and Violins",
parents have to be more careful than ever about what they allow
their children to watch. But how do they do that? Unless they've
got some kind of guide or know every movie that's ever come out
there is just no way they can possibly know if a movie or
program is suitable for their child.

The TV rating system to the rescue.

Essentially, the TV rating system is a system put in place that
evaluates a programs sex and violence content and rates the
program accordingly. This rating is then displayed, usually at
the left hand corner of your TV screen. This way, when you turn
a program on you will immediately know if it is something you
want your child to watch. How? Well, the ratings are pretty well
defined, though there are some gray areas.

Let's cover the basic ratings so you have an idea of what to
expect.

TV Y - This is the lowest, or least offensive rating. A program
with a TV Y rating is deemed to be appropriate for children of
all ages. This can be either animated or live action. The themes
of these programs are usually also geared to a very young
audience between the ages of 2 and 6. This program should in no
way frighten a young child.

TV Y7 - This program is usually designed for children age 7 and
older. Usually this type of program is geared to children who
can differentiate between make believe and reality. There may be
some mild fantasy themes or comedic violence. It might be
possible for children under 7 to be scared by these shows. If a
show has a great deal of fantasy violence then it may be given a
qualifier to this rating and be designated TV Y7 FV.

TV G - This program is for people of all ages. It is not
specifically intended for young children but should be okay for
them to watch. These are usually your family oriented shows that
rarely if ever contain themes that may be inappropriate for
children.

TV PG - This program may contain material that is not suitable
for young children like mild violence or suggestions of sex.
Parents may want to watch these shows with their children to
answer any questions they may have about it. These programs
occasionally will also have some suggestive language. TV PG
shows will usually have a qualifier attached to them as well
such as V for mild violence, L for language or S for sexual
situations.

TV 14 - This program is for children over the age of 14. Parents
are strongly cautioned to watch these shows with their kids.
These programs usually have either intense violence, strong
sexual situations, strong language or very suggestive dialogue.

TV MA - These programs are intended for mature audiences only.
These are usually not for children under 17 and usually contain
either graphic violence, explicit sex, or very crude language.
Qualifiers will be attached to these as well so the parent knows
what is contained. But most likely it won't matter as they
probably won't want their kids to watch these shows anyway.

With the above guidelines, parents should have no trouble
monitoring what they want their children to watch.

About the author:
Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Parental Control