Children Ages 7-12

At around ages six to eight years old, children begin developing the ability to discuss their feelings regarding movie scenes and start to understand their meaning and what's fact versus fantasy, Cantor says. "You can talk to them, depending on what the thing is that they saw," she says. If something from a movie or a TV show frightens the child, "find a truthful thing [to say] that makes them feel safe," she suggests.

Cantor says scenes in movies or TV shows that parents should keep away from this age group include:

• More realistic threats and dangers that can happen, especially things that can happen to the child.
  
  
• Violence or the threat of violence.
  
  
• Stories involving child victims.

Parents: Do Your Homework

So, back to the SpongeBob movie conundrum. If you're a parent and you're trying to decide whether to take your child to a movie—keeping in mind what types of images are appropriate for your child's temperament and age—you need to find out what's in the film, regardless of its rating and accompanying promotional campaign, because even G-rated movies can instill fear ("Wizard of Oz" anyone?).

Cantor recommends that parents read online movie reviews that assess films and DVDs based on a variety of factors, ranging from level of violence and imitative behavior to frightening scenes, profanity, and sexual innuendo. But reviews range widely in what is deemed appropriate for certain age groups. Take the aforementioned SpongeBob movie.

One well-regarded movie reviewing website—Screen It!—says the film has heavy doses of violence, disrespectful/bad attitudes, and an extreme amount of scary/tense music with moderate imitative behavior. The website goes into minute detail explaining its rating, down to how numerous scenes may be seen by children.

Meanwhile, the National Institute on Media and Family's review of the movie gives it 2.5 out of 5 stars and says that it's best for kids over age three. On seven measures ranging from violence to sex, the review gives parents a green light to go ahead. "The humor is directed at the very young," the review says.

Still another online review of SpongeBob, this one by the "Movie Mom" on Yahoo.com, describes the film as appropriate for ages six and up, labeling it as having "comic violence, peril and mayhem" as well as "very mild potty humor, drooling 'she's hot' comments." The Movie Mom gives the film a B-.

Cantor says that once parents read details on what kinds of scenes a movie or a TV show contains, they need to determine what is appropriate for their individual children, as well as discuss scenes with their kids. In fact, the Movie Mom offers a series of questions parents considering taking their gradeschooler to SpongeBob should discuss with their children after screening the film.

Watch Media in the Home

But the best option for young children, Cantor says, is to watch media in the home where parents can control the circumstances, instead of going to a movie theater (that can seem overwhelmingly large to a small child) and wondering whether you should leave in the face of inappropriate content after laying down a hefty chunk of money to watch the film. She recalls one instance when Jim Carrey's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas film was previewed before a kids' movie began. When Carrey made a grotesque face on screen, Cantor says the theater, packed with children, seemed to explode with sobbing panic. If you go to the movies, "It's out of your control," she says.

In the home, parents are in the driver's seat. "If you're unsure about the content, sit down and watch it with them, be prepared to turn it off or mute it," Cantor says. Doing this trains your children, empowers them with the concept that they can mute or shut off the TV if they see scenes that disturb them instead of having them think that they have to sit through it. "They're going to be on their own eventually, so getting them to recognize what makes them scared [is important]," she says.

There are also programs, like the Clear Play DVD filtering system, which parents can install on their DVD machines that screen out various scenes deemed inappropriate by parents based on type of scene or a child's age.