Every so often, I have to search for something that is family friendly to watch. We live where TV reception is minimal to none (remember I live in the woods). We don’t watch enough TV to warrant paying for satellite. The cable lines stop about two miles away. Nevertheless, our family enjoys a show or movie about once a week. Over the years, I have found that we have different standards as to what is appropriate for children. My list is based on our religious beliefs,the ages of our children (eight and under), the morals and values that we have, and the maturity level of our kids. Some of the items may require a little “editing”. Others may require a good deal of discussion. We don’t mind a good “shootem-up-bang-bang” if there’s no real gore. I’m not a big fan of “teenage love/princess stories”…like Disney. I have placed ages next to some that may be to scary or intense for the younger kids. I also don’t like rude attitudes shown to my kids at this point. With four girls, why give them an example of rude attitudes! I’m sure I’ll forget things. Perhaps you’ve run across something I should consider…feel free to comment. Most of my choices are old shows, since we have to buy shows to view them. One last thing, since my kids don’t watch a lot of TV, they are not “used” to it. I have to edit things that some parents would feel are acceptable. Here’s the list…in no particular order.

Pride and Prejudice the movie

Pride and Prejudice A&E mini-series

Sense and Sensibility

Emma (I’ve only seen the Gwenneth Paltrow version)

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Karate Kid I (language editing)

Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) (7+)

Star Wars (original) (7+)

Scooby Doo (original)

Leap Frog learning series

John Wayne ….lots of them…

Narnia (1st movie…I haven’t seen the 2nd)

Ever After (version of Cinderella w/ Drew Barrymore)

Heidi

The Andy Griffith Show

The Ten Commandments (Charlton Heston)

Murder She Wrote

Arthur (public television cartoon….some editing for attitude)

A Knight’s Tale (editing of “kissing” scene)

Harry Potter (1 and 2 only) the rest have to much “teen” attitude

Wizard of Oz

The Wiz (a little more scary than the original, but with fun music)

Knight Rider

MacGuyver (a little on the “green”-side, but okay)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old one)

Swiss Family Robinson

Sound of Music

Babe (edited out the beginning)

The Nutcracker Ballet

Ostrov (The Island)

Matlock

My Fair Lady

The King and I

The Waltons (Thanks for reminding me Abigail’s mom!)

Hatari (John Wayne catching animals for the zoo, cigarette smoking talk needed)

The Great Escape (Historical film w/ great actors)

*I will occasionally update this list as we find appropriate things to add