lol yeah i totally agree. who the heck would do that? lol

Our Family Fun Night was developed to decrease the complaints around the dinner table. Every Friday night we have homemade pizza or stromboli and we get to eat it picnic style in front of the tv. There are no vegetables...no eating at the table...and no tv limit! So...we start with the youngest and everyone gets to pick a movie! I never imagined how much of an impact this "tradition" would make...my children still cheer for Family Fun Night and they do not complain as much on Monday night when we are eating chicken and brocolli! They tell everyone about it and talk about it all week!

my family and me have friday night movie night my brothers and sister are younger than 9 but they can handle alot and arent easily scared plus they are pretty mature for their age so they get to watch like pg 13 movies so im happy and dont have to watch like mickey mouse but there are limits and if my parents see to much disturbing violence, to much alcohol or sexual related stuff coming up alot then we put in a different movie i think my parents are flexible yet they make sure we aare watching appropriate content

I think it really depends on the kid. My nine year old enjoys watching movies with me. And while the creative ideas in this article, like scorecards and so on, may not be your cup of tea, some kids may really enjoy these activities

we usually watch movies at night too. It's great to get them from the library, where they are free!

me too we have family movie night every frieday night unless something is happening like a football or march madness game is on we do family favorites too ( EXAMPLES MOVIES WE HAD RECENTLEY SEEN SCOOBY DOO ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS SPIDERMAN 2 THE DARK KNIGHT INDIANA JONES CRYSTEL SKULL SPONGEBOB MOVIE OVER THE HEDGE MADGASCAR 2 BEE MOVIE AND SHARK TALE) sometimes we set down at the computor and watch homestar runner toons or play the wii or something

we watch only g movies

There are enough classic movies with wide family appeal not to have to worry -- ones that have withstood the test of time and enjoy continued popularity. I keep lots of 'em on the home shelf to choose from, many favorites are revisited time and again.

ALWAYS ignore the phones when doing family activities like watching a movie, reading together, the nightly story time or even the family dinner. Thats what voicemail is for.

I can't believe people really do this (and admit to it):
"... Ask everyone to wear crazy pajamas, serve dinner backwards, with dessert first..."

To me rituals are the simple things you do regularly with a bit of ceremony -- the daily song on the walk to school, the nightly poem and story -- not some sort of stunt.

It just proves the diversity of folks here and that you have to do what works for your family no matter how silly or extreme it might appear to others.

Best advice -- do what works for your family!

In our family of teens 13, 15, 17, the challenge is finding a movie that, we, the parents are ok with but still satisfy the teens. Common Sense has really helped us with that!

We're not clueless to the idea that they are going to see things we wouldn't condone outside of our home. However, we simply try to be role models and suggest to them regularly that THEY should be in control of what goes into their minds - not their peers, nor the media or anything else. They are ultimately in control and "garbage in/garbage out". We discuss media often and dissect it occasionally.

We find that making it a big deal and inviting a couple of friends that everyone enjoys having around (once again sometimes a challenge when the ages are so close) seems to make sure it is enjoyed by all.

The number one reason this works for us is because we've made time together a priority. We've always watched movies together, eat dinner together 5-6 times a week and take time to talk to them one on one as often as they need - and as unbelievable as it might seem to some, it works. We're NOT perfect, just trying hard to make our kids a priority!

Great job! sounds like you have a wonderful warm and loving family- I do the think that all kids want and love affection... Even if they act like they don't want it. We sit down often as a family and have movie time.

Here's the thing in my house.
My kids are 8 & 10.
They love to pick movies to watch as a family.
They beg us to cuddle with them on the sofa while we watch. And we do, even if we've seen it 10 times and to us it's the most boring movie on the planet.
We have sometimes have dinner picnics during the movie, which they love.
They would be estatic to eat dessert first!

Here's the thing.
You kids over the age of 8 don't want to watch movies with you!
And they certianly don't want to pick one out "together".
This usually means you don't want them to whatch what they want to.
And the pajamas and backwards dinner and score cards are really retarded.
No kid over 6 will want to do that.
So here is some advise:
DON'T DO THIS!!!
Let our kids do watch what they want without you.
Because that is what they want to do.

We usually have our Family Movie Nights every week or every two weeks on Fridays. We usually watch a family favorite (like NATIONAL TREASURE, OCTOBER SKY, JURASSIC PARK, etc.) or check out a new movie from the library. Kids (I know ours do) always love to see and hear new things, so we check out movies from the library a lot for our movie nights.

NOTE: Libraries are great sources for movies, but we always check on COMMONSENSE or SCREENIT.COM before viewing, and you probably should too.