All the ratings for movies are decided by a group of eight to 13 members of the rating board. The American film ratings system was established in 1968. When a movie is submitted to the Rating Board in Los Angeles, the same people vote to decide what rating to give the movie. The members of the Board come from different backgrounds, some even being parents.

This doesn’t seem to be a good system for judging movies that young children see. The standards of the board are not always the decisions that a parent would make. Many people have concerns about the system classifying movies PG-13 and PG when they may not be appropriate for little kids. First of all, we have a very small number of individuals deciding what is and isn’t acceptable for the public. Second, the American ratings system was established in 1968, a time when movies were mostly more family friendly. The only change that has been made was adding the PG-13 rating in 1984. Also many parents look at PG-13 as “let your kid watch this if they’re 13” when the rating system is only a guide of sorts to inform parents of the movie content. Many do not actually know what they are letting their kids see until they watch the movie for themselves.

The problem is that people are basing their standards on the opinions of a small amount of people instead of getting information for themselves. Parents need to be more active in the movies they expose their children to, whether that means having better judges at the Ratings Board, actually checking the movie box, looking at a public website for parents to rate movies, or just watching the show kids need to be careful with what they see.