rated R

I remember being scared, when I was little, of the "Friday the 13th" previews that came on before films at the movie theater. I don't think I was afraid of the character or plot — I could just sense the "you-should-be-scared" tone and responded accordingly.

In junior high my best friend and I liked to watch scary movies. One particular favorite was "Nightmare on Elm Street 3." As I stop now to remember the characters, I am surprised to be able to recall many of their names. Patricia Arquette's character, Kristen, is one of the couple who survived. I can easily remember how the others died.

It wasn't until college, or right after college, that I decided to officially scale back on my horror-movie-watching. It wasn't that I watched them a lot; when I did, though, I noticed a change in my susceptibility to irrational fears (often brought on by nighttime). The Bible said God didn't give me a spirit of timidity, and I thought I shouldn't encourage a mindset that claimed otherwise.

Now I sometimes watch scary movies, mostly if they're considered pretty good by critics ("28 Days Later," "The Descent"). They do often provide some food for thought about the human condition. But this post isn't really supposed to be about horror movies. It's about the MPAA decision to add a new advisory to R-rated films: "Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures."

I don't know if my movie-watching habits had any long-term effects on my psyche, though I should point out that as a kid I didn't go to R-rated films. Without children of my own I can't fully appreciate the natural impulse to protect one's kids from bad influences. But you don't have to be a parent to question the wisdom of adults who bring two toddlers with them to watch "Braveheart" from the front row.

I doubt the advisory will have much of an effect on parents' decisions, but it does spotlight a common problem in our society: How much is too much? Can people be trusted to choose appropriate limits? This goes for children and adults, too. As an adult I decided to stop watching "Law and Order" every week after I realized how paranoid I was getting about someone climbing in my bedroom window and committing crimes against me. The paranoia has since vanished. (And it really seemed like that show was spending a lot of time on "sick" crimes rather than interesting mysteries.)

What do you think? Do you have set rules for your kids, or yourself? What do you think is most damaging — violence, sexual content, profanity or something more difficult to pinpoint, like the condoning of vengeance or selfishness?