Michael Moore . . . My email newsletter from Michael Moore, founder of the Traverse City Film Festival, arrived today. I live in Traverse City, Michigan where we are so fortunate to have The State Theater and The Bijou as venues for film, for the Metropolitan Opera streaming live from the Met, and the Saturday Children's Matinee. Twenty-five cents! This reminds me a little of being a kid a long time ago . . . and of my parents sending us to the matinee at the little theater down the street. Twelve cents for admission. Michael Moore makes movies affordable for families, especially in the summer and during long school holidays. The theaters offer free admission for service members and their families. It's all good.
Thanks to Michael's email today, I discovered a resource for families I had never seen. It is a website with fantastic content to help parents with enrichment through reading and film, and with healthy family living and parenting. That website is www.commonsensemedia.org. Using the search tools on this website, parents can choose movies that are appropriate for children, books that are appropriate, and healthy life choices. Parents can explore cellular telephone apps and counsel about healthy smart phone use. I wish that resources like this had been available when my kids were kids.
Previews, trailers, ratings & more:
What Parents Need to Know
User Reviews (from both parents and kids)
A Summary of the Plot
Professional Reviews
Talk to Your Kids About . . . [This is, I think, the best part!] This section gives you a discussion guide so that you can actually talk to your kids about what they learned from a film or book. In this day and age of dueling cell phones with so many people NOT talking to their kids and so many kids not talking to their parents . . . the discussion guide is a good place to start developing great parenting skills.
Here is a hyperlink to the website--starting with a look at a terrific new movie for kids that has a lot of thoughtful content about bullying, disabilities, and how to show kindness. You'll see what I am talking about above when you look at the webpage for the new film WONDER. Don't stop there. Explore the other great content. This is definitely a website to bookmark.
