Parental discretion: Options for cleaning up movies, TV shows you find objectionable

Here, have a doughnut. It's the chocolate kind, dripping with fudge icing. Try it. Tastes good, huh?

What if you were told it's filled with garbage?

Would you still eat it?

After all, it only has that one bad part.

This analogy is often used to teach teenagers how easy it is to rationalize poor movie choices, how easy it is to become calloused to films that just have one bad part — just that one sex scene or just a few bad words or just a couple of acts of strong violence.

Objectionable material in movies isn't new, but some of the ways parents are choosing to protect their children — and themselves — from what they consider inappropriate are.

Many parents use the familiar movie ratings, overseen by the Motion Picture Association of America, to set guidelines for their children. Others try to screen movies before allowing their children to see them.

"I think (parents) need to be aware a little bit," said South Jordan resident Gerry Graves, a father of two. "I think they need to read reviews and go online and check out what people have said about the movies before they let their children watch them."

Graves is unhappy with the MPAA ratings because movies with violence seem to get an R-rating more often than films with sexual material. "I think that popular culture today is centered a lot around sex and glamour, and I'm not sure that sends the right message out to our children."

Lisa and Rich Saunders of Riverton often watch movies with their kids as a family activity. They don't allow their five children to watch even PG-13 movies, and they often look up movies on Internet sites to find out about content. They have also chosen not to subscribe to cable or satellite television because they say they click past too many objectionable channels while trying to find decent ones.

"The more we are exposed to violence, the more we come to accept it and get used to seeing it," Lisa Saunders said. She also sees modesty as a big issue because she believes TV programs portray immodesty in a way that can lead kids to promiscuity.

Lurlene and Rob Myers of South Jordan take an abstinence approach to the media. Besides choosing not to watch television or most movies — especially those with a rating more harsh than PG — they use an incentive program with their five children, whose ages range from 1 to 12.