Since I’ve become a mother I’ve been paying more attention to what is on my television. I know that my children aren’t always paying attention to what is on the television screen, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to have a program on with sexual situations or violence while they are in the room. I started doing some thinking about the TV ratings system and what exactly the ratings mean.

Television ratings are actually called “TV Parental Guidelines” and went into use by the television industry in 19997. There are two components to the ratings system – the audience and content labels. The audience part of the rating tells you what age levels the show is appropriate for, while the content labels gives you specific information as to what is in the program that a parent should know about.

Here are the audience levels of the TV Parental Guidelines:

TV Y – it is a program that is appropriate for all children, but some older cartoons (like Bugs Bunny) that have violence in them are included in this category. Parents should decide on a show by show basis what their young children can watch.

TV Y7 – is designed for children over the age of 7 as it may contain some fantasy violence.

TV G- is for all audiences (general audience) and usually programs with this rating don’t contain any sexual content or violence.

TV PG – parental guidance is suggested and programs with this audience level are not appropriate for younger children.

TV 14 – the program is not suitable for children under 14 and parents are strongly cautioned about the content.

TV MA – is a program designed for adults or mature audiences only.

Here are the content labels and what they mean:

V – violence

S – sexual situations

L – coarse, crude, indecent language

D – suggestive dialog (about sex)

FV – fantasy violence

Even though a television show has a certain audience level and content rating does not mean you want your children to watch it. I know some parents who do not let their grade school children watch Sponge Bob in their home. It’s their decision to control what their children watch in their home. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to be able to control what your children watch in other people’s homes, but at least you can have an idea of what your children are watching based on the TV Parental Guidelines.