Renting From Blockbuster

We have been members of Blockbuster's Rewards Club for years. First, we rented VHS movies--now we rent DVDs. My son has always enjoyed renting video games from Blockbuster, and my daughter enjoyed the latest Disney and family movies when she was younger. Now, things are changing. As far as the video games are concerned, they have really raised the rates on these--plus, since my son hasn't upgraded to the newest gaming systems, there is less of a selection now. As far as movies that my daughter likes, she is now into the same chick flicks that I like--no more Disney or cute kids movies. Then we can talk about the rating system: PG-13 for teens? OK. R for teens under 17? Not so much--R for violence or R for sex?--more than they would see on television?--probably (but that is getting to be a closer call these days). And games have ratings too--E for everyone (too babyish for teens), T for Teen--OK, M for mature?--violence, blood and gore, sexual innuendo?--some things I can overlook, some I cannot. What is my decision? For the most part: PG-13, USUALLY no to R (unless I can prescreen and decide what earned the R rating)--and games: T for Teen, USUALLY no to M unless it is just about blood and gore, then I have to decide (Jaws, OK--anything about murder, NO). It's tough making these decisions because sometimes a good movie or game is rated a certain way because of a quick word or scene--sometimes I can "edit" it out by skipping it. Plus, now that they aren't little anymore, they ARE being exposed to things in society that I don't like--what should parents of teens do? Can we edit their whole world and shelter them? My son says--"I hear those words every day on the bus"--"I see worse than that on tv"--"It doesn't bother me, I just tune it out." I'm torn between wanting to protect them and wanting to face reality--they WILL be exposed to things in the real world that I wish they were not. For now, we will stick to PG-13 and T for Teen--I'm not sure at what point I will relax that rule, but they will soon be old enough to do what they want, regardless of how I feel about it. And I can remember going to R-rated movies when I was in high school, so I know it's going to happen. Oh, and the Blockbuster thing?--now they are competing with Netflix and things are gradually moving to online downloads of feature films. I guess soon we will have to deal with the movie issue on line--we already are dealing with online games and video content--it's a crazy world out there and the internet lets it all into your home if you let it. But I still enjoy renting a movie from Blockbuster every now and then, and so do my teens. We may continue our membership for a few more years before moving on to internet downloads--oh, and there is always "on demand" on cable/satellite television! :)