News and Notes from the
World of Al Menconi

Sneaking into R-Rated Movies (Without Leaving Home) By  Liz Perle   http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ April 14, 2010  Sneaking into R-rated movies is so old school R-rated content is a click away So what can you do? Watch C ommon Sense on Good Morning America Sneaking into R-rated movies is so old school I clearly recall telling my then 13-year-old son that the movie  Superbad  was a total  non-starter  for him. Full of underage drinking, I didn't want him to think getting plastered was hilarious. So he didn't go sneak into the theater with his friends. But a week later, he was quoting movie dialogue. He didn't need to see the movie. He simply went online and watched the trailers. Then he went on to YouTube  for more. Finally, he illegally downloaded a pirated user-posted copy by using an open source file-sharing application called BitTorrent. A total wipeout. Not only had he seen the movie, but he'd also broken the law. As if that wasn't enough, he'd also do

Combat Bullying Today  Whenever I find a new resource that matches and fits our mission statement: "Helping parents understand, connect, and communicate values to their children," I want you to be the first to know about it. As you know, bullying is a HUGE problem in our country. 160,000 students skip school everyday in America to avoid being bullied. For those that are brave enough to go to school, 6 out of 10 of them witness bullying at least once a day. And it doesn't stop there.  Cyber-bullying is also becoming epidemic. There is new program that can help.   My long time friend, Brooks Gibbs, has developed a program to help bring an end to the growing epidemic of bullying and cyber-bullying. Even more exciting, he is sponsoring a  FREE telephone seminar to help parents this Thursday, April 29 at 5 p.m. PST/8 p.m. EST. It is more important now than ever to have as much information as possible to prevent your child from becoming a bully.  Even more hea

YouTube can be a fun website to “kill some time” and get some laughs, but not everything on You Tube is appropriate for all the members of your family.  There is a simple way to limit access to much of the questionable – but not all – videos.  First, go to the YouTube.com homepage and scroll to the absolute bottom.  You will find “safety mode.”  The default setting is “off.”   Click “off” once and you will be given an opportunity to choose “on” or “off.” Choosing “on” will limit access to most of the questionable videos and comments.  You can click “save” to save your settings.  If you want to “lock” your settings, click in the “save and lock box” and it will prevent anyone else from unlocking your setting.  You will have to join You Tube before you can use the “save and lock your settings.”  This is free and easy to do.  It won’t block everything, but it will block much of the “iffy” videos and comments.  Let me know if this helps.    

As a parent, what is your biggest struggle with your child/children?

How do you respond when your children are irresponsible? How should you respond?

Many parents have asked, "How should I respond when my child says, 'It doesn't affect me?'" We have a book and DVD dedicated to help parents communicate and answer this and other questions. Check out our materials at www.AlMenconi.com . In the meantime, this video clip , taken from my But It Doesn't Affect Me! seminar should help you open a conversation on this topic with your child.

Thank you for your movie recommendations for our DVD List. We have updated the movie list and added your suggestions. These are the top favorites as of April 6, 2010. The movies are divided into the following sections. Section 1: family movies Section 2: mature movies Section 3: classics Section 4: musicals Section 5: children movies (with adult appeal) FAMILY MOVIES Below are the top videos that received the most votes. I also included the next vote getters in random order as honorable mention. I have seen many of the movies listed and I put my comments in parenthesis in the comments section. The other comments are gleaned from our readers’ suggestions. If you have any questions about these or any movie that you are planning to watch, I suggest that you check http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/home.html to see if the moral content of a recommended movie fits your family’s guidelines. The following movies received the most votes by our readers and are listed in order of preferenc

Normally I don't admire Hollywood movie actors, but I just read about a man with strong principles. The following is an article from Deadline.com/Hollywood about actor Neal McDonough. No Sex Please, I'm Neal McDonough... By Nikki Finke Wednesday March 31, 2010 @ 10:53am PDT Neal McDonough is a marvelous actor who elevates every role he plays, whether it's in Band of Brothers or Desperate Housewives. So when he was suddenly replaced with David James Elliott 3 days into the filming on ABC's new series Scoundrels earlier this week, there had to be a story behind the story. The move was officially explained as a casting change. But, in fact, McDonough was sacked because of his refusal to do some heated love scenes with babelicious star (and Botox pitchwoman) Virginia Madsen. The reason? He's a family man and a Catholic, and he's always made it clear that he won't do sex scenes. And ABC knew that. Because he also didn't get into action with Nicolette S