With the use of social networking sites becoming more commonplace among youth, parents are becoming more concerned about what—and who—their children are being exposed to. With that in mind, Common Sense Media has conducted a comparative analysis of some of the more popular social networking sites. But one Illinois congressman wants parents to be aware of another not-so-well-known site. U.S. Rep.

Family Values Cinema and the Parents Television Council have collaborated to launch a family-friendly DVD of the month club. Sourcing the very best in “family-friendly” films, Family Values Cinema offers subscribers the chance to receive, keep, and build their personal family film collections. To learn more about the club, see the Family Values Cinema web site .

For some parents, Wii Fit is a dream come true—a video game that gets kids off the couch and moving. Despite this, obesity experts are speaking out against Wii Fit after it told a 10-year-old girl in Britain that she was fat. (The game uses an electronic balance board to calculate a player's level of obesity and uses categories like "underweight" and "fat.") Because of this, experts believe the game could damage a child’s body image and called on Nintendo to warn parents that it may not be suitable for their children.

Now that summer is here, kids will have more free time for movies, television, and video games. Consequently, Pause Parent Play is aiming to help parents, grandparents, and caregivers make the best family media choices through its “School’s Out” campaign, which will provide the latest ratings, reviews, and other content information from both industry and independent sources.

Two new “kid-safe” browsers have been launched to help assure parents that their children are not exposed to inappropriate content on the Internet. The Children’s Educational Network has developed TUKI, which comes pre-configured with standard settings of pre-approved sites and games that both protect and educate children. A similar browser, KidZui, gives kids the freedom to surf through content that has been pre-approved by parents and teachers.

 Although some children’s channels set restrictions for studios regarding when ads for PG-13 movies can air, there are no such restrictions for their promotional partners. Ads for toys and snacks related to these movies target young children. See this article from the Los Angeles Times to learn more about how Hollywood studios are trying to profit at the expense of kids.

Qubo, a bilingual TV and online kids’ service, has created nutritional guidelines to help its staff decide which food advertisers are acceptable for children’s television.

A new study conducted by the Parents Television Council and the Enough is Enough Campaign concluded that the daytime content of MTV and BET, two highly popular music video channels, bombarded teenage viewers with a high volume of adult-themed material once every 38 seconds. See this article from EURweb.com to learn about what kind of content it is airing and some of the shows that feature it.

Ever wonder why we don’t hear much about NC-17 movies anymore? Ever wonder what NC-17 movies are all about and what NC-17 means? Dick Rolfe, CEO of The Dove Foundation, takes a look at these two movie ratings and gives insight into what prompted the MPAA to create the NC-17 rating. Click here to see the article from The Dove Foundation’s web site.

Many researchers have concluded that watching smoking in movies can greatly influence children to smoke. Parents who are concerned about how much smoking their children see on the silver screen have a friend in the web site for Smoke Free Movies, a project of Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Each Friday, the site offers updated lists of which studios make the most kid-rated movies with smoking as well as which current top grossing movies and DVD releases promote smoking or are smoke-free.