Charleston, SC — The holidays are quickly approaching, which means grandparents everywhere are starting to prepare their homes for the arrival their grandchildren—many will put up safety gates and cover up electrical outlets to ensure their home is safe. However, there is one safety measure that many grandparents overlook: making sure their televisions are “kid safe.”

While most parents today are familiar with parental controls, such as program ratings and the V-Chip, what happens when the family goes to visit Grams and Gramps?

Like parents, many grandparents worry their grandchildren are watching age appropriate television programs when they come to visit. And with so many channels and choices, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with which shows are appropriate for younger viewers. However, things have come a long way since the days of three channels and rabbit ear antennas.

In recent years, technology has made leaps and bounds, allowing families to make their own TV viewing decisions. Two of the easiest and most accessible items you can use to help steer clear of unwanted programming are TV program ratings and the V-Chip. However, many grandparents don’t know how to use these controls or are not even aware that they exist!

To help all family members understand how to better control the content they see on their television, TV Watch created the Safe TV: Easy As 1-2-3 tutorial to help guide parents and grandparents alike through the process of blocking unwanted TV content.

Understanding The TV Program Ratings Guide

In order to help make TV-viewing decisions easier for families, all entertainment programs are tagged with ratings. Ratings are important guides to help grandparents make decisions about whether a show is appropriate or not. Ratings also serve as a guideline for blocking technologies.

When deciding what shows are appropriate for the grandkids, be sure to talk to their parents about their current TV viewing rules and which shows the kids are allowed to watch. This way, you can easily incorporate their guidelines into your home.

In tandem with the ratings, networks also provide content descriptors to further assist parents in selecting which programs or specific episodes are suitable for their children based on their values. The content descriptors are as follows: Violence (V), Sexual Situations (S), Language (L) and Dialogue (D).

TV-Y:  All Children TV-Y7:  Directed to Older Children (ages 7 & up) TV-Y7-FV:  Directed to Older Children - Fantasy Violence TV-G:  General Audience TV-PG:  Parental Guidance Suggested TV-14:  Parents Strongly Cautioned (ages 14 & up) TV-MA:  Mature Audience Only

How To Use The V-Chip

The V-Chip (sometimes called the Smart Lock, Auto Lock or Parental Controls) is the first blocking technology created for television. Currently, 180 million TV sets containing a V-Chip have been sold to the 115 million TV viewing households in America. The V-Chip is a device built right into television sets that allows families to block unwanted programming from their TV based on the TV ratings and content descriptors.

Furthermore, if you decide you want to watch these blocked programs, you can "unlock" the block by using a four-digit password you have previously decided upon. These measures make the V-Chip a convenient way to control what children watch.

To set the V-Chip, simply press the menu button on your remote control, select V-Chip (or parental controls, smart lock, etc.) and follow the on-screen prompts.

The TV ratings and V-Chip go hand-in-hand when it comes to protecting children from undesirable content. By using these tools, grandparents can spend less time this holiday season worrying about what’s on TV and more time enjoying the company of their grandchildren!