Keller @ Large: Parents Need To Take Responsibilities More Seriously

BOSTON (CBS) - Thinking of taking the kids to the movies this weekend?

Consider this e-mail from a young mother, who went with another adult to a late show of the violent new Vin Diesel movie, "Riddick."

Listen to Jon's commentary:

"As the lights came on at about 11:30 pm, we noticed a family sitting behind us. To my horror, there were two children approximately 3 and 6 years old (awake and chatting, not asleep). I was horrified that they were allowed to watch THAT movie, which is rated R. I stopped at the front desk of the movie theater to inquire about the policy on small children. They said that as long as they were accompanied by a parent, it was allowed.

"Don't people understand that when you show small children that its OK to kill it translates into remorseless mistreatment of others?"

Apparently, no, some people don't get it.

Here's a sampling of what those two tots were treated to by their parents, according to an easily-accessible online parental guide:

"A number of characters are killed and their bloodied bodies are shown….A man's head is severed… A major character's pet is shot and killed…A female character is shot [and] bleeds to death in front of Riddick as he watches her."

And so on.

This is not going to be a call for movie theaters to change their policies or for restrictions on kids to be legislated somehow. While that might help, the bottom line is parents have to take their responsibilities more seriously.

I know it's hard to get a babysitter, but parents, it's your choice – expose the little ones to graphic violence as entertainment, or maybe skip that night out.

If you can't make the right choice now, you'd better be ready to deal with the consequences later.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.