It sounds almost silly to say that something as simple as Netflix can transform your life, but it's true. I'm not a couch potato, nor shy, nor a person who spends much time watching media. I don't even have any type of cable television service. But I love Netflix.

In the two years that my family has had a subscription. we've collectively watched more than 150 movies; that's more than one per week. Our family - two parents, two kids - has been able to enjoy selections tailored to each of our interests, and we've also found many things to share together. Netflix has helped to bring down some of that cultural barrier that separates parents from their children.

Our system is this. We have three users: 1. daughter, 2. son, and 3. my wife and I. My wife and I have very similar taste in movies, so we can always agree on a selection (though we don't always agree on whether we liked the movie that we saw).

Our kids are allowed to select one movie per week to watch. This is usually their only television time of the week. Yes, you read it accurately. My kids are allowed one hour of media time per day during the school year. Media time includes TV, being online, and texting. We enforce this rule fairly strictly, and our kids accept it without grumbling. It's the only rule they've ever known.

So, our kids each make a selection of one item that will take about 2 hours to watch. My son typically watches his on a weekend morning; my daughter often watches on a Friday or Saturday night, especially if she's babysitting.

My wife and I pick major-release movies for ourselves that we've been unable to see in the theaters, or we pick obscure things that are hard to see in-person. Those might be documentaries, or unusual foreign films, or films from 30 or 50 years ago. We make a "date night" to watch a movie in the middle of week. And it's great. Often, we're up an hour or more after the movie, talking about our reactions.

Finally, we have Family Movie Night about once a month. For these occasions, we relax the time rule for our kids. My wife or I select a movie that we think will appeal to everyone, and we pile onto the couch together with a giant bowl of popcorn. In the last couple of years, our range has been wide. We've done new movies like "The Incredibles," and we've done popular films from our youth, like "Rocky" and "Breaking Away." We've also done classics like Charlie Chaplin films and famous musicals.

I cherish those Family Movie Nights. It's a chance for us to share something that we love with our kids, and to open up lines of communication with them. Shared experiences are what families are all about, and while it might sound silly that our shared experience is a bloodied Sylvester Stallone, but it works. Recently, we drove to Philadelphia for a short vacation. Among the highlights was running up the steps of the Philly Art Museum, just like Stallone does in the movie. It wouldn't have meant anything to my kids if they hadn't seen the film.

Netflix has made all of the above incredibly easy. The DVDs arrive at our home without fail. We can select them at any time, and we can add to our online queue whenever we have a great idea. We can read professional reviews, as well as comments from others who've watched the movies. And we have a selection that's 10x the size of any video rental store. It's a perfect solution for a family that wants to keep a limit on TV time, and also wants access to quality programming.

Learn more about this author, B. B. James.
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