We recently bought the first season of The Dukes of Hazzard for our family.  It’s as cornball as I remember—jokes as thick as if they’d been poured straight from the butter churn, and every episode has a car chase that causes our six-year-old boy to hoot and holler and hold his breath.  I don’t have the heart to tell him that Bo & Luke will always get away, and Roscoe will always crash.  He’ll figure it out eventually.  Telling him now would be like telling him there’s no tooth fairy.

I was struck in watching the first episode that it was a little racier than I remembered.  Bo & Luke are obviously “sexually active” (to use the modern parlance); so is Cooter.  At one point, Enos the deputy is specifically referred to as “the oldest virgin in Hazzard County.”  And yet, it was mostly wholesome fun and there was certainly nothing that made me blush because the kids were in the room or jump up to turn the video off.

That’s unusual anymore.  I imagine it was nice to raise children in a time when you could leave them in the den and not worry about what they were watching, but those days are gone.  Most of us have to be more vigilant than our parents because the influences are more varied and harmful.  Conscientious parents usually filter what their children see by checking the MPAA rating, parenting websites, parenting magazines, and listening to word of mouth.

Just as important as filtering movies and television, however, is filtering the Internet.  Most families are connected to varying degrees, and parents are beginning to see that they have to take a more active role in monitoring their child’s on-line activities.

Toward that end, Top Ten Reviews has released its Internet Filter Software Review for 2009.  It provides a list of the best filters on the market, based on some pretty extensive criteria (ease of use, effectiveness, reporting capabilities, whether or not it filters foreign language sites, pop-up blocking, and about two dozen more).  Prices are given and the site provides links to the product homepages.

Net Nanny comes out on top, with Safe Eyes and CYBERsitter close behind.  It was especially nice to see that Net Nanny is the least expensive of the ten, coming in at under $30.

Check out the results here.