Kids' getting into R rated movies has and continues to be a hot topic among parents and theatre owners. The question is what can be done about it? Well let's see now. The President or former president, who's president again? Any way Clinton and the National Organization of Theatre Owners otherwise known as NATO, (cute huh) have made a comical agreement that requires all theatres to ask for photo ID when selling tickets to an R rated feature. Well that sounds good, but does it work? Some theatre chains have had this policy in place for years and it has at best made it more difficult for kids to gain access to R rated films but it has not stopped them. Its like trying to stop mice from eating your cornfield, you may catch some of them, but you'll never get them all. There are so many factors at play and most all in the favor of the kids. First of all the person in the box office selling the tickets may only be sixteen years old themselves. Lets say that you are a seventeen year old senior in high school and you want to go and see an R rated movie. You look to see who you recognize from school and get into their line. Now tell me honestly. If you are a sixteen-year-old freshmen are you going to ask a senior or for that matter a junior for their ID? No Way! Chances are if the kid did ask they would never hear the end of it next Monday at school. Now lets say for the sake of argument that the box office person does ask for ID and turns the kid away, what then? Well if the kid is smart in the way of the movie theatre as most kids tend to be they would say bummer and ask for the movie that is playing right next to the one they really want to see. Movie theatres number there auditoriums in order from one up to what ever so if the R rated film is playing in auditorium number six then they would purchase a ticket for Bambi in auditorium number seven instead. They can walk right up to the usher and present their ticket for a PG film in auditorium seven. They can go to the concession stand and by the time they are headed for the auditorium no one will give them a second look as they stroll down the hall and into auditorium six. Now you must be thinking, can't the theatre have a person at the auditorium door checking people's tickets? The answer most often is NO. Movie theatres do not staff them selves heavily enough to perform such a task as to guard all R rated movie entrances. At best what you'll get is in a films first few weeks an usher may be standing outside of the auditorium door and asking for tickets, but only if the movie is regarded as something that kids would want to go see. After the initial serge of people that a movie hopefully will have in its opening few weeks is over the movies become fare game for walk-ins. Of course there is also the old technique of asking passers by or another movie patron to purchase the ticket for them. Once the kids have the tickets whose to say that mom and dad are not already inside the 400-seat auditorium waiting for them. The theatres can not check Id's in front of the auditoriums as well as the box office. With all the things people are caring back from the concession stand can you imagine having to produce your ticket stub as well as your ID. Then have to wait while some sixteen-year-old usher tries to figure out how old you are from looking at the birth date on your drivers license. You would probably complain, if not to the manager you would at least grip about it to the usher. Another thing that I never hear talked about when this subject comes up are those automatic ticket machines. If your kid has a credit card then they can use it to buy tickets to R rated movies. True not all theatres have automated ticket machines yet, but they will. Of course people have been coming up with ways to sneak into movie theatres since movie theatres began, and now with the theatres being as large as they are there is plenty of space to get lost in. The way theatres operate today not much can be done about keeping kids out of R rated movies if they really want to see the movie, eventually they will. Ya know when I was a kid my parents would ask me what movie I saw and what it was about when I got home. Do parents talk to their kids?