Not much is family friendly anymore these days. Trying to browse for a clean flick at the local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video is nearly impossible without coming across atrocious covers and inappropriate titles. Watching baseball with your kids without having to mute or change the channel is nearly impossible because of the trashy commercials using sex as an advertising hook.

But your local grocery store is looking out for you and your family...meet the "Family Friendly" check-out line. I'm sure you've seen them, they look exactly the same as all the other check-out stations, except for the noticeable sign plastered above the magazine stand advertising that particular check-out's family friendliness. I have seen those signs before, but as I was walking through a certain grocery store this evening, I thought a little bit more about the subject. What I'm trying to understand is why exactly these check-out stands are apparently "family friendly", and I also wondered if maybe the other check-out stands were unfamily friendly. Is it that the clerks in the "family friendly" lines are less easily irritated by screaming children? Or maybe the aisle is just slightly wider so as to make room for little kids clinging to the sides of the cart so they don't knock down all the Snickers bars while going through? Or perhaps it's specifically for people with ginormous shopping lists (because if you're buying a ton of groceries, you MUST have a family...or something) so that the "others" (with bachelor-sized grocery lists) don't have to wait around and twiddle their thumbs.

I may have my speculations, but I must say that I doubt those particular check-out stands are family friendly because they have less raunchy magazines covers to glance at casually as you and your children unload your family-sized peanut butter, your family-sized bag of generic Cheerios, and your family-sized shampoo from your cart to your conveyor belt. Nope...Doubt it.

-Cydney

Cross-posted on The Celebrity.