How It Started

We are Charlie and Gladys Amos. We're both sixty. Charlie carried the mail on a rural route for thirty-one years and Gladys taught Sunday school for longer than that, and these days we mostly look after our three grandchildren, Kimberly, Colton and Theresa, after school until their mom gets off work.

Last fall Colton, who was seven then, typed an address wrong on our computer and got a page that no seven-year-old should ever see. He came and got his grandma, which we were proud of him for. Gladys was ready to unplug the machine and put it in the closet. Charlie said wait a minute. There's a whole lot of good out there, he said. Somebody just needs to point to it.

So that's what we do. Most evenings after supper we sit down together, Gladys reads and Charlie clicks, and we look over family pages people have sent us. When a page is one we'd be glad to have the grandkids see, it gets our Seal. Parents can look for the Seal, and they can look at our list, and know somebody went through every page first.

Our Seven Standards

To wear the Seal, every page on your site has to meet all seven.

1. Clean language. No cussing, not even the "mild" kind, and no spelling it with stars.
2. Nothing a parent would have to explain at the supper table. Pictures or stories.
3. No violence for its own sake. A hunting page, a history of the war, a memorial are fine. Gore to be gory isn't.
4. Kind. No making fun of anybody's race, religion, looks or handicap.
5. Honest. No chain letters, no get-rich schemes, and no asking children for their last names, addresses, phone numbers or schools.
6. Clean links. We click every link on your site and look at the page on the other end. If it wouldn't pass, the link has to go.
7. Nothing sold to children. A business may certainly have the Seal, but its pages shouldn't be aimed at getting kids to ask Mom for money.

What the Seal Does NOT Mean

It isn't a filter. Nothing takes the place of a grown-up in the room. Our computer is in the kitchen for a reason.

It doesn't mean the page is religious. We're Methodists, and we love a good church page, but the Seal has gone to a Girl Scout troop, a kindergarten teacher, a Vietnamese family in Iowa and a fellow who reviews movies.

It doesn't mean we agree with everything on the page, or that the page is pretty. We don't judge design. We're not qualified. Charlie still double-clicks links.

How to Apply

E-mail us at [email protected]. Put "Seal" in the subject line and tell us the name of your site and its address. That's all we need.

We go through every page on your site and every link, together. It usually takes us about two weeks, sometimes three around the holidays or when the grandkids have a ballgame. We will write back either way. If the answer is "not yet," we'll tell you exactly which page and which thing, and you're welcome to fix it and write again. Most folks do, and most of them get it the second time.

Showing the Seal

If your site is approved, please save the Seal picture to your own computer (right click on it, then Save Image As or Save Picture As) and put it on your front page with a link back here, so parents can check that it's real. Our grandson-in-law, who knows computers, says the code is:

Keeping the Seal: We look over every sealed site again every six months. If something has changed that doesn't meet the standards, we e-mail you first and give you two weeks to set it right. In a year we've only had to take the Seal back twice, and both times the folks were nice about it.

Did you find a problem on a sealed site? Please tell us. We'd a lot rather hear it from you than find out later.

See the Pages Wearing the Seal

Families who have visited since October 1998:



[email protected]
Last updated: Saturday, September 18, 1999
© 1998-1999 Charlie & Gladys Amos