In this season of "Weeds," the central characters have moved out of their ticky-tacky neighborhood where the houses looked the same and settled in a town with more diversity.

Last week's episode of the Showtime comedy reminded me that some things haven't changed — in the show, and in life.

As teens Shane and Isabelle sat at a lunch table on the first day at their new school, Isabelle's wistful comment struck home on many levels: "If only life were a Judd Apatow movie where geeks ruled the world. But it's not, so let's just suck it up."

"Weeds" is not a kids' show. Apatow, in general, does not make kids' movies. Nevertheless, Isabelle's comment fell right in line with current trends I've been reading about: As comedies get racier and raunchier, they're also appealing to younger and younger kids. Not just teens. I'm talking about 12-and-unders. Kids who are too young to know enough about relationships, political correctness and the downside to getting high to be able to walk out of the movie with the right ideas.

I can see the attraction, though. Kids are obsessed with fitting in, and the message in a lot of the comedies these days seems to be that you don't have to be the coolest or the smartest or the strongest or the best-looking kid to be accepted.

It's exactly what their parents have been telling them, too, right?

The difference is that when parents console their geeky kids, they aren't suggesting that the way to make it all better is to get a fake ID, find a dealer or just, you know, "do it." That's what's happening in a lot of of today's comedies.

I'm not criticizing. I don't mind the way comedies are shifting. I'm just worried about how they're skewing the audience. The R-rating exists for a reason, and why ignore it when movies seem ever more likely to introduce our kids to things that we don't necessarily want them exposed to and almost definitely don't want them to mimic?

I'm not calling for censorship.

Those movies provide the perfect complement to the family fare I have to shell out an obscene amount of money for, just so some animated animal can hawk toys to my kids for 90 minutes straight.

There are gems like "WALL-E" and "Kung Fu Panda," but there are enough stinkers that I feel like I'm justified in wanting to see grown-up movies, too. Sometimes that means I want to watch Sacha Baron Cohen when he's more than King Julien in the "Madagascar" series or Owen Wilson when he's not just the voice behind race car Lightning McQueen.

But let me make myself clear: If I am going into a restricted area, I do not want a little kid sneaking in behind me.

Parental groups can complain about the vileness of the new releases, but I think the solution is simple: We need to be more vigilant about what we let our kids see rather than complain about what's showing up on the screen.