{"id":9201,"date":"2014-03-23T16:09:07","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T21:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/?p=9201"},"modified":"2014-03-23T17:04:51","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T22:04:51","slug":"do-you-restrict-what-your-kids-can-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/2014\/03\/23\/do-you-restrict-what-your-kids-can-read\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you restrict what your kids can read?"},"content":{"rendered":"

H<\/span>ad you told me before I had kids that I’d be reading aloud each night to my kids beyond the age of ten, I’d have laughed. I mean, sure, we’re a bookish family, and reading is sacred – but I would not have imagined that they would still not only enjoy but actively request out-loud reading at the end of every day. <\/p>\n

From the Hobbit<\/em> to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/em> to Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing<\/em> to Harry Potter<\/em>, it’s been fun revisiting some of my favourite books with them. We’ve also checked a few off my own “must read” list, including A Wrinkle in Time <\/em>and most recently, Anne of Green Gables<\/em>. (I seriously never could have imagined that two 21st century preteen boys could be so engaged by a 100 year old book about a spunky girl as they have. Truly one of my finer parenting moments!) <\/p>\n

They are just getting to an age where they are starting to have more sophisticated tastes in their individual reading. They’ve both read two of the three Hunger Games<\/em> books, and are racing to finish Mocking Jay<\/em> before the first movie comes out this fall. With the hype about the new Divergent<\/em> movie and a recommendation from a camp counsellor, Simon now wants to read that. I waffled – he is only 10, and I don’t know how mature the themes in the book are, even though it is purportedly for a young adult audience. There is a lot of ground between 10 and 17!<\/p>\n

At first, I was going to hold him off until I could read the series myself first. At the very least, I thought I would skim the interwebs to see if I could get an idea if there was anything questionable in the books. However, I was nine when I picked up my mom’s copy of Stephen King’s Firestarter<\/em> and I’ve been reading adult novels just about ever since.<\/p>\n

\"304:365<\/a><\/p>\n

After reflecting on it a bit, I decided that they’re now pretty much okay to read whatever they want. I couldn’t think of anything I wouldn’t want them to read, although I do still want to know what they’re reading so we can talk about it. I think I’d still be careful about what movies we watched together, but there’s something about books and the engagement of your imagination that makes me willing to give them a longer leash.<\/p>\n

I tried to think of what would make me restrict a book, and I suppose the violence would be the biggest red flag for me, although they are a little naive for any overt sexuality. Truth be told, if they are smart enough to find that stuff and learn something, more power to them! As if we weren’t all reading everything from Tiger Eyes<\/em> to Tropic of Capricorn<\/em> looking for the racy bits back in high school.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Are you concerned about what your pre-teen or teen is reading? Do you monitor their reading? Are there some themes that worry you more than others? Are there any books you would forbid outright? (And how long do you think it would be before they found a way to subvert you?)<\/p>\n

I’m thinking I may at last soon be able to do something I’ve been waiting years to do: read one of my all-time favourite books out loud to the boys. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy<\/em>, here we come!<\/p>\n

(Thanks to Kerry and her family for inspiring this blog post with a random Facebook conversation!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Had you told me before I had kids that I’d be reading aloud each night to my kids beyond the age of ten, I’d have laughed. I mean, sure, we’re a bookish family, and reading is sacred – but I would not have imagined that they would still not only enjoy but actively request out-loud … Continue reading “Do you restrict what your kids can read?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-mothering-without-a-licence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9201"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9209,"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9201\/revisions\/9209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}