Welcome to Gaia! :: What would you stop your kids from reading ?

I would probably give them a talk once my kid wants to read horror or anything that's really explicit. A good decent talk along with some novelists along the lines of the author's writing style. I would tell them WHAT is inside the book but I would try to not enforce my opinion on the books strongly.

I am too young to think about Parenting. I am possibly the one girl in town who isn't trying to get pregnant at sixteen or party like a wild child, so it makes me go Gonk when I am given a baby to hold. I am afraid I would drop the child or make the child scared of me. I am not good with kids. sweatdrop

If in fifteen, twenty years or so I find myself with a child who is of an age where they've become able to comprehend novels, and have a desire to read something that would raise eyebrows. I'd let them.
Hell, I'd let them read anything they want - whether it be of literary value, or be utter crap, or if it be children's silliness, or mature material.

Reason? They'd be READING. Of their own free will, even. I think a lot of us here aren't as cognizant of the way things are going with modern youth as we should be. My sister is all of four years younger than me, and she RARELY reads anything more substantial than Gossip Girl or the latest Meg Cabot novel [although, I'll admit that I too find her books to be amusing. If your only experience with the Princess Diaries is that massacrization* of a Disney movie, you might find yourself pleasantly amused by how absolutely sadistic the books are.] The rub here? She is probably the BEST read out of anyone in her social group.

The times they are a changin', and though books survived the MTV generation, and hang on by a strand in the Internet generation, no one knows how they'll get pushed around in the next advance.
'Course, my house will always be full of books, so there'll never be any lack of availability should my child choose to read.


*I'll be submitting that word for approval by all major dictionaries this year. At gunpoint. <3
Feel free to use it as you will.

I'd let them read whatever they wanted, really. I was reading Battletech and Forgotten Realms books when I was 11 and 12. I didn't realize it then, but it did wonders for my vocabulary.

Then again, I never ever ever want to reproduce.

I would put small limits on books... like nothing with excessive amounts of violence or swearing, but other than that... I might keep them from reading badly written books unless they really insist on reading them.

Nothing more, though. I would have to be a responsible parent but I'm not going to limit the expansion of their minds, either.

Well for me it's kind of complicated. I mean there are a lot of books out there that don't do any justice to what my children will be... so many crappy characters put in even shittier positions and roles. I'll let them read whatever, but I will also explain to them why it is these are annoying craptastic shadows of themselves.

I don't really intend to have children, but they will be smacked headfirst into the Infinite Wall of Knowledge if they do end up existing. I joked about reading them ATOTC as infants, but knowing me I totally would.

Anyway, long story short I plan on converting my house into a huge a** library filled to the cieling with books, so, I can't really stop them, can I?

(I do kind of want to preserve my kids innocence though. I mean, I'm really appauled by the way my peers act nowadays, and I totally sound like an crotchety old woman. And I'd prefer them reading about sex than violence. I'll never understand why the US hates sex but loves violence. Seems backwards to me.)

Being computer illiterate is no excuse. I started using the internet when I was elven and my mother knew the websites I went on to. She can't use a computer to this day and has to call me and ask me computer based questions. She simply payed attention to where I went on the computer. The computer was kept in a spot where she could easily see me and thus could look at my screen if I was on any mistrusting site. She might not know the mechanics of what I was doing but she could recognize if something was bad.

Also the advancement of technology is also no excuse for not knowing games have ratings. Anyone with a brain should be able to hear "Grand Theft Auto" or "Resident Evil" and know something might be mature. Also, they might not know it has a rating but you can see the rating on the front of a game and on the back. What about reading a games description before buying it for a child. I mean I'm looking at my Assassin's Creed right now and the rating is on the front, back and even on the disk itself.

Parent's are lazy these days. They don't know what their kids like and don't even try to understand. I mean these days parents find any way to simply get rid of their kids.

When I have children I am going to make sure that I am part of their life. If they're thirteen and want to read the likes of the Vampire Chronicles then I'll let them. As long as they're not like most of the immature idiots I see running around these days.

I'm not saying I'm going to restrict what my child reads and censor things. I just won't let them read something harmful for them. I mean I won't let a ten year old read A Clockwork Orange. However when they're a bit older and more mature I'll encourage them to read it. For me it's about knowing what a child is mentally prepared for.

I mean really if I am any kind of good parent then my children shouldn't be going for things I do not want them to.