So I brought up the topic of literary role models the other day with a friend of mine. She works in the t.v. and film industry and is always asking me what book I'm currently reading, so I thought it would be interesting to get her opinion on the topic.
I began with a tiny tirade about the Diary of a Wimpy Kids books and then went into asking whether or not we hold different expectations for our daughters then we do our sons. And I found myself in the course of the conversation wondering if I should really allow my son to read books that I dislike so much. I mean, is the fact that he's reading enough to out-weigh my clear dislike of the message these books? Isn't that the problem we face as parents? We want our children to read, so we tell ourselves, "Well, he's reading and that's the important thing."
Anyway, as I was churning these thoughts over in my brain, my friend threw out a word that I hadn't even considered while thinking about all of this. Censorship. She mentioned it on a sort of bigger world scale (libraries and book stores) but it struck me that censorship exists on a parental level too. After all we as parents choose the rate at which we expose our kids to lots of things (e.g. youtube videos or rated-R movies).
So, how do we deal with that?
I want my kids to feel like the world is open to them. I want them to understand that seeking information is good. I want them to be worldly....and well read. So how do we deal with bad role models vs. censorship? It seems to me there is a fine line to walk in there and discussions to be had.
I'll have to think on it some more.
What do you think?
I began with a tiny tirade about the Diary of a Wimpy Kids books and then went into asking whether or not we hold different expectations for our daughters then we do our sons. And I found myself in the course of the conversation wondering if I should really allow my son to read books that I dislike so much. I mean, is the fact that he's reading enough to out-weigh my clear dislike of the message these books? Isn't that the problem we face as parents? We want our children to read, so we tell ourselves, "Well, he's reading and that's the important thing."
Anyway, as I was churning these thoughts over in my brain, my friend threw out a word that I hadn't even considered while thinking about all of this. Censorship. She mentioned it on a sort of bigger world scale (libraries and book stores) but it struck me that censorship exists on a parental level too. After all we as parents choose the rate at which we expose our kids to lots of things (e.g. youtube videos or rated-R movies).
So, how do we deal with that?
I want my kids to feel like the world is open to them. I want them to understand that seeking information is good. I want them to be worldly....and well read. So how do we deal with bad role models vs. censorship? It seems to me there is a fine line to walk in there and discussions to be had.
I'll have to think on it some more.
What do you think?
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