[blparent] sensoring: reading, etc

[Gabe Vega]

I'm glad I'm only fiscally conservative because if I was anyway shape or form related or on the bandwagon with this posting I'd be ashamed.
On Aug 10, 2011, at 9:14 AM, jan wright wrote:

> Very long rant: be forewarned.
> Ok, i am admitting up front:
> there are certain subjects that I am definitely conservative on and
> there are other subjects that I am quite liberal on.
> I just read the posts about sensoring -- (I know I'm behind)
> About this subject, i admit that i am conservative.
> With my first four: i did not let them play violent video games. i
> remember having an argument with other parents when they let their
> 6-8yo watch "Rush Hour," with Jackie Chan. i remember having a
> discussion with teachers when they let their class read "counterfeit
> son," which i found objectionable.
> Certainly the darker side of life exists. But: at this innocent age,
> why highlight it in such a manner. when they don't have to go through
> it, why allow them to experience it through a book? ... ... especially
> when that book is not a biographical account, but a fictional account
> -- not a biographical account of triumph, but something that has been
> made up in someone's head...
> / For me: I want my children to 'be children' for as long as they need
> to. There is something about exposure that makes children have the
> knowledge without the emotional experience to process such events. I
> read Ishmael Beah's account of being a boy soldier at the age of 6-10.
> (the book  was called "A long way gone," and Ismael Beah is from
> Sierra Leonne and now works for Human Watch).  this experience scarred
> the boys for life. Why would i want my 10yo to experience such things
> through a book?
> I don't think that there is anything wrong with childhood innocence.
> Of course, we don't want our children to be too naive about somethings
> that could be potential dangers. But, i'd rather tell my children what
> they need to know, instead of reading it in a book that might put a
> spin on it that I don't agree with. of course, parents get to decide
> when this exposure should happen. When your five year old asks: "Where
> did I come from," most parents don't say, "let me tell you about sex."
> they offer a truthful version, yet, they leave out many of the
> details. When we see a homeless person on the street, we shouldn't
> ignore the child's question: but we don't have to hear all of their
> (possibly) drug adicted  story of criminal elements and such. i am not
> sure that it really benefits the child to know all of the gory
> details. I'd rather focus on what to do about it.
> This is what i think that many books lack.  Their point is to shock
> and awe and at  9-12 , I don't want my children being shocked and awed
> by the groosome things of the world. i would rather them be shocked by
> an astonishing fact. It did not bother me  that, at 12, my daughter
> was not boy crazy or trying to have a boyfriend. i knew that it would
> come soon enough and did not feel that she needed to be exposed to
> adult content to encourage such things.
> .... My sons, neither, for that matter.
> But, my niece at 10 is already boy crazy and knows quite a bit about sex.
> My nephew, at 12, knows how to break into a house, how one might go
> about killing someone else and which types of guns are used for the
> best results in such matters.
> He has read a book about a guy who has commited suicide and why/how he did it.
> What purpose does this serve him at 12?
> i am not saying that we need to shelter our children from real issues
> that plague Americans. But, there is a way to do this without throwing
> them in the deep end and saying: "sink like a baby or swim like a
> man."
> There is nothing wrong with innocence, it doesn't have to mean
> complacency. and, does it really damage the child to wait three or
> four more years before being exposed to such things???  My children
> knew that AIDS (for example) was quite harmful and even at 10-12, they
> knew how one might contract the disease. But, I would not have allowed
> them to read a very rivitting acount of sex, drugs etc from someone
> who had AIDS for them to learn that it was a horrible  disease.  I'm
> not personally saying this about any parents on this list. But, I feel
> that many parents that i know are on a quest to grow up their child as
> quickly as possible.
> We seem to want to hurry them along through the childhood stages, so
> they can become little adults instead of children. We get angry when
> they are developing too slow and we are proud when they develop ahead
> of schedule. "my child knows..." "My child can..."
> Maybe it is a desire for them to be independent and less dependent on
> their parents. Maybe it is a desire for our children to be "the best,"
> and we deem that the "best" is getting somewhere or doing something
> before their peers.
> Whoops, getting off my soapbox!
> Bridgit, the books that we use to think were for High Schoolers, are
> now for junior High Readers. i don't understand it. "to kill a
> Mockingbird," or "native son," which use to be High School reading is
> now for 6-7th graders. i don't think that it should be. If i go any
> further, i'll start talking about "society's desire for
> entertainment," which is becoming more astonishing every day. and,
> Yes, i do feel that in some ways, we are becoming desensitized to the
> effects of such real damaging experiences.  What use to entertain our
> parents at this age, certainly will not suffice for us. We seem to
> always think that newer, bolder and more telling is better.
> But, i am telling you that I am conservative on this point.
> when i read a novel, i don't need to know "blow by blow," or "Thrust
> by thrust," (in the bedroom) to get the gist of what is happening.
> I am not fond of many authors putting a bit more and more erotica in
> their books. i find it demeans the act, itself and the emotions behind
> it. I feel like i am watching porn.
> Did I say that i was conservative ???
> (smile)
> just my own opinion on the subject.
> Rant over.
> 
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