Motherhood and Censorship

Posted on May 6, 2009 by The Daring One

I’ve written a post over at Parenting today and I’d love your input. We recently let Laylee pick out a book at the school book fair and as we’re getting into it, I’m realizing that it’s not appropriate for her, especially not at the age of 6. It’s has the feel of a Bratz book aimed at young kids. I’m trying to deal with it in a mommish way but would love your suggestions and input.

You can click here to weigh in.

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3 Responses to Motherhood and Censorship

  1. Kork says:
    May 6, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    OK – so Parenting wouldn’t let me post today for reasons I was not wiling to try and fathom and fix…

    I would say to stick to your guns on this one. If you feel this is inappropriate for her, put it away until it is appropriate.

    Part of being a parent is making those decisions that make your children not like you…but a good friend once said it best “If my kids don’t hate me for some reason at some time or another in their growing up years, I am not doing my job as a parent.”

    The tough and often lousy part of parenting is when the result is a scowly face, an angry slam of a door, the rolling of the eyes, and as they get older, the shout of “I hate you, you’re so mean!”…BUT…in order to protect them from stuff, it often means keeping things from them. I would never knowingly or willingly expose my children to, and several things that we used to participate in or watch that are no longer a part of our routines…

    I wish you all the best in the upcoming battle on this one…

    • Heffalump says:
      May 6, 2009 at 6:49 pm

      You have to be pretty careful what you let your kids read these days! I think it will be a good learning experience for her, even though she might not enjoy learning it.
      I’d recommend letting her pick out a Junie B Jones or magic Treehouse book as a replacement and let her know that you will save the other book for when she is older.
      A couple of years ago my oldest son brought home the Princess Diary book from school. He had liked the movie and so checked out the book. I just happened to flip through it and was surprised to find that the book contained talk of condoms, french kissing, testacles and other things that I found to be inappropriate for my then 9 year old son (to be honest I wouldn’t want any of my kids to read it at any age). Disney certainly sanitized that story when they made it into a movie!

  2. Andrea says:
    May 7, 2009 at 5:12 am

    I agree with what’s been said. If you think the book is good for her in a few years then save it. If it’s not good for any age, then have her help you throw it away. And get a new one.
    Good luck.
    I think it’s so important to be aware of what our kids are watching and reading and protecting them from inappropriate things as much as we can. I’m impressed that you are doing that.

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