Tim Traaseth

Thanks Nancy for bringing this up! I have the same question and I am
running into "Can I read this and that?" From my 9 yr old son. He loves
Jurassic Park and all dinasaur stuff, he has seen the movies( which I wonder
about age appropriateness for also) and now he wants to read all of them.
Do we have a responsibility to look out for our children with regards to
subject matter? What does everyone out there think? Books, movies, and
etc.... I want to let my children choose what they learn, but are they
always ready emotionally for whatever, whenever?? Kelli T.
----- Original Message -----
From: "hsmominoz" <Dnowens@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 2:11 PM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Re: "Fluff" books


> I've read responses about so called fluff books here and how
> books by
> Shakespeare and Dickens wrote the pulp fiction of their day. How
> about Chaucer? I had an English Lit professor in high school call him
> the Larry Flint of his day!
> On to my question... Does anyone limit or restrict books their
> children read? I ask this because my Mom always kept a fairly good
> eye on what I read as a child.(until I was about 14 or so.)For
> example, when I was about 11 I wanted to read `The Thornbirds' and
> when I was about 12 the book in question was Steven King's `It', and
> she wouldn't let me. She did explain what her reasons were any time
> she did this. Usually it was something like I know you can read the
> book, but I don't think at this time in your life you will understand
> the issues and themes in the book... or something like that. So far,
> I have not done anything like this to my children, but have been
> wondering what I would say if Moly (8) should come to me with one of
> my books and ask if she could read it. Then again, I don't see my
> child bringing one of my books and asking if she could read it. I see
> me finding her wrapped in a blanket on the couch half way through it!
> I guess it all boils down to, if you have an 8, 10, 12 year old with
> reading abilities far advanced, do you take into consideration their
> emotional advancement as well?
>
> ~Nancy
>
>
>
> ~~~ Don't forget! If you change the topic, change the subject line! ~~~
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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>
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>
>

Fetteroll

on 5/22/02 8:55 PM, Tim Traaseth at timt@... wrote:

> I want to let my children choose what they learn, but are they
> always ready emotionally for whatever, whenever??

Why do you think children would read something they aren't emotionally ready
for?

If he read Jurassic Park and found it upsetting do you think he'd feel
compelled for some reason to keep reading or to not skip over the upsetting
parts? Why?

Do children lack the ability to recognize uncomfortableness and to stop what
they're doing?

Society may treat them so, but it seems to me children are a *lot* better at
that than adults are! ;-)

Joyce

rumpleteasermom

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., "Tim Traaseth" <timt@p...> wrote:
> Thanks Nancy for bringing this up! I have the same question and I
am
> running into "Can I read this and that?" From my 9 yr old son. He
loves
> Jurassic Park and all dinasaur stuff, he has seen the movies( which
I wonder
> about age appropriateness for also) and now he wants to read all of
them.

If he's seen the movies, IMHO, he can handle the books. FWIW, mine
saw the Jurassic Park movies as they came out. Wyndham was 1 when it
was in the theaters. He probably had seen it on VHS at home by the
time he was 4. As long as your children understand that it is
fantasy, I think it is okay to let them see.

Bridget

Beth Ali

Well, I guess I"m going to chime in here and share something that may make
some of you shake your heads, although Bridget probably won't *G*
Shawn has seen all 4 Jurrasic Park movies and The Mummie and The Mummie
Returns. He will get up and do other stuff during the movies, although he
hasn't said it's because he's scared, whereas he has left during portions of
the Land Before Time movies...go figure. It has led to wonderful
conversations about real vs. pretend. Tommorrow, due to his interest in
cannons I will let him watch Patriot with me so he can see what they do (we
regularly have discussions about guns and why mommy doesn't like them). We
will also go on the internet to find out how to make a volcano, make a list
of items, go shopping for them and begin making the volcano tommorrow. A
pretty fun filled day for all, don't you think???
Beth

-------Original Message-------

From: [email protected]
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2002 06:22:04 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Re: "Fluff" books/age appropriateness

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., "Tim Traaseth" <timt@p...> wrote:
> Thanks Nancy for bringing this up! I have the same question and I
am
> running into "Can I read this and that?" From my 9 yr old son. He
loves
> Jurassic Park and all dinasaur stuff, he has seen the movies( which
I wonder
> about age appropriateness for also) and now he wants to read all of
them.

If he's seen the movies, IMHO, he can handle the books. FWIW, mine
saw the Jurassic Park movies as they came out. Wyndham was 1 when it
was in the theaters. He probably had seen it on VHS at home by the
time he was 4. As long as your children understand that it is
fantasy, I think it is okay to let them see.

Bridget


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In a message dated 5/22/02 6:55:19 PM, timt@... writes:

<< Do we have a responsibility to look out for our children with regards to
subject matter? What does everyone out there think? Books, movies, and
etc.... I want to let my children choose what they learn, but are they
always ready emotionally for whatever, whenever?? >>

I feel it's my responsibility to prepare them, warn them if it seems
appropriate, or to be willing to bail (turn the video off, leave the theatre,
stop reading) if they really get upset about something in the story or
presentation. But that goes for boredom or to them being offended socially,
morally or intellectually as much as for emotional danger.

When the parents will be there nearby and the child can ask questions and get
some direct and personalized responses, not the brush-off, not blame for
having watched/read, not belittling "don't be a baby" stuff, then there's not
so much danger of trauma and much potential for growth and learning.

Sandra

rumpleteasermom

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., "Beth Ali" <blali@b...> wrote:
> Well, I guess I"m going to chime in here and share something that
may make
> some of you shake your heads, although Bridget probably won't *G*
> Shawn has seen all 4 Jurrasic Park movies and The Mummie and The
Mummie
> Returns.

You're right! We have all of those, well, not the fourth Jurassic
movie! Who do you know? It hasn't been released yet. I just read the
profile for it at Movies.com yesterday. Or are you counting The
Making Of?

Wyndham doesn't get scared during the movies. He saves his irrational
fears up for more intrusive things like the kite that hangs on the
back porch which he can see at night and freaks out over. (just one
of the many reasons my son is going to a psychiatrist!)

> Tommorrow, due to his interest
in
> cannons I will let him watch Patriot with me so he can see what they
do (we
> regularly have discussions about guns and why mommy doesn't like
them).

My dh wants a cannon for our front yard. It would go nicely with the
neighbors practice bomb lawn ornament. (A 10 foot long bomb sticking
out of the neighbors yard makes it really easy to give directions to
my house!)



>We will also go on the internet to find out how to make a volcano,
make
a list
> of items, go shopping for them and begin making the volcano
tommorrow. A
> pretty fun filled day for all, don't you think???
>

One tip, if you use straight baking soda and vinegar for your
eruptions it is rather spectacular. It acts somewhat like a stromboli
eruption. If you add a bit of dishsoap to the solution the eruption
is more steady (and I can't think of the name of that type of eruption
to save my life right now!) like Mt Kilowea (I suspect that is spelled
wrong)
We build ours on a plywood base out, with a chicken wire frame and
that plater wrap stuff they sell in the craft stores - looks like the
stuff they used to make casts out of. They we painted it with acrylic
paints and sealed it with polyurethane sealer. It lasted for years!

Bridget

Tia Leschke

>
>We build ours on a plywood base out, with a chicken wire frame and
>that plater wrap stuff they sell in the craft stores - looks like the
>stuff they used to make casts out of. They we painted it with acrylic
>paints and sealed it with polyurethane sealer. It lasted for years!

My dad did a fun thing with us when we were young. We made a plaster of
paris mountain. When it was set, we put it in the sink and ran water in
something like a half inch at a time. Each time the water stopped, we drew
a line on the mountain all the way around. When it was done, we took it
out and photographed it from directly above. What we had then was a
topographical map, which we had been learning how to use for our camping
trips. It was really clear how they worked after that demo.
Tia

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
*********************************************
Tia Leschke
leschke@...
On Vancouver Island

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/22/2002 6:31:41 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
fetteroll@... writes:


> Do children lack the ability to recognize uncomfortableness and to stop what
> they're doing?
>
> Society may treat them so, but it seems to me children are a *lot* better at
> that than adults are! ;-)
>
> Joyce
>

For this one I will come out of lurking mode.
I think kids can read things they are simply not ready for especially if you
have a child who reads and understands very well.
My son read the Horrible Histories, History with all the Bad Parts left in.
The Rotten Romans upset him SOOOO much, (he read them when he was 8 or so) he
spent the next three years of his life denying his humanity and swearing he
was a giant river otter. When he read Where the Red Fern Grows, he cried for
a couple days and said that book should be torn up. We took it out in the
backyard and burned it. Shilo upset him but not all that much.
The main thing we look out for are Newberry Prize winners. I read Walk Two
Moons. OH MY GAWD I cried for three days. I finished that book at night and
cried and the next morning we went out to breakfast and I sat at the table
and cried. Everyone you love dies in that book. IT WAS HORRIBLE.
I do think that some kids are so sensitive and have so much humanity that
they cannot cope with great injustice or sad things until they are older. My
son at almost 16 (I remember when Kirby was just 8!!! OH MY GAWD Sandra) can
handle anything now. He gets sad but he quit falling apart.
My daughter was and still is not nearly as affected by things happening to
people but gets really upset by things happening to the environment.
Ok I said some stuff, back to lurking....
Beth


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