comments

1. Rick Neece on December 10th, 2011 at 5:59 pm

   My question doesn’t exclude Clusterflockers without children. BTW.

2. Andrea on December 10th, 2011 at 6:38 pm

   What age range are we talking?

3. Daryl Scroggins on December 10th, 2011 at 7:38 pm

   Rick, I love you so I won’t say it–but it starts with a B. I wouldn’t want them to think that “get the goat and the knife and get up on the woodpile” means Obey and everything will always be okay.

4. Joel Bernstein on December 10th, 2011 at 8:29 pm

   One reason I’m a little apprehensive about having kids is that I am apparently missing the part of my brain that wants to shield them from violent and offensive media.

5. Rick Neece on December 10th, 2011 at 8:55 pm

   I wrote this once and lost it. Can I remember enough to recreate it?

   Andrea
   I think it would be the age when a child knows enough, when they read something that “speaks” to them in severe difference to what they’ve been taught.

   Daryl, I’m pretty convinced reading the Bible isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just that when does one read the Bible without other’s interventions (interpretations)? The Bible, itself, is an interpretation. (Someone, or a group of someones somewhere decided “This verse, not that. This book, not that.”) The Bible is man-made.

   My people come from a place where the Holy Bible (KJV) is the inspired Word of God. They would give no credence to other authors mentioned above.

   I would hold all word as inspired. It merely requires a reader to read.

6. Rick Neece on December 10th, 2011 at 9:00 pm

   I meant, mentioned above.

7. Amanda Mae on December 10th, 2011 at 9:06 pm

   Never. There is no knowledge that is forbidden, there is no information that can destroy what is true. Everything can be discussed and dialogue is the way to fix all.

   That said, I personally wouldn’t want them reading overly sexual material too young as I think it can cause sort of an unhealthy obsession(?)

8. Rick Neece on December 10th, 2011 at 9:15 pm

   Oh, Amanda. I was just about to back out of both my comments. But you commented, so I’ll let them stand. I don’t know if I said what I meant to say.

   That said, I agree, that no knowledge should be forbidden with discussion. And agree there should be a threshold of age.

   In this age of internet, where all is available for all, can we/should we protect? And if so…?

9. Amanda Mae on December 10th, 2011 at 9:21 pm

   We should always protect the weak, that is the strongest thing we can do.

   Children can’t make decisions, so we have to help them make them while probably letting them think they are making them.

   I often rejoice that I wasn’t born in a home with a computer. I’m the last generation, to be sure. I grew up for ten years with a landline, no computer, and barely watching television. If we didn’t know something, and mom didn’t know it, then we had to find a book about it at the library or settle for ignorance. I can’t even imagine wondering about something for longer than it takes to google it now. All fights I have can be settled instantaneously.

   As someone who has no kids it’s easy to opine on the subject, but I think that most of your work with children is done in the very early years of their lives. This is when you can form the strongest bonds, persuade them to obey you, and set the tone for the rest of your relationship.

   Anyway, all that to say, kids shouldn’t really have unlimited unmonitored access to cell phone and computers at a young age. I can’t even imagine how terrible it will be in a few years, even more pervasive.

10. Rick Neece on December 10th, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Amanda. You…. Go, go, go! I love you.

11. Amanda Mae on December 10th, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    Thanks Unca Rick!!

12. Daryl Scroggins on December 10th, 2011 at 10:18 pm

    I don’t think information should be kept from children–but there is always a difference between what they are curious about, how it is presented, and what adults might decide they should be curious about. The trouble is: all parents (no matter how fucked up they are) tend to believe they have the wisdom of some kind of experience to pass on. Even the advice to avoid drug use may come with all the baggage of the self-help guru encountered in prison.

    Rick–about the Bible: my thought in introducing this here has more to do with When rather than Whether. I tend to agree with Dawkins and others that there is no such thing as a five-year-old Christian, or Muslim, or…etc. because such a child would simply be evidence of indoctrination. People who believe that all moral inclination comes from their religious dogma will disagree. My thoughts about the Bible come from my own experience. What is a child to make of God calling for the killing of all men, women, and children in a city? What of God entering into a wager with Satan–betting that Job will not turn to the dark side? Which is worse: that God would wager in this way with human lives, or that Job might fail in the face of despair? I am much indebted to the Bible for its stories and language (KJV, as you mention), but I still think of it as a book at the center of much suffering. Think of the way many would think of L.Ron Hubbard’s work–and some sense of what I see when I look at other religious texts will come through.

13. Carole Corlew on December 11th, 2011 at 8:05 am

    That cow is already out of the barn. Mr. B. had a couple of friends whose parents tried mightily to hold the line and censor. Those boys became charming little liar sneaks. Amanda said what I think, keep open the lines of communication and talk it all out. Because it is overwhelming and they need help even if they don’t ask. The best way, I have found, is humor when talking out something ick. As in, “OMG, can you even believe that? What a noob! (laughing here) That could be made up. But even if it’s real, aren’t we glad that’s not something we would do in our family…” Etc.

    I’m not an expert in anything. It seems to work here. At least I hope. I just know what does not work, also from my own experience, and that is the belief that restricting does. I even gave Mr. B. “Beautiful Boy” and “Tweak” to read when he was 15 because I heard Nic Sheff say he wished he had known what crystal meth was before someone handed it to him at a party. I fretted about that for many reasons. It hit the B. hard. He liked Nic and wanted him to get better. He especially worried about his little siblings.

14. Daryl Scroggins on December 11th, 2011 at 8:52 am

    Mr. B has a good heart. He’s had the right guide to find what he also already had in there.

15. Aaron Winslow on December 11th, 2011 at 9:40 am

    I wouldn’t want my kids to read Nabokov. That guy is gross and a blowhard.

    But I’ll let them as long as they do their chores.

16. Dave Vogt on December 11th, 2011 at 10:06 am

    I keep hoping the comments from favorite children’s books are actually on this post.

17. Ash machine on December 11th, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    The Mass Psychology of Fascism because it explains all the inherent evil of paternal figures, and I am a father to two beautiful children that I love completely.

18. Ash machine on December 11th, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    I can only hope my kids read Nabokov!

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