Do you monitor what your children read?

[bobblybear]

My parents didn't monitor what I read, as neither of them have any interest in books (though my mum now reads some non-fiction). As they weren't interested in reading, I don't think they ever considered the possibility that books could be 'subversive' or damaging or inappropriate in any way, and so just let me get on with it. I have memories of going to the library and picking up the maximum number of books allowed (I think it was 8), but I don't ever recall my parents going through them to see what I was borrowing.

[SaraPepparkaka]

To answer Frankie's question: Since my Mum worked at the library when I was a kid, yes, a parent was almost always there when I borrowed books.. I am also almost always with my children when we go to the library, but that's for a different reason: living on the countryside in Finland nowadays means there is almost no service available on a walking or biking distance, everything requires a car ride. The library I used to borrow my books from when I was a kid is long gone. And no, I don't think the librarians would say no to a kid wanting to read an adult book in our library.    

[Janet]

That teacher experience has also led to me feel quite strongly that children who grow up with parents who have read with them or told them stories do on the whole make better readers - that modelling is vital. Equally, I firmly believe that pushing reading too early is damaging, and that it's important children have time and space to enjoy books at their own level for their own sake even if (especially if!) they are easier than the standard they can read to - as people who enjoy reading some of us might be surprised at how many parents treat the level of books that children read at and the speed at which they learn as some sort of status competition. I certainly was!

My husband and I (ooh, I sound like the Queen!) are both readers (I'm a bigger reader than him, but that's largely due to his other hobbies) - and my Mum (and my Dad when he was alive) are/were also big readers, but neither of our children are.  They used to read when they were primary school age, but my son doesn't read at all now and my daughter seldom reads, so I don't think it necessarily follows that having parents who read will mean that children do. 

 

That said, I downloaded The Fault in Our Stars by John Green last Friday (I'd like to see the film so I want to read it first if I can) and when I told my daughter she asked if she could read it - and did so in 8 hours!   So maybe there is hope for her after all.  

[Alexi]

My Mum never paid that much attention - although I do remember being told I couldn't read Sweet Valley University books, can't remember how old I was then. I remember my Mum saying something like "if those are the sorts of books you're going to bring home I shall have to monitor your reading more closely" or something along those lines.

 

I simply stopped bringing anything I thought she might not like to the breakfast table.

 

Other than that, my Dad was (and continues to be) very dismissive of chick lit, almost as if my reading them didn't really count as reading. Looking back, that surprises me because I read most of that genre during my A Levels and University career - when I was looking for escapism from the heavy texts I had to read. My younger brother wasn't a big reader at the time (although now reads non fiction) so it surprises me that they would discourage any kind of reading in me.

 

My Mum is a big reader and we discuss books all the time. My dad reads on holiday, generally crime fiction.