O little rambling.. but I need some input

I am sitting in my favorite chair reading my copy of "1984", and I start thinking ot myself. Why shouldn't I be reading this to the children?

Is there a reason that I don't start them off at an early age, in this day and age of "Dora the Explorer" and "Blues Clues" (For the younger ones, and "Pokemon" and Comic books (For the older ones)? Should one really worry about what society is doing on the outside world, when someone is trying ot raise their children to be better people than everyone else.

I say that the earlier the better. Sure, they are not going ot understand "Johnny Got His Gun" By Dalton Trumbo or "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.. Buyt that is what being a parent is all about. Opening doors for their little brains to enter rooms never explored.

Should one ignore 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne or Moby Dick By Herman Melville just because they live in the middle of the United States and will probably never see theocean in their lives. NO... Then why should the children suffer. It gives their imaginations a chance to grow.

Now, would I read the The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson or War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.. Probably not. The only reason is that the books are so long, and that the childs interests are in the action-packed or simple ideals presented.

So I leave you with this thought, the next time you are sitting around doing nothing with the children, and you want to do something that mainsteram society will give you a load of crap for, start the children of our future on the classics.

It will be fun to see what the future generations think about how we live today!

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Absolutely you should - "kiddie books" are the fast food of literature - they don't tex their brains, don't take any effort to understand and last a few hours from start to finish.. but then the kid has to have another.. and another..

Past generations never had the concept of 'pre-schooler' books - you learnt to read and began with stuff with only a picture on the cover, and it made your imagination fill in the blanks. Kids today (damn, I sound old.. but then I am!) don't get taught to visualise anymore - they're spoon-fed images and pre-packaged dreams. Sure it's easier for them, but easy never made you learn.

I grew up on Tolkein, Shakespeare and war poetry - it didn't turn me into a roleplay fanatic, an actor or a pacifist, but I know without having to learn how to construct worlds in my head and figure out the meanings of complex grammar, I'd never have gotten where I have. I'm not anti a particular format - there's a world of difference between 'comic book' and 'graphic novel', and so long as it's not telling the tale of Zaphox The Many-Tentacled ********* Squid, let the kids find out their limits are there to be pushed.

mG

I read most of those as a little kid, BC, and look how I turned out ;)

I thought Huxley was too obvious and heavy-handed. I loved Verne (although I think I would not be into him now) and I couldn't get through Melville and I wanted to hunt Bradbury down and torture him to death for depressing me so horribly. Maybe skip the Bradbury. It honestly did kinda traumatize me reading it too young.

Not that Dr. Suess and Sesame Street should be undervalued either.

I grew up on fairy tales, mythology, and stories from my dad.. Probally why I am now a former pagan obsessed with fantasy, science fiction, and understanding people :p:

I've wondered about this too, although more from an educational POV than from a literary one. it's a fact that as a parent your children are going to try and be like you, because you're the only influence they have during their formative years. when a child reaches the age where they start to develop intellectually and personally, when it becomes necessary to nurture their education, how do you go about doing so? as a parent and a person you're going to try and give them your wisdom and life lessons...but since they lack the experience in which you learned these things, you're just presenting a one-sided POV and expecting them to accept it on principle, contrary perhaps to there own experiences. isn't that sort of like brainwashing? even though it's innocent enough and has their best interest at heart, in a way it's still just as bias as the public education system and it's selective discourse. Do I want my child to learn things because I (or anyone else for that matter) says so, or because it is something that has relevence and value to them- and without that indoctrination into society and the roles of authority figures, is it possible for them to even know?

I don't know the answer to those questions. That's just something I've been thinking about.

I don't know...I think "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury was pretty clear...
But then again, I was reading Conan Doyle, Poe, and such when I was relatively young. Didn't hurt me much! Perhaps helped make me a little too idealistic...

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Originally Posted by Morning Glory

I've wondered about this too, although more from an educational POV than from a literary one. it's a fact that as a parent your children are going to try and be like you, because you're the only influence they have during their formative years. when a child reaches the age where they start to develop intellectually and personally, when it becomes necessary to nurture their education, how do you go about doing so? as a parent and a person you're going to try and give them your wisdom and life lessons...but since they lack the experience in which you learned these things, you're just presenting a one-sided POV and expecting them to accept it on principle, contrary perhaps to there own experiences. isn't that sort of like brainwashing? even though it's innocent enough and has their best interest at heart, in a way it's still just as bias as the public education system and it's selective discourse. Do I want my child to learn things because I (or anyone else for that matter) says so, or because it is something that has relevence and value to them- and without that indoctrination into society and the roles of authority figures, is it possible for them to even know?

I don't know the answer to those questions. That's just something I've been thinking about.

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Those are good questions. I think sometimes, because we live in such a technologically fast-moving society, it is very difficult for parents to give children good advice. The speed of social evolution makes their advice often obsolete. Of course, this also presents societal problems on what the role of elders becomes if so much of their wisdom becomes inaccurate with the changing times.

I'd pick animal house over 1984 though

oh and if your looking for a good kid's book...biography of a grizzley by earnest thomas Seatton if you can find a copy

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Originally Posted by Mr Karl

I'd pick animal house over 1984 though

oh and if your looking for a good kid's book...biography of a grizzley by earnest thomas Seatton if you can find a copy

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Never read that.. will look into it

yeah it's hard to find, I was pretty old when I came across it, great story about a hundred years old, I have no idea why it's been 'lost' it's that good

but it's definately written for kids