This is aimed mainly at parents, but prospective parents (or anyone else w/ an opinion) feel free to join in.
One of my co-workers showed up the day after Halloween w/ a huge bowl of candy. I almost took some until I realized from a comment he made that this was not leftover trick or treater fare, as I first assumed. It was his kids' take. he let them have a little bit of it, and took the rest. Rumor has it they got a whopping 3 pieces each. Granted, this WAS a HUGE amount of candy, but but it still seems wrong to just cold take it. I mean, sure, you wanna ration it out, maybe even take SOME of it, but to take MOST of it? I'd have been pissed, if my folks had done that. God bless 'em, they didn't.
Which got me into a discussion with him and the other parent in the room about limits for one's kids. It turned (at my direction) in the direction of reading and viewing material. Both these parents, who were all in favor of Operation: Candyswipe, agreed that reading/viewing material should be heavily regulated. Alas, I think my wife is too.
I pointed out to these two that I started reading actual novels at age 9 or so, and my chosen medium was horror fiction. Cujo was the first of these books I read, and I haven't stopped since. Since I enjoyed the material so much, I developed a lifelong love of reading, which (not to toot my own horn) I think has paid off in a great deal of academic and later career success by providing me with considerable reading and writing skills. I am only now coming to appreciate the fact that my folks were just happy I was reading, and didn't really care too much what it was I was reading, and placed virtually no restrictions on me. Ditto, a few years later my chosen viewing material (mainly horror films). They never told me I couldn't read or rent this or that book/movie.
Now, this is not to say that I'd approve of my son having access to porn, or that I'd show him Dawn of the Dead at age 5 or something. I was kind of a horror puss until I was 9, and avoided scary movies like the plague before that. I suppose the question ultimately depends on the maturity level of the child, but if (S)he is mature enough to handle the subject matter, I see nothing wrong with letting him go for it. A few horror fans I know have said the same thing; their folks allowed (and in at least one case,actively encouraged) them to read horror fiction, which many of today's (if you ask me) overprotective parents would disapprove of because of the often violent, disturbing subject matter.
I've seen posts, written half in jest in many cases, it seems to me, 'round these parts about how someone's Dad showed them NOTLD at age 8, and they plan to do the same for their son when the time comes. My question is: how do you feel, whether you have kids or not, about this issue? Have you, or will you, allow your child more or less unrestricted access to horror fiction, if they show an interest in it? I for my part think if I was stuck reading crappy, boring "young adult" fiction, I may not have developed the love of reading, or of horror, that I derive so much joy from now, and on which so much of my academic and legal careers were based. If my kid's as mature as I like to think I was at that age, I'm all for lettin' him tear thru the old collection. Share your thoughts, and once again, thanks Mom & Dad.
One of my co-workers showed up the day after Halloween w/ a huge bowl of candy. I almost took some until I realized from a comment he made that this was not leftover trick or treater fare, as I first assumed. It was his kids' take. he let them have a little bit of it, and took the rest. Rumor has it they got a whopping 3 pieces each. Granted, this WAS a HUGE amount of candy, but but it still seems wrong to just cold take it. I mean, sure, you wanna ration it out, maybe even take SOME of it, but to take MOST of it? I'd have been pissed, if my folks had done that. God bless 'em, they didn't.
Which got me into a discussion with him and the other parent in the room about limits for one's kids. It turned (at my direction) in the direction of reading and viewing material. Both these parents, who were all in favor of Operation: Candyswipe, agreed that reading/viewing material should be heavily regulated. Alas, I think my wife is too.
I pointed out to these two that I started reading actual novels at age 9 or so, and my chosen medium was horror fiction. Cujo was the first of these books I read, and I haven't stopped since. Since I enjoyed the material so much, I developed a lifelong love of reading, which (not to toot my own horn) I think has paid off in a great deal of academic and later career success by providing me with considerable reading and writing skills. I am only now coming to appreciate the fact that my folks were just happy I was reading, and didn't really care too much what it was I was reading, and placed virtually no restrictions on me. Ditto, a few years later my chosen viewing material (mainly horror films). They never told me I couldn't read or rent this or that book/movie.
Now, this is not to say that I'd approve of my son having access to porn, or that I'd show him Dawn of the Dead at age 5 or something. I was kind of a horror puss until I was 9, and avoided scary movies like the plague before that. I suppose the question ultimately depends on the maturity level of the child, but if (S)he is mature enough to handle the subject matter, I see nothing wrong with letting him go for it. A few horror fans I know have said the same thing; their folks allowed (and in at least one case,actively encouraged) them to read horror fiction, which many of today's (if you ask me) overprotective parents would disapprove of because of the often violent, disturbing subject matter.
I've seen posts, written half in jest in many cases, it seems to me, 'round these parts about how someone's Dad showed them NOTLD at age 8, and they plan to do the same for their son when the time comes. My question is: how do you feel, whether you have kids or not, about this issue? Have you, or will you, allow your child more or less unrestricted access to horror fiction, if they show an interest in it? I for my part think if I was stuck reading crappy, boring "young adult" fiction, I may not have developed the love of reading, or of horror, that I derive so much joy from now, and on which so much of my academic and legal careers were based. If my kid's as mature as I like to think I was at that age, I'm all for lettin' him tear thru the old collection. Share your thoughts, and once again, thanks Mom & Dad.
