Wednesday 6th July 2011
Fantasy – a step too far? Choosing the right story for your child.
Parents today are expected to do everything. From working to being a superhero parent who drives the soccer team to practice, cooks like a chef and knows all the answers to the daily homework!
On top of that we now seem to be expected to read and ‘check’ all the books our children select to read. Whereas once upon a time a book written for children was considered ‘safe’ to be read it is no longer the case.
Themes such as war, politics, religion, romance, violence and more are now commonplace in fantasy stories that once would not have gone near such subjects.
"Let them read whatever they want" is one way to approach the choosing of books… but our children are growing up too fast as it is – do we want to expose them to themes that are well ahead of their years? I don’t recall reading fantasy books with heavy subject matter until I was well into my teens and I think today’s children deserve the same choice.
I would like to see a new genre in the fantasy market – Family Friendly Fantasy.
Let our children stay children for a little longer!