Sex and the Single (Preteen) Girl: Gossip Girl

Breakpoint with Charles Colson ^ | April 3, 2006 | Charles Colson

[Mr. Silverback]

One of my pre-teen daughters just read Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.

You...are...an...AWESOME parent!

[Mr. Silverback]

De nada, mi amigo. I am so glad to do it.

[Mr. Silverback]

Good post.

My kids like to watch Animal Planet and Discovery Channel stuff. I try to keep the TV watching to a minimum despite the fact that most of it is of good quality. That said, I'd rather park them in front of cartoons all day every day for years than have them reading one page of this smut. Some people are just freakin' insane and have no business raising children.

[sine_nomine]

My granddaughter is devouring the Chronicles of Narnia after seeing the movie. She already read the series once.
Her parents don't care what she reads, as long as it is good literature! The family is big on Tolkien, too.

[Carry_Okie]

You...are...an...AWESOME parent!

Nope. That's what we should be expecting. It's a matter of feeding them from the time they are two. Once the fundamentals are there, stand back and guide. I spend less time teaching these kids than I did when they were in private school.

I'll ping you when FReepers NattieShea and PowerBaby publish their term paper: Liberty Follows Virtue: How Personal Values Ordained the Rise & Fall of Rome. 14,000 words, 163 footnotes.

[Mr. Silverback]

Stand by, will check.

[Mr. Silverback]

Publisher is Little, Brown.

[Carry_Okie]

I try to keep the TV watching to a minimum despite the fact that most of it is of good quality.

Even good TV can be a problem, especially for kids under the age of ten. It teaches passivity in learning and induces a physical dependence upon rapid visual stimulation of powerful neurotransmitters. Once hooked upon their own chemistry, it's hard to get them to focus upon a long and complex learning task. IMO such is often the genesis of ADHD.

The essence of creativity is found in recognizing what is fascinating about seemingly dull things.

[GrandEagle]

We have a rule in my house. No books, DVD's, tapes, or CD's come into my home unless I have OK'd them. Doesn't matter where they come from. If I find one it is thrown out right then and the offending party is disciplined. I once read/watched/listened to them all, but alas there are now too many of them submitting requests, but I do look at them all, and I still listen to ALL music.
My 6 year old lost a school book like that last year because I found it and it didn't have Dad's seal on it. That one I had to replace - my own rule bit me on that one.
Anyway, my childrens teachers all know not to spring something new on them.
My daughters best friend is forbidden to bring music to my house (she lost a CD also once). She listens to garbage.

Seems to work for us ... so far

Cordially,
GE

[Mr. Silverback]

My granddaughter is devouring the Chronicles of Narnia after seeing the movie.

I read the series out loud to my kids last year. They loved it. DVD comes out today, BTW.

[television is just wrong]

My daughter read those too. She went from in fifth grade, third grade reading level to in sixth grade a tenth grade reading level in 6 months. I am proud of her....

She overcame a difficult situation...

[Mr. Silverback]

Please do ping me. I consider it required reading. How old are they?

[Mr. Silverback]

IMO such is often the genesis of ADHD.

Concur. We are phasing it out. Frankly, the only reason I have cable is Fox News and Packer games.

[wideawake]

This is the correct approach.

My kids are being read the Scriptures, Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. from an early age.

By the time they are 12, they will consider semiliterate garbage like these "novels" an insult to their intelligence.

[television is just wrong]

my daughter laughs at these silly girls who fall prey to fads and such.

[GregB]

Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List please. Thank you.

[wideawake]

See - if you set high goals for your kids early on they will strive to reach them.

A normal 12 year old wants their parents to be proud of them.

[GrandEagle]

Chronicles of Narnia
I hate to seem out of touch, I have heard a lot about this series. Is it good reading for children? I had assumed it was about witchcraft ans such stuff.

GE

[Mr. Silverback]

Could I just say something else about Narnia for my own personal gratification? When I was in high school and in my early Air Force days, I was involved in theater. I acted, was a prop master on a couple of productions, and even wrote and directed a vignette. But I never had a moment as proud as an "actor" as when my son heard that the first actor doing Aslan's voice had backed out of the production, and he said, "You should call them, Dad. You sound just like Aslan should." I had a big grin on my face the rest off the day...I'm easily amused.

When you read Narnia, you definitely have to "do" all the voices...but it's all about Aslan, baby.

[GOP Jedi]

There are so many good books for children and young adults ..... although many of them are out of print.

You'd think some publisher could make a killing selling a series of classic children's books.

Try Applewood Books. They reprint original Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, etc.:

http://www.applewoodbooks.com/