We have a lot of books in our house that span many genres and decades. We love to read aloud to our kids. When we TR Parents read aloud, it enables our children to be exposed to literature that they may be too young to read alone, or might otherwise be uninterested in reading. Even though Bluey is able to understand the content of a book like The Hobbit, he isn’t able to read it yet. And Plum wouldn’t necessarily pick up The Hobbit voluntarily, though she thoroughly enjoys hearing the story.
But when reading aloud, we frequently bump into words that we don’t want our kids to hear. We dislike changing the author’s written word, but we feel there are certain parts of some books that should be cleaned up a bit, specifically for the young ears of our Bluey.
Words we frequently edit include:
*Stupid
*Dumb
*Hate
*Sissy
*Jerk
There are others, as well. When we encounter a word we don’t want to become common usage in our home, we either skip it entirely- “stupid dog” becomes simply “dog”; or we will substitute in a slightly different word- “jerk” becomes “meanie”, for example.
Calvin & Hobbes, a family favorite, uses the above listed words frequently, especially when he’s angry. But these particular words aren’t just found in Calvin. Garfield, Charlie Brown, and even books written specifically for young kids are rife with expressions that we don’t allow in our home. Bluey picks up and repeats words and phrases pretty readily. We don’t want him walking around calling his friends or family “stupid” just because Lucy Van Pelt speaks that way upon occasion.
We try to give our kiddoes a lot of leeway in choosing what books they want to read. Plum is an avid and quite skilled reader, so she is often off in her own literary world. We discuss the power of words with her frequently. And we are familiar with most of the books she reads, so we can discuss language and situations within the novels when necessary. But Bluey isn’t reading unassisted yet and isn’t quite old enough for an in-depth conversation about language. When he asks to read a book, we have to gauge the appropriateness of the text based on our family values. If we move forward only to stumble upon a word or two that require a quick edit, we feel that is okay. We aren’t drastically altering or manipulating the story.
What do you think?