because it’s how you were RAISED and not what you read as a teenager that determined how you all turned out! parents can do their best to keep their children in a bubble, but at the end of the day reality intrudes and it’s how you’ve prepared them to MEET that reality that matters.
Exactly. :)
I think that censoring any reading child’s books is sad. I read every book I could lay my hands on - including some I found in families I babysat for ;) People knowing I read turned me on to new books, new authors I might not have found on my own at that age. One mom said ‘You might enjoy this one’ and gave me Clan of the Cave Bear at age 16, which led me to read the entire Earth Children series. Another one said, since I liked Gone With The Wind (read for the first time in 5th grade), I might like Forever
Amber. My aunt introduced me to Stephen King my 14th summer, and another adult friend gave me James Herriott. And so on.
My parents never censored any books. I was never into the popular teen series, the Sweet Valley High or Harlequins. I read adult type novels, but I learned far more in them (even of sex or violence) than any teen book. I *LEARNED* with every book I read, literature or fluff.