Do you censor when you read to your children?

Censoring seemed to be an unintentional theme of our evening last night. I found myself revisiting the issue more than once over the course of the evening. In general, I'm not a big fan of censoring. However, with my children, I feel they need to be exposed to content when they're developmentally ready to understand and discuss it and not before.

We wanted to have a movie night. First we tried Madagascar 2. I felt a large part of the humor was inappropriate for a 3 and 4 year old and stopped the movie about 20 minutes in. I just explained to them that mommy and daddy didn't know it, but this movie is actually for big kids - not little kids and so we were going to stop it and watch a different movie. We then watched Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure which was quite sweet. We all enjoyed it and stayed up a bit past their usual bedtime to finish it.

Then, as part of bedtime we began reading the second Moongobble and Me book: The Weeping Werewolf. The children thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series and so I requested the second from the library. Unfortunately, the very first chapter was called "Bullies" and involved a rather nasty bullying episode. In my opinion, my children are a little young for that content. They were unfamiliar with the term, and so I defined it before beginning the chapter by simply explaining that "bully" is a word for people who are being mean to others. I tried to read the first chapter to them and found myself modifying the language of the bullies to make it a little less intense. As the episode increased in intensity, I couldn't really even modify it and I ended up skipping the chapter altogether.

The second chapter picked up with the actual story where the first left off and we found ourselves back with the familiar characters and the plot line that we were all enjoying. I would still recommend the series to others, I'd just warn them about this first chapter and tell them to use their own judgement when reading the series to younger listeners. I was disappointed to have to skip the first chapter entirely, but I didn't feel the content was appropriate for my preschoolers. I do not at all regret skipping it, and yet I feel vaguely guilty about the censoring.

Have you ever had to censor parts of a book you were reading to your child?

Library Loot

We tried taking the children to the library when Ava was 1 and Michael was 2. That didn't work out so well. I would go on my own occasionally, but the trip as a family didn't seem productive. We tried again when Ava was 2 and Michael was 3. That was a little better, but still not great. Instead of trying to let the children choose their own books, I would reserve them online and just run in and check out the reserved books.

Recently I decided to try again. It's amazing. I remind the children of the library rules (quiet voices, slow feet, books treated gently and respectfully, etc.) as we walk from the parking lot to the entrance. The children independently head to the children's section and begin to choose books for their piles while I head over to pick up any books I've reserved. Then I join the children and try to cut them off when their piles start to approach a foot high.

The first time we went I forgot to bring a bag. Helping a 3 year old and a 4 year old get a pile of books each out to the car carried in their arms was interesting. This time they each brought their backpack. They brought books to return in their backpack and thoroughly enjoyed pushing them through the return slot. After checking out, they filled their backpacks to overflowing with new books to come home. They begged to choose books to look through on the drive home. All in all, the trip was a complete success.

Such literary riches.

The Weekly Review: Week 59

Weekly Theme:

Overwhelming Fatigue - I think the past few weeks caught up with me this week. A huge work project has had my husband working about double his usual full time schedule for the past 2 1/2 weeks. Consequently, I've been doing many, many consecutive hours of solo parenting. I'm exhausted in a way I can't seem to shake. I've been making a concerted effort to get a minimum of 7.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep for 4-5 nights in a row and I still can't seem to shake the fatigue. I need to catch up because it's starting to effect my mood, parenting, and productivity.

Weekly Highlights:

• Ava is humming and making up songs in all our quiet moments. I'll hear her singing from the back seat of the car on the way to school or singing to herself through the monitor I still keep in her room. It's adorable.
• Pattern blocks have taken over our kitchen table for half the week and we're all having so much fun with them. Michael's experimenting with all the different ways he can make hexagons.
• I was informed that Ava only has two more regular speech sessions and one assessment session left in the school year. How did that sneak up on me? I'm grateful that we'll be continuing her private therapy through the summer.
• Michael had a stomach bug. I'm crossing my fingers and sincerely hoping that he'll remain the only one.
• Ava's preschool teacher was fired. They won't tell me why. I adored her. Ava adored her. She was Michael's first preschool teacher when he started preschool and he adored her. All said and done, I've known this woman for 2 1/2 years and I was always happy with how she cared for my children and how she ran her classroom. I am finding this situation really unsettling.

And now, the fatigue dictates that this is the end of the cliff notes version of the weekly review. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.