to feel uneasy about my son reading Enid Blyton books

I'm with Quattrocento. Enid Blyton books are just trashy. Now there is room in everyone's life for a bit of light entertainment, but there are so many much much better books out there, why chose something that is way way past it's sell by date? Of course children will pick up values from what they read, especially if you are reading it to them, because they will assume that you are endorsing it, as indeed you are. And the idea that if you say something with a racist connotation but you don't really mean it in an unpleasant way then it's not hurtful is utter crap. My kids have in the past said of someone sitting on the train - "that man's fat" - they meant it as an observation (they were talking to me not the person) but if the person overheard I bet he didn't think "oh, they didn't mean to be unpleasant, so that's OK", no I bet he felt humiliated, and I felt bad that I had probably passed on my own predudices to the children. Enid Blyton was incredibly dated when I read it twenty odd years ago - I would be very careful about books from a generation or two ago because I think the messages about girls and boys are pretty iffy, let alone race and class issues. And people did know better 50 years ago - looking down on other people because they are not like you is not ethical and never has been, it's just that it isn't tolerated in the same way now as it used to be.

goldenwings - have found charity shops fab places for building up the bookshelves here

"Quattrocentro - why is it a bad thing for children's imaginations to be filled with fairies, goblins, witches, wizards, exciting adventures, faraway lands, giants, I could go on?"

It's not a bad thing to feed their imagination at all. Childhood innocence is good too. When did I say these things were bad?

or is being proud of my ds deemed as patronising to you cos that makes absolutely no sense. Oh and I will not bog off ta

No ginger beer for me (am a red head so might get offended ) - lemonade please

pmsl.

you really should get over yourself. noone is forcefeeding their child anything. granted im building up a book case for my son but if he doesnt want to read or have the story read to him then he wont.

Yes to most of those (except Alice in Wonderland which I found plodding and fairly dull). But I remember EB the most out of all of them.

can you highlight exactly where I have apparantly patronised you pointydog?

lol @ 2shoes - waved at you on other thread x

Forcefeeding your children mental fruitshoots probably ought to be grounds for calling social services actually.

how about you let parents decide for themselves what books their child should/shouldnt read without making them sound like bad parents just because they dont agree with you.

If EB are fruitshoots what are the godforsaken Harry Potter tomes? Pints of coca cola?

no I ban childhood innocence in my house

PD - don't you want your children to enjoy some childhood innocence before they realise all the nasty stuff that we adults think and say?

worzsel harry potter probably doesnt count cos its modern or something.

just all remember in future check quatros allowed book list

ginger beer anybody?

I think people force Enid Blyton on their children because they read them themselves.

The fact that they are fruitshoots is overlooked in a haze of sentimentality.

If you want to give them books from when you were little, how about Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Swallows & Amazons, all of E Nesbit blah blah. They are all beautifully written.

The equivalent of freshly squeezed orange juice versus a fruit shoot.

bog off with your patronising 'get over yourse;lf' and eye rolling

Quattrocentro - why is it a bad thing for children's imaginations to be filled with fairies, goblins, witches, wizards, exciting adventures, faraway lands, giants, I could go on?

Isnt Dudley in Harry Potter portrayed as a horrible fat snob ? isnt that exactly the same ??

i will let my son read what I deem appropriate. i believe enid blyton books can be very lovely to read. to me some of her stories have moral value to them and that is what i want my son to learn. they are magical books which i have no intent on banning.

Pointdog - get over yourself. I was responding to a thread and a discussion but if you want to feel that I was victimising you or fitting you into a box then I am sorry for that.

By all this PC crap I mean people getting hung up on:
whether the girls or the boys make the picnic
old fashioned names
Noddy and Big Ears sleeping in the same bed (they're toys fgs!)
etc. etc.

What I mean is that we should allow children to be children. Why can they not enjoy innocent story books without having to contend with our hang ups? It is adults that are in the wrong for creating the climate where certain words are derogatory, or certain actions are given a sexual interpretation. Children should be allowed to spend their first few years in blissful ignorance of these things if you ask me. There's plenty of time to burden them with political history and the like when they're older. Left to their own devices children wouldn't dream of the kind of prejudices that we display as adults, so leave them be.

Actually I do remember a character called Fatty - the Five Find Outers? - and thinking 'that's not very nice' but continuing with the story because it was interesting. Would never have called anyone 'Fatty' IRL because I knew better.

It probably helped that she was clearly talking about a different time, when people had cooks and gardeners.

Theyr'e not Shakespeare, but Fruitshoots?

surely though, if you bring your children up to have values as in everyone is equal however different they may look. You can't go wrong.