about swear words in my son's reading book?

[MM74]

My son is 7. His reading book from school contains the word 'bastard'. Am I being uptight, PFB and unreasonable if I complain?

Well, he's home. They have just commented 'thank you' under my note and replaced it with this one. Sublime to the ridiculous, anyone!

Oh DeWe I was just coming on to post about the drunken horse and you beat me to it!

I love wine yet had a real cats bum mouth over THAT book I can tell you!

Bastard is a word that turns up in History Books (William the Conqueror's name in Normandy was William the Bastard) and Shakespeare (there is a John the Bastard in Much Ado about Nothing). TBH it's not a nice word, but not exactly a swear word either, though I can see in this instance it is being used as a swear word.

Ds point blank refused to read that series of books!

I would be very very very cross if the school gave my 7 year old that book to read
Swear words are irrelevant - the content is the issue. It has mild 'bad language' because content wise it is intended for an older audience

The end of the story is very harrowing and too challenging I think for a 7 year old to truly understand and not be disturbed by.

Made me cry!

I think I'd be requesting a meeting on the back of that switch!

They are either clueless or being very passive aggressive. That's not suitable for an advanced boy reader either! That series is all really cutesy and intended to appeal to little girls who love animals and all things cute.

I think I'd be sourcing my own reading books and telling the school I wasn't happy with what they were sending him home with.

They might just be playing it very very carefully!

I'll bring it up at parents' evening next week if the quality of reading material doesn't improve!

The book you showed was reviewed by an 11 year old girl on Amazon who gave it the thumbs up!!

YABU

Ds1 has always been a very good reader and by aged 7 we had mostly given up on school books and he was reading whatever he wanted from home. He loved Beast Quest, Dinosaur Cove, Mr Gum, Roald Dahl. Then moved onto Cressida Cowell and now he's devouring all the Michael Morpurgo books and Anthony Horowitz. School aren't bothered, we record what he reads and he reads most nights.

Similar with ds2, he's 7 and prefers books from home, he likes the Humphrey hamster series at the moment but he's enjoyed Mr Gum too. He would be completely out of his depth with Michael Morpurgo at the moment!

I read and read and read from this age on. I went to the library on my own and took out whatever books I fancied. As a young teen I read all sorts. I would put potential damage done from books very low down in my worries about my childrens' well-being

Is that the only instance of the word? Are there other swear words in the book?

I would not like DD to read that but if she did I would explain the meanings and their relevance.

I don't honestly know if there are other occurences. I read a few pages with him the other day, then he read a load at school by himself, then he read a few more pages to me this morning ... I haven't read most of the book.

He didn't pick up on the word, I think he probably guessed the idea from the context, but I would have explained if asked.

I don't think the schools know what's in half their books ...

This happened with DS2 at around the same age, he'd enjoyed being read come of the younger Terry Pratchett books, Wee Free Men etc, and chose himself Guards, Guards! from the school library 'cos it had a cartoony cover and he recognised the name ...

Great book, loads of swearing and dubious jokes, miles above his head ... We read it at home and had some enlightening chats as a result, first time he had to read it out in class it mysteriously vanished from his life very swiftly thereafter!

I'm not bothered by swear words and rude jokes and do on. But this particular book is tragic and harrowing and wildly unsuitable for a7 year old. Once they get to 11 or 12 then of course (almost) anything goes. 7- no.

Did he choose it from the school library or did the teacher assign it?

I cried reading Private Peaceful aged 27 so am slightly concerned its available for 7 year olds!

not really its not about how old your son is, its about his reading age my son has the reading age of a 16 year old so it gets a bit tricky sometimes he is currently reading a book that tackles racism and had racist terms in it

i think he will be hearing worse than bastard in the playground sadly

Have to admit I actually laughed out loud at the book they gave him instead! Good luck with parents' meeting.

I think that giving him that seems very passive aggressive too - that was my thought when I saw it. (Amazon recommendations mucked up again...)

OP: if your child has read all 7 Harry Potter books then he's already come across "arse" and "bloody" in print. I wouldn't worry about it.

It's not about reading age- it's about emotionally and psychological maturity. Nobody who has ever read Private Peaceful could think it was remotely suitable for a 7 year old. Apart from that peculiar group of mumsnetters who seem to think that the harder the book their child is reading the better the parent they are! (not you, OP!)

My DS has just turned 8 and his favourite Morpurgo book is Kaspar: Prince of Cats.

I do find it a struggle to get books for him to read. His reading age is 12 and so generally finds books aimed at his age group too easy.

But it doesn't matter if they are too easy! Once you know how to read you just read stuff- it only has to get progressively more difficult until you can do it!

I'm a very sophisticated reader- I can read Shakespeare and Anglo Saxon and everything.

But in a minute I'm going to bed with a Katie Fford.