How d I know if my child is reading something controversial?

[RaymondM]

My son borrows many books from the library weekly. I don't have the time to read through all of it as I'm working, but I'm afraid he's reading something with offensive language or has graphic descriptions of violence, and will be a bad influence on him

Many children's novels have an age guide on the back.

Or try www.commonsensemedia

well, hopefully you are a good influence on him, and are able to find the time to model good language and good behaviour, so he will learn from that.

How old is he?

Do you ever discuss the books he's reading? What are his tastes generally?

I wouldn't be keen on my seven year old reading Stephen King, but I'd be OK with Poirot stories, or Sherlock Holmes for example.

In actual fact though, he's more into Roald Dahl

From the age of about 10, my reading was largely unsupervised, and I'm pretty OK.

I think he'll come across far less salubrious things online, than in library books.

www.commonsensemedia.org/

Re-posting from another thread of the same name: Try the "Book Check" app. (iOS: itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-check/id899711914?ls=1&mt=8, Android: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ukusan.bookcheck).

Hold your phone over the book's barcode, and it'll tell you if there's anything controversial about it, so that you can decide if the book is suitable.

Sigh yes I should find more time to discuss the books with him, despite my work. He reads widely and increasingly I no longer recognise the authors. Will check out the websites and apps. Thanks.

NorwaySpruce: he's 6 years old.
Traviata: Cross fingers :)

surely this is one problem the internet can solve. Google the titles.

Well at 6, surely someone has some idea of what he's reading. He's hardly likely to be corrupted in the children's library.

I thought you meant he was taking himself off to the young adult/adult section.

Just have a peek at the book titles.

A quick google will give you a summary of the contents I think.

Don't books tend to be self-regulatory?

By that I mean, most of us can't or don't want to read beyond that which is age appropriate. (OK, the rules change when we are teenagers.)

My parents didn't care what I read. They assumed that if I had the reading ability and the interest, it couldn't be that inappropriate.

Unless your child has a reading age way beyond his emotional age, I wouldn't give this a moments thought.

Are we in danger of getting too precious?

His child ticket should only let him access the children's library, so it should all be fairly safe. Let him read what he likes and encourage him to talk to you about what he had enjoyed (or not) and any ideas, words or situations that he either hasn't understood or which make him feel u comfortable.
Better still, read some of his favourite books yourself.

It's highly unlikely that anything in the junior library will have anything offensive in it.

MrsCake not all libraries have junior tickets which automatically prohibit adult books being taken out. Ours doesn't, my DDs can read anything they choose - including books from the adult section if they want. This is why I always go with them and talk about the books they have chosen.

At 6 I would not worry too much, I would just make time to talk about what he has read, let him tell me what it is about, what he liked about the story, the characters and so on - it will give you an idea what he is reading and how much he understands and as a bonus you will also be helping his comprehension and supporting him academically.

I'm very reluctant to censor reading material - I do make a big effort to learn about what they are reading, but I've not ever told them no, you can't read that. I suppose if DD1 (13) picked up 50 Shades I'd put my foot down, but that would be mostly because it is shit - she has read some high quality YA books with sex scenes in. She discusses them with me, we talk about what happens, how the author describes it, how it makes her feel. It's all part of being a parent.