Adults opinions on YA

[CarlottaVonUberwald]

no matter how goo a parent is a little ahem idiot ill be a little idiot it would be naiv to think a good parent is all that makes or breaks this...it's too often used as an excuse

 

[Alia]

True Carlotta... it's actually takes both as a team to make it.

 

[Joel007]

As Mark said (possibly quoted) "Even God couldn't control his children"

 

[Adasunshine]

I Its odd to me... when I was a youth, I found myself saying the same words that Caroletta said earlier about Adults not listening. I think each generation says and experiences that same thing.

I was very lucky, with my mum, at least (my dad is a whole other story).

My mum was and still is one of my very best friends, even when I 'hated' her as a teen, she was still there, she would still always listen to me and help me. My brothers feel the same way - we are just incredibly lucky. I think it helps that she had us young, and, older mums, please don't take that the wrong way, it's just my personal opinion. She was 18 when she had me (quite old by today's standards ) and 23 by the time she had my youngest brother so when I turned 18, she was still only 36...

Two things both of my parents heartily encouraged, to the point of forcing it down our necks, were reading and music. The encouraged reading of any kind and any thing as long as we read (well, anything except the obvious *ahem* adult material and even then they didn't frown upon it persay, they understood why we might have been interested by it but they didn't actively encourage it).

My mum reads anything and everything, except fantasy & Sci-Fi *giggles* and my dad likes Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz & Co. although he's also really into his Greek & Roman Mythology, and loves fantasy although he's not keen on Sci-Fi either. Subsequently, I read almost anything that comes my way and isn't a newspaper, having parents with such a varied taste in books is good for the children!

I remember them being quite disappointed when my younger brother just didn't enjoy reading and was more into his SNES and his Sega (it was early 90's) but they accepted it and encouraged his love of gaming because it tied in with his artistic streak which, they were very keen for him to follow.

But still, where books are concerned, I'm happy to read anything as long as I enjoy it from books like The Gruffalo (which I just *love* reading to my boys) to books like Harry Potter to books like A Child Called It, and I'm happy for my boys to read whatever takes their fancy, obviously if there is some adult content in it (from things of a sexual nature to war and rape etc) then I would try to sway them from reading it until I thought them old enough but it didn't work with me and I don't know that it will work with them.

I see books as educational, no matter the genre, no matter the topic, if they provide a bit of escapism aswell then so much the better. I'd simply be delighted for my sons to have a healthy appetite for reading - just like both their parents and both sets of grandparents - whatever they choose to read.

xx

 

[CarlottaVonUberwald]

i'm also lucky because i have ayoung mum who is more like a sister

im not saying this is anything new either im just saying that it only takes one generation to change it