FabSwingers.com forum: School Books

By *ittle_brat_evie!! OP Woman
over a year ago

evesham

My 7yo nephew had a school book to read tonight and according to my sister it contained warnings about terrorist attacks and 9/11

My nephew is a very inquisitive child and so this sparked off lots of questions at bedtime about terrorists, how many people died in 9/11, why did it happen etc.

Do you think 7 is too young to start to teach things like this?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Not at all.

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By *atisfy janeWoman
over a year ago

Torquay

Far too young......is the book in the National Curriculum?

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By *ittle_brat_evie!! OP Woman
over a year ago

evesham

"Not at all. "

thank you

any elaborations??

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

at 7 i would say that life should be more about fun than the bad that exists on this planet

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By *ushroom7Man
over a year ago

Bradford

"My 7yo nephew had a school book to read tonight and according to my sister it contained warnings about terrorist attacks and 9/11

My nephew is a very inquisitive child and so this sparked off lots of questions at bedtime about terrorists, how many people died in 9/11, why did it happen etc.

Do you think 7 is too young to start to teach things like this?"

Yes. On both sides.

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By *ittle_brat_evie!! OP Woman
over a year ago

evesham

"Far too young......is the book in the National Curriculum?"

apparently so its in a series of books he is reading

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

There was a story in The i today about a hindi reading book for 5 year olds in India

the second line said 'B is for Bomb'

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By *ushroom7Man
over a year ago

Bradford

Or indeed all sides, not everything is black OR white. As in clear cut.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I have to say that this really made me sad ,surly a child should be allowed to be a child and dream lovely dreams and not go to bed with thoughts of people dying and bombs going off,

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By (user no longer on site)
Forum Mod
over a year ago

At what age is the horrible histories series and books aimed at?

My son loved those when he was quite young and they have some really awful stuff in them,but the manner in which they were written was appropriate for him at that age

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

At 7 should be reading the floppy books or horrid henry or ben 10. I would go in and have a word with the teacher.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Kids should be allowed to be kids... However...

They will see and hear all sorts of things and probably ask questions...

More important than the questions are the answers we give...;-)

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By *aceytopWoman
over a year ago

from a town near you

at age ten i read everything i could get my hands on,unfortunatly one of these was a book with very graphic pictures of the holocaust,to this day i have nightmares about it,i couldnt talk to anyone about it because i shouldnt have been reading the book,so yes i think the answers we give and the chance to talk about theses things is very important,as for it being at age 7 i think its too young

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Not saying im agreeing that kids be taught about it - but - how many kids would it have affected who watched the tragedy on the news for weeks after it happened ??

our kid was about 8 or 9 at the time of the twin towers and we actually never even thought about trying to hide the news at the time because it was on almost every tv channel at the time..

as an adult our kid is fine..

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By *emima_puddlefuckCouple
over a year ago

hexham

A child wants to read and learn about the world and people want to take the book off him

Eves, i doubt its any of the major reading schemes, i.e magic key or oxford. By series what do you mean?

i am guessing, so may be wrong, that it is a self selected book from the class or school library. He chose it because something in it attracted him, its hard to avoid the news and terrorism, perhaps it has been on his mind. The kids in my youngest class play army and taliban. They are 8, its just their version of the war games boys always play. Away of exploring in a safe way the world around them.

You should use this as an opportunity to reassure, explain that these things are rare and it is not all people of a particular faith who behave this way. Removing the book or refusing to talk about it is going to make him more worried.

i strongly believe their is no inappropriate subject for children, just inappropriate adult responses.

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By *ittle_brat_evie!! OP Woman
over a year ago

evesham

got some more details!!! lol

it is on his allocated reading list, a book about aeroplanes. In it it says that aiports have to be very strict on security after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

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By *emmefataleWoman
over a year ago

dirtybigbadsgirlville

"got some more details!!! lol

it is on his allocated reading list, a book about aeroplanes. In it it says that aiports have to be very strict on security after the terrorist attacks of 9/11."
I dont see anything wrong with that

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By *ittle_brat_evie!! OP Woman
over a year ago

evesham

i guess the actual wording is ok but its the additional questions it has raised thats caused the issue

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By *emmefataleWoman
over a year ago

dirtybigbadsgirlville

"i guess the actual wording is ok but its the additional questions it has raised thats caused the issue"
i dont see an issue, you cant sugar the pill with kids these days in my opinion,people want to hide a lot of stuff from kids and sometimes its best not to.

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By *aceytopWoman
over a year ago

from a town near you

im a bit in two minds about this,i have always answered my kids questions no matter what they were,its as someone said its the way you answer thats important,but a part of me just wishes they could be kids a bit longer without having to deal with this type of issue

but then what are other kids in other countries having to deal with on an everyday basis

i just find it all a bit sad

children of any culture should be allowed a childhood

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I have always stood firm on the belief if they are old enough to ask the question then they are old enough for the answer. It as worked well with my daughter.

Its all about doing it in a way they will understand and giving them reassurance that it is ok to ask questions.

Kat x x

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By *ittle_brat_evie!! OP Woman
over a year ago

evesham

but if he hadnt have read about 9/1 in a book he wouldnt have asked the question...

there is no right or wrong answer i guess, but knowing the type of boy that he is this will be a focus of his for sometime now

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By *icketysplitsWoman
over a year ago

Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound

I have very vivid images of the press coverage of the end of the Vietnam war when I was 6 or 7. I was an inquisitive child and thankfully had teachers around me (not my parents) who were willing to answer the questions I had. I do the same with my nephews now and the other children and young people in my life, as do their parents. My reasoning is that if the child is able to formulate th questions then they deserve an answer. I worry more about the ones that feel they can't ask the questions...

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By *emima_puddlefuckCouple
over a year ago

hexham

"i guess the actual wording is ok but its the additional questions it has raised thats caused the issue"

kids ask questions, its how they learn, its our job as adults to answer thsoe questions. yes it might make us have to think, but we are the adults, with that comes responsibility.

Just thank the stars he is reading.

oh and as an aside, schools have factual books to encourage boys to read, it would be nice to think they all had a love of happily ever after fairy stories but most boys prefer to read about real stuff.

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By *umourCouple
over a year ago

Rushden

Just because he asks about 9/11, there is no need to give graphic accounts of what happened! A simple "It was an attack by bad people on a building in America" would suffice. He may ask more or he may be happy. Parents should know their own kids and what they can say without unduly upsetting them and after all, the bit about 9/11 seems to have been just one small line in a book on aeroplanes!

I don't advocate the giving of graphic details or looking at it on the 'Net at age 7, but a simple explaination is the sensible course of action.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

it's not to young, the book would of been age appropriate and kids have big questions at that age about the world.

My son read lord of the rings at age 7 and loved it.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I have always stood firm on the belief if they are old enough to ask the question then they are old enough for the answer. It as worked well with my daughter.

Its all about doing it in a way they will understand and giving them reassurance that it is ok to ask questions.

Kat x x"

I adopted that exact same attitude with my daughter and she's now 14 and top of her year at school, and has been for each year of school she's completed. She's tipped to be an A* student and she'll be going for 10 GSCEs and the English Baccalaurate.

She was 5 at the time of the Soham murders in 2002 and she asked me what had happened to Holly & Jessica. I didn't go into graphic detail but that was the time she became aware that not all people are nice.

7 is not too young to know about 9/11 but the politics/religion behind it can probably wait a few more years.

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By *ovedupstillCouple
over a year ago

mullinwire

we all complain about the dumbing down of the national cirriculum and yet, when they actually bring some kind of current affairs we want to stop it.

you say maybe 7 is too young, but thats in your eyes.

in the countries terrorists come from 7 year olds have guns.

7 year olds have already been working to keep starvation from the door.

not saying its right, just saying our society is soft compared to some around the world.

its right for kids to learn everything, and why not at a young age when they are still able to take things in and be inquisitive, rather than when older and arent really bothered about it cuz of girls, mates or other distractions.

we all laugh at stories in the paper of kids not knowing where milk comes from, or ham comes from sheep or something, but these are the realities

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By *umourCouple
over a year ago

Rushden

"7 is not too young to know about 9/11 but the politics/religion behind it can probably wait a few more years."

Spot on! If they ask more, then tell them, but in a way that they understand without making them run upstairs and hide in a cupboard!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I have always stood firm on the belief if they are old enough to ask the question then they are old enough for the answer. It as worked well with my daughter.

Its all about doing it in a way they will understand and giving them reassurance that it is ok to ask questions.

Kat x x"

totaly agree with this....

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By *phroditeWoman
over a year ago

(She/ her) in Sensualityland

An inquisitive mind deserves in my view an age appropriate response. Denying reality will lead to confusion and lack of trust in what adults say. Honesty is important, but it needs to take into acocunt child age, maturity and intelligence.

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