I recently read a fantastic graphic novel by Jarret J. Krosoczka called Hey, Kiddo. It is intended for kids in grades 7-9, which is older than both my boys, but I'm encouraging them to read it anyway.
I'm also throwing it at the 15-year-old.
I'm encouraging them to read it even though it has language and mature content because the story it tells is so fantastic.
If I allowed the language and mature content to keep them from the book, they would miss such tremendous depth.
The novel is about Krosoczka, who was more or less "adopted" by his grandparents as a toddler because his mother was a heroin addict who went to jail for acting as an accessory to murder. I listened to an interview of Krosoczka by Terry Gross, and he summed up his grandmother with the story of what she said to him when, as a third grader, he told her a kid was bothering him.
She told him to tell the kid, "Go shit in your hat."
Not everything resolves perfectly at the end, and Krosoczka came from a middle-class background, so he wasn't dealing with other hindrances that affect so many other kids whose parents are addicted.
What I liked about this book is that it offers hope.
One or two or numerous bad things don't have to mean a life is written off as all bad.
I recently saw something floating around on social media about talking to your kids about certain topics, and I think reading is similar.
If I let my kids read a book about heroin addiction, I don't think it is going to make them become heroin addicts. It might, however, make them see how devastating addiction can be. It may make them decide not to experiment with drugs.
I've talked to my kids about sex, and those talks have not been comfortable for me.
They've been skin-crawling uncomfortable for me, which I say as I shake off the willies as I type this.
But my hope is that being open, even if it made me uncomfortable, will help my kids to know that they can come to me about ANYTHING.
I won't yell.
I will listen.
I will guide them.
Someone cuss on the internet?
Let's talk about it.
See porn?
Let's talk about it.
Violence?
Let's talk about it.
If anyone is going to talk to my kids about these things, I think the best person is me.
I'm also throwing it at the 15-year-old.
I'm encouraging them to read it even though it has language and mature content because the story it tells is so fantastic.
If I allowed the language and mature content to keep them from the book, they would miss such tremendous depth.
The novel is about Krosoczka, who was more or less "adopted" by his grandparents as a toddler because his mother was a heroin addict who went to jail for acting as an accessory to murder. I listened to an interview of Krosoczka by Terry Gross, and he summed up his grandmother with the story of what she said to him when, as a third grader, he told her a kid was bothering him.
She told him to tell the kid, "Go shit in your hat."
Not everything resolves perfectly at the end, and Krosoczka came from a middle-class background, so he wasn't dealing with other hindrances that affect so many other kids whose parents are addicted.
What I liked about this book is that it offers hope.
One or two or numerous bad things don't have to mean a life is written off as all bad.
I recently saw something floating around on social media about talking to your kids about certain topics, and I think reading is similar.
If I let my kids read a book about heroin addiction, I don't think it is going to make them become heroin addicts. It might, however, make them see how devastating addiction can be. It may make them decide not to experiment with drugs.
I've talked to my kids about sex, and those talks have not been comfortable for me.
They've been skin-crawling uncomfortable for me, which I say as I shake off the willies as I type this.
But my hope is that being open, even if it made me uncomfortable, will help my kids to know that they can come to me about ANYTHING.
I won't yell.
I will listen.
I will guide them.
Someone cuss on the internet?
Let's talk about it.
See porn?
Let's talk about it.
Violence?
Let's talk about it.
If anyone is going to talk to my kids about these things, I think the best person is me.
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