Your kid's Kindle could be X-rated, child protection charity warns

[Istvan diVega]

You do know that's simply a figure of speech, don't you, rather than a statement of "this is an unequivocal fact"? The fact involved is, quite obviously, that to me your ambition is a scary one.

[ucfgrad93]

Well, I think I'll just leave here. Have a nice day.

[leanansidhe]

Originally Posted by GoSharks

And to bring this full circle back to the original topic, it annoys me when parents are not involved and then blame the internet, music, television, and social media when their children are delinquents. The buck stops with the parents, period.

I totally agree! Nothing drives me more crazy than hearing that a song made someone's kid a drug addict, murderer, robber, or whatever brand of criminal he/she turned into. Parents need to take responsibility for their parenting choices.

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

Have a nice day.

Have an excellent weekend!

[GoSharks]

Since I think we can easily agree to disagree, maybe we should return to the OP's question....

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

It's unfortunate that it goes so far that owning a reading device should require parents to discuss with their children the risks of making sex tapes. Or should online book sellers be required to include warnings on adult literature? What do you think?

My answer is no.... I don't believe manufacturer's or distributor's warnings have done a thing in any venue (just look at cigarettes). In my opinion, warnings at best give a false sense of security / knowledge about the product and at worst act as a red flag to attract the curious. In addition, it's apparant from this thread alone that we are not going to agree upon what should have warnings.

To all of us parents and soon to be parents, good luck and stay vigilant!

[Istvan diVega]

Or as I would prefer to put it: sit back, pour yourself a glass of wine, let the shoulders down and allow the kids to be kids. I'm all behind the good luck part though.

[leanansidhe]

Originally Posted by Istvan diVega

Or as I would prefer to put it: sit back, pour yourself a glass of wine, let the shoulders down and allow the kids to be kids. I'm all behind the good luck part though.

Unless they're about to stick their finger in the electrical socket

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Pameliasue

Until you have children of your own, that you have to be responsible for, all you really have is an opinion based from a child's perspective of what happened to you when growing up and how you now interpret as an adult.
You have no rubber-meets-the-road, real life consequences for screwing your kid up because you're talking about your 'hypothetical' child.
The advice and opinions I gave before being a parent are drastically different than what they are now after being a parent. You can not presume to know what you would do until you have that life in your hands to try to steer towards becoming a productive, moral member of society. There are too many variables. Indeed, you will be a new and changed you.

So true!!!

[Istvan diVega]

Originally Posted by leanansidhe

Unless they're about to stick their finger in the electrical socket

Yeah, that's probably worth getting up off the sofa for. Then again, I stuck a nail in a socket twice myself. Once out of curiosity - I'd been told not to, of course, or I wouldn't have thought of doing it at all - and the second time because the first was quite a buzz.

[piperclassique]

Can anyone post an actual example of something that they read when they were young that they now wish their parents had protected them from?

Nope. And I was never censored. Wouldn't have taken it well if anyone had tried, either.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Ntsimp

You can buy paper books with cash.
For ebooks you need a credit card.
A 13-year-old doesn't have a credit card, so Mom screwed up somehow.

A 13 year old can also purchase a prepaid credit card that can be used for most online purchases.

My mother gave a prepaid credit card to a younger child and the child's parents were not overly pleased. Asked her to give gift certificate or something else next time. Maybe they thought the child was to young or might have difficulty using it in person. Don't really know though.

Helen

[odiakkoh]

So did the mother ever sit down with her child and find out whether she was reading it for kicks or if she was actually reading it for tips? That book sounds so stupid I think I'd read it just to see what it says. I wouldn't pay for it though.

[shalym]

Whenever I read one of these types of stories, it makes me sad for the kids whose parents trust them so little that they feel they have to censor what they do or see, rather than letting them watch, and then discussing it with them. I was never censored as a child, and I have never censored either of my two children. The closest I ever came to censoring was telling them that they could only watch certain tv shows or movies while I was in the room.

I agree with the person who said that all that is accomplished by forbidding certain things is to make them more appealing--and I've seen the evidence over and over with my friends growing up, and my children's friends. The ones whose parents try to "shelter" them from certain things and ideas rather than discuss it with them when it comes up end up rebelling the most. In my opinion all these controlling parents are doing is crippling and retarding their children, so that when the kids go off to college they end up over-compensating because they have too much freedom all of a sudden.

Shari

[Tome Keeper]

Parents need to monitor what their kid is up to if they are that concerned, not expect others to do it for them. But I would be more concerned with the fact that the girls wanted to make a sex tape and become famous rather than the reading material (I read books about serial killers but don't go out on killing sprees myself).

IMHO I was very lucky to have very easy going parents as a child/teen, and was allowed to read most things (I had no interest in erotica but did come across some very violent/disturbing topics as well as the occasional graphic sex scene) and I don't think it did me any harm.

P.S. When I worked in a library anyone with a teen card (13 or above) could borrow any titles including adult ones. We were not allowed to interfere, but then this policy was also explained to parents. I've also never seen a bookshop with a 'closed' adults only section unless it was a licensed sex shop.

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by shalym

Whenever I read one of these types of stories, it makes me sad for the kids whose parents trust them so little that they feel they have to censor what they do or see, rather than letting them watch, and then discussing it with them. I was never censored as a child, and I have never censored either of my two children. The closest I ever came to censoring was telling them that they could only watch certain tv shows or movies while I was in the room.

I do feel there is a difference between censorship and waiting until the child is mature enough to handle the material..... for instance (as an extreme), would you let your 7 year old watch 'Night of the Living Dead'? or anything on CineMax with the word 'Desire' in it? Or what if your 12 year old came in at happy hour and asked for a dirty martini?..... Yes, these are extreme examples, but they illustrate the need for parents to set limits. Referring to any limits as being 'censorship' is inappropriate and rather naive. What limits you place as a parent are your own choice, but that some limits need to be set is basic parenting. May not be politically correct in this day and age, but there it is....