Quote:
Originally Posted by Rbneader
No one has disagreed with you. This app in no way stops or excuses a parent from being involved in their kid's reading.
Funnily enough, getting a censoring tool is being more of an active parent than one who lets kids read anything without paying attention or providing guidance.
It also helps parents avoid saying no. They can say 'Yes, just a second' and they can run the app through the book quickly before handing the phone/whatever over.
Sometimes kids like books that have swearwords in them. Sometimes books marketed for kids have swearwords in them! Sometimes kids read swearwords, don't realize what they are, and accidentally curse at Mom in the grocery store (the kid was so proud of learning a new word all on their own. The mother was less amused).
When something like this app is needed, there's nothing wrong with using it. But a lot of people seem deeply invested in denying that and shaming people who need or want it.
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What this app should have been used for is to show parents books that have these words in them. Then the parents can see how they are used and if the book is appropriate or not. Censoring just those words dose not change the words around those words and those books might be inappropriate. So using this app in the way it is intended is a bad idea. Also, because it covers up the words and the kids do see this, it means that a lot of kids are going to want to find out just what those words are even more so then if the words were visible. Sometimes the more you say no, the more kids want.
Lots of kids want to drink alcohol because they were forbidden. It's one reason why the US has such a high level of alcohol abuse. I was raised where I had easy access to alcohol and I never once abused it. To this day I have never become drunk. That is by my own choice and because of how I was raised.
I was also raised such that I didn't have to have books censored. My mother took an active interest in my reading and she made sure that the books I was reading were appropriate. And they were. I was also able to pick out the books I wanted to read. I never was told no you cannot read adult books. When kids are told that before they try to go for them, then they just want to read them even more.