The question on adaptations of classics brought this issue to mind. I'd be curious to hear from other parents if their children have picked up on old-fashioned language and had to be "re-directed".
I clicked on that other topic because I thought it would be about changing/deleting racial epithets in the old classics such as Huckleberry Finn. I have a library of classics from my childhood that DS has access to, so I haven't bought adaptations.
We finished the original version of Alice in Wonderland just last month.
I think the author's original work should not be censored. It's art. Art shouldn't be censored, imo. Kids will hear all sorts of horrid remarks. Most sensitive parents know to teach the reason one shouldn't repeat them. So, when something comes up in a classic we are reading together, I tell DS that in the era the book was written, the passage or phrase was tolerated and why it's not today. (If in fact it was ever tolerated!)
Then there are the words that have fallen into disuse or have changed/added a new meaning over time. An example is the word queer. My son read the word in a book (Alice, probably), and began using it to describe something as being odd. For instance, he came to me after waking up and said his arm felt queer. (I think DS had been sleeping on it.) I told him that while he used the word correctly, most people don't use the word any longer in that way and that the word could be considered derogatory. I knew if he went to school and said his arm felt queer, he'd be in for it!
I'm not saying parents who don't allow the full version of classics to be read are wrong, it's just not right for us.
Last edited by Ametrine; 07/31/13 12:36 PM. Reason: sentence snafu
