I had NO intention of reading Twilight. Ever.
I first became aware of it while playing with the "Flair" application on Facebook. I began to see a ridiculous amount of "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" flair. I had no clue what it meant, and frankly, didn't care.
I mentioned this to my 17 year old nephew, and he explained to me that these were characters in a series of books. He told me that the books were really good, and encouraged me to read them. I told him right away that I had no intrest in reading about vampires and werewolves, and that he shouldn't be reading that junk either. His reply was that there was nothing "wrong" with stories about vampires.
Not long after this conversation, my then 11 year old daughter began to hear about Twilight from her friends. She asked to be allowed to read the book, and I told her no. I told her that there were much better things that she could spend her time reading. When she asked me WHY I objected to the books, I told her that I didn't like the idea of her reading stories about vampires.
Now, please understand that when my daughter asked her next question, she wasn't trying to be a smart aleck. She certainly CAN be one of those, LOL! but in this instance, she simply wanted to understand. So, she asked, "Mom, if you don't want me to know about vampire stories, why did we go see the play "House of Frankenstein", and why did you let us watch that "Young Frankenstein' movie?"
A while back, my Dad played Dr Frankenstein in a local theater production of "House of Frankenstein". The play was a comedy, very light, very funny, but two of the characters WERE vampires. Just before seeing this play, we had also watched the old Gene Wilder movie "Young Frankenstein"~again, very light, very funny, but contained characters that were vampires, along with werewolves and various other 'monsters".
So, my daughter had a legitimate question. Why were vampires and werewolves okay in a play or movie, but a popular book was forbidden to her simply because it was about vampires and werewolves??
The answer is that I ASSUMED that because the book was about vampires and werewolves, that it would be violent and graphic, and that because it also involved a romance, it would contain inappropriate intimate scenes. I ASSUMED that because a few people that I know objected to the books, they must be bad. Then, my daughter asked another question "But Mom, have you actually READ the book?
So, I told my daughter that I would read the book myself, and THEN decide if she should be allowed to read it or not. MUCH to my surprise, this book did NOT contain gore, it was NOT violent, and it did not contain any inappropriate scenes of intimacy. Having read the book myself, and taking into account my daughters personality and maturity level, I chose to let her read the book. I made a point EVERY day of asking her where she was in the book, and talking with her about what was happening in the story. After about 3 days, she was coming to me on her own to tell me what part of the story she was reading. She was enjoying it, and was excited to be able to discuss it with me.
These conversations led to some WONDERFUL moments with my daughter. We had some great discussions, and I got some good, clear insights into my daughters character, and the kind of person that she is becoming. We followed the same patter with the 3 sequels to Twilight, with me reading each book first before allowing her to read it. Each book led to more really good discussions.
Now, having said all that, let me also say this....I'm not saying that you won't find ANYTHING to object to in these books. I'm not saying that they are appropriate for everyone. I would NOT allow my almost 10 year old daughter to read them. She has no intrest in them at all, but even if she did, I would not allow it for her right now.
I"m not suggesting that everyone run out and read the Twilight books, or allow their children to read them. I"m only saying that in this case, I almost missed out on some great talks with my daughter because I formed an opinion based on assumptions and the opinions of others. One of my goals in homeschooling our children is to teach them to THINK, and to form opinions based on what they learn, NOT on what they ASSUME, or on what they hear other people say.
I just want to make sure that I teach by example.
Blessings,
Vicki
PS~For the record, I thought the books were okay~sort of light, fluff reading. I couldn't care less whether the heroine ended up with the vampire or the werewolf :))
5 comments:
I had to come read your blog. I have only read two of the books but intend to read the rest. Your last comments have me curious. :)
I think how you went about this is the way that it should be done. A discussion.. and I agree that our almost 10 year olds..don't need to read them. :)
And your comments didn't bother me in the least.. it was just people were picking up various things in my status and running with it.
Well, Nekey, I can only think of one or two times in my whole life when I didn't finish a book, and I read a LOT. Even if I hate the book and think it's awful, I just can't stand not to finish it. ( I think it's OCD or something, lol) and sometimes that true of a series. I just HAVE to know how a story ends!
I didn't hate the Twilight books. They were okay. I'm just not as "into" them as some people seems to be. I know people, grown women, who are almost obsessed with the whole Twilight phenomenon, and I just don't "get' that, you know? :)
I enjoyed reading your review. I, too, have never read the Twilight series, and never intend to. My twenty-year-old talked me into watching the movie...and I was very, very disappointed. My 14 year old son will not be allowed to see the movie (not that he's at all interested) mainly because of the graphic lure of seductiveness and the glorifying of teen romance. We don't feel as strongly on other things as some might think...but promoting impure relationships is a huge taboo for us. We run from it. We have had to make hard choices over the years over things that we have been accused of sheltering our children from. Some of those things, we expose them to in our presence so that a discussion ensues. Our children have learned our values that way without facing extreme culture shock when they are old enough to make their own choices. You did the right thing by exploring it on your own so that you can talk to your daughter about it.
I'm coming into this conversation late. I just want to know, having not read the books nor seen the movies, but having been against them for the stated reasons about romance and a few other things, what is it that you, Vicki, and you, Nekey, have seen that caused you not to want your young children to read them?
Hi Liz!
I have to say again that, even though I expected NOT to, I enjoyed the books. I expected them to contain sexually detailed scenes, and I found that NOT to be the case. I also expected them to be sort of, well, gross~or maybe graphic is a better word~as far as blood, and killing, and that sort of thing. I also found FAR less of that than I expected. But, the stories are still intense, for lack of a better word, and they do contain things like vampires describing the pain of becoming a vampire, and werewolves dealing with the fear and other emotions of being a werewolf.
Knowing my kids as I do, I read the books and felt very strongly that my oldest daughter would enjoy them and would not be negatively affected by them. BUT, my 10 year old is rather easily frightened, and tends to process her emotions slowly. That being the case, she doesn't really need an intense story, whether it's about vampires, werewolves, or anything else. It was really more about her personality than her age. It's kind of a non-issue though, because my 10 year old doesn't WANT to read the books~she just isn't intrested.
In the time since I wrote this post, my husband has seen Twilight and New Moon (the movies) and he has chose to allow our son to watch them with him. They both enjoy the "action" parts of the movies. Much like the Star Wars saga, they ignore the "love story" parts and watch the action scenes. All 3 of our kids fully understand that vampires and werewolves are mythical creatures, and are no more real than Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, and they tend to view the Twilight characters the same as the Star Wars characters, or any other story or movie characters.
I also realize that what is true for my kids and my family is not necessarily the same for someone else. But for me, reading Twilight taught me to read a book/see a movie/whatever for myself and THEN make a choice, rather than assuming that it's good or bad based on the opinions of others, and my own assumptions.
Post a Comment