Weather Dark Content Should Be In Children Book

As we explore the topic of whether or not to have dark items in our children's stories, we have to hear from both sides before we can make our own viewpoint and thoughts on the debate. The first side is from Sherman Alexie and Alexie is on the side of we should include them into our children's literacy. He explains that books written for young people should deal with the dark subject because our child has already faced a lot of this thing in their life already. This gives the child an outlet to understand they are not alone and they can reach out and get help. With it being included it allows for more conversations about the hard matters, but it also allows us as educators to show them that we are not going to hide from the bad things. Also, when we do not include those matters, we are protecting our literacy because it’s got “privilege” which is just an excuse not to include it. The second viewpoint we have is that we should not include these topics in children's books, and this is by Meghan Cox Gurdon. She has a child of her own and does not think that any of the books were worth bringing home due to the content. She believes that having those things put into the stories would allow children to come up with ideas that they may not have thought about before. They also don’t end on a happy ending it's left dark and unknown. She does understand that these children are able to search things up on the internet but that is not being forced on them it’s more of on their own time. She also talks about that parents have to be aware and ready for what their student/ child is looking up and reading. The last viewpoint would be mine which I would have to be somewhere in the middle honestly. I believe that children will learn about these dark things even if we don’t teach about them. There are so many dark things that happen in the real world that not written about them, and it kind of feels like we are hiding from the fact that the world has dark things. At the same time though children also have to be aware that these are not forced around them and it’s when they are ready. I think that having dark things in books could be a trigger which is why I think that the child has to be ready emotionally and mentally before they read them. The biggest thing I would say is to let this be more of children’s choice and not a teacher, parent, society, or so on choice. Children need more say and they need to understand that their choices have an impact on them and this is not a life-or-death situation where they are going to get seriously hurt. At the same time, this is a choice that is made with a lot in mind and not taken lightly. There are so many views and sides to this topic that we could talk about for days but overall this is a choice that every parent and child should make together.