Why We’ve Banned Books in our Household

Posted April 1, 2015 by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction in April Fools, Let's Discuss / 61 Comments

I realize that this might be a bit controversial, but my husband and I have made kind of a big decision when it comes to our kids. We’ve banned books (hopefully temporarily). Obviously, I love to read, and I feel like reading is great for adults, but lately I’ve started to worry about its effects on my kids.

Here’s the thing – we’ve noticed lately that reading has become a big issue in our house. Books have become a time suck and they’ve kind of taken over around here. The kids don’t want to do anything else, and it’s getting a little ridiculous. My husband doesn’t really like to read, and he’s been feeling a little left out when all the kids want to talk about is which cat just died in The Warriors series or whether they’re a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor. Can he really be expected to sit through conversation after conversation about things that aren’t even real? It’s not fair to him.

Plus, these books seem to be giving the kids ideas. I never know what they’re going to think of next. Imagination is great and all, but, let’s face it, in kids it can be downright dangerous. My husband and I have gotten a little worried that we won’t be able to curb that sense of adventure, and where might that lead? Disrespect and disobedience – that’s where. Just the other day, we chastised our son for acting outside of the social norms, and he told us that he’s Divergent and can’t restrict himself to following our closed-minded rules!

Dangerous Book for Boys
See! This book admits that it’s dangerous, and we still buy it! Why would we, as parents, do this to ourselves?

We can’t have our kids living in a fantasy world, and we certainly don’t want them coming up with their own ideas and impressions of the world we live in – what if they decide we’re wrong about something? It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.

So we’ve decided to nip the problem in the bud. For now, all kids books are being removed from the house. I think picture  books might be okay, since they’re made for very small children and don’t have a lot of dangerous ideas in them, but just to be safe I’m getting rid of those too. I’m hoping that this is temporary, but I’m not sure when my kids will be ready for books again.

Have you ever considered the negative ramifications of reading on your kids? At what age do you think kids’ minds are ready to process the myriad of viewpoints and ideas that they may be exposed to in books? Is it fair to expect non-reading family members to sit through hours of conversations about books? What do you think?

Giveaway

So, now I have TONS of books in my house that I just don’t know what to do with. I considered packing them away in boxes for later, but what if the kids sneak into the boxes and read them in the middle of the night? They really can’t be trusted where books are concerned. The only sensible thing to do is to host a giveaway. I’m giving away ALL of the books in my kids’ bookcases (there has to be at least 300 of them).

I do caution you, though. Before you enter this giveaway, be sure that you understand the serious consequences of giving these books to children. Remember that your childrens’ minds are impressionable, and these books might give them ideas and expand their imaginations. They also might gain extended vocabularies and start using words against you that you don’t know. It’s a risk. Are you willing to take it?

(Make sure you read the terms and conditions before entering.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and conditions: In order to win this competition, you must be a resident of Nicole Hewitt’s household. Because she’s totally not giving away her kids’ books. Ever.

Like this post? Check out last year’s April Fools’ review of the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (it’s really eye-opening).

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61 responses to “Why We’ve Banned Books in our Household

  1. GayAnna

    Got me….That was Great!! I could not believe what I was reading! I was ready to call you & talk some sense into you. LOL Love it!!!

    • I do too! (I hope you realize that this was just an April Fools’ joke – I’m totally never going to stop my kids from reading!)

    • Exactly – you need to be really careful. Books can be powerful weapons on the mind of a child. If you absolutely have to keep them, you should at least lock them up.

    • I tried to make it sound almost realistic at the beginning and then get more and more ridiculous as the post went on, so I’m glad I had for a while! 🙂

  2. Georgia

    This is the best April Fools Joke I have seen so far- you really had me going for a long time, until the Divergent part- ha ha! Thanks for stopping by my blog! 🙂

  3. Joycedale

    I fell for the whole thing, even somewhat agreed after reading that your son is a divergent (that had me rolling though). Was thinking maybe I could win a book for my teeneage daughter. Then I saw the terms and conditions lol.

    • Wow! I had you going all the way to the terms and conditions? You must have thought I’d lost my mind for a moment there! 🙂

      • Joycedale

        I thought you had finally reached a breaking point over something lol. On the bright side it was the only thing I fell for today. Clarissa Wild posted on facebook that all her books was free today only and I saw a lot of people fall for that lol.

  4. Imaginations are so dangerous! Just this morning one of our sixth graders brought an entire 2 liter of soda to school — with CUPS! — and poured his friends drinks this morning at breakfast. They thought it was an April Fool’s joke when we told them to throw it ALL away! Aaaah, no.

    You nearly had me there. What an imagination YOU must have! 🙂

    • Ha! Yes – everything I said is almost true. There have been plenty of times where I’ve shaken my head at my kids’ sense of humor or imagination! 🙂

    • You’re totally right – it’s a good thing we just finished our basement so we have the extra space. I have to give my husband the credit for that Divergent line – he actually came up with that one (though it’s actually true that he doesn’t read, he did listen to the audiobook of that one!).

    • Yeah, I think now that it’s April 2nd, I need to go ahead and put April Fools’ right in the title so people don’t think I’m crazy! 🙂

  5. I don’t personally have kids but I am currently studying to become a teacher and I can definitely see your worry about your children’s imagination getting out of hand. I’ve done a few observations of younger classrooms and I have definitely seen what you are taking about. I think it’s definitely more dangerous and can get out of hand if children are so invested in it to the point they see it as reality or using them as an excuse to get away with inappropriate behavior. Reading can be a healthy hobby if taken seriously and a fine line set between books and reality.

    • So sorry Gi-Gi, but I actually wrote this as an April Fools’ joke yesterday. Although I did try to base it on some reality (let’s face it – sometimes my kids imaginations do lead them to some quite interesting behaviors). But I am the biggest advocate of kids reading and would never take away their books – I love that reading fosters their sense of imagination!

    • Ha! Yes, I added the April Fools’ to the title today because I’m actually making people think I’m crazy or something. 🙂

  6. HAHAHA Nice going, I’m sure if it weren’t for the add-on in the title of this post, I would have believed you for the first couple of sentences. 😀 It was still funny to see what you’ve reasons you’ve come up with haha

    Vlora @ Reviews and Cake recently posted: Game Time!
  7. Sam

    Bahahaha! Love it! I was really starting to contemplate what to comment on this post without offending you. All I could think about was how I can’t wait to MAKE my future kids read (but of course I won’t have to do that because they will be natural lovers of reading, right?)! Haha.

    That’s really great that your kids love to read, by the way! 🙂

    • I can just imagine what people must have been thinking when they started reading this post. I sound like I’ve gone truly insane! 🙂

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