That is pretty funny. We'll have to do away with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves", "Cinderella", "King Arthur", "A Thousand and One Nights", and a whole host of other stories and movies currently being enjoyed by kindergardeners everywhere.
Certainly kindergardeners shouldn't be exposed to violence either, right? Well, there goes all those stories again.
OK, so we should have "Billy has two mothers". I suggest we include a few other popular titles, including "Billy has one father and 5 mothers". Don't want to exclude polygamist. Also, "Billy has a father that beats him mother". Can't shelter kids these days. "Billy's mother is a drug addict" is another popular title. How about the classic "Billy's mother used to be his father, and now he has two mothers and one of them is upset about it!".
Let kids learn basic things. They can learn about complicated things later. No need to educate a 5 year old about polygamy, sex changes, violence. He has a lifetime to do that. Lets teach basic skills please! And we wonder why our education system is lagging here in the US.
Now, as to those classics, books have been banned from time to time, as MACaver mentioned. I'd not show my 8 month old certain cartoon movies, and for now, I'm keeping him away from what might be termed frightening images (explosions, graphic violence, etc). Certain classics I'll probably keep away until he is older. Even some Disney movies are a bit frightening for a 5 year old.
Now, specifics. Certain groups of people have different moral values. As adults, you are allowed to make them. Certain cultures have different morals. Thats fine. I don't let different cultures determine my morals, preferences or tastes. For instance, I choose not to eat dog, though many in Viet Nam might choose to do so. I also choose not to eat horse, though some in Japan might choose to do so. I would also prefer not to have literature presented to my 5 year old son describing how Billy's favorite holiday meal is fresh dog. These types of values are cultural, and in some cases, personal. Culturally, we accept stories such as Snow White, Cinderella, King Author. These stories might not be acceptable in some cultures that are matriarchal. For us, these stories have been around for generations, often times highlighting good aspects of humanity, as well as sometimes the bad. As a parent, I reserve the right to "censor", if you will, what comes into my house. I won't let my child have access to certain books until I believe he has the emotional and intellectual stability to handle them properly. If I choose to let a book in that describes normal heterosexual relationships, then I have that right. I also have the right to refuse certain books to come into my house. I realize that sending a kid off to school, you can't please everyone, but you try to take hopefully the least objectional books. Stick some classics in their hands. I prefer not to have my child indoctrinated with anything other than the basics of education. I think reading should be fostered, but at that age, keep the books educational, not questionable. Then again, I'm of the notion that computers should not be introduced for quite a while (5th grade or so), and children not dependent on calculators for math. Somehow, I doubt that will change... I've seen some schools with kids on computers in 1st grade!
(sorry if this is dated, I had a 5 hour break
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:whip1:
