American children aren't as interested in books and magazines as they used to be. In recent years, only 17% of thirteen-year-olds have reported reading for fun almost every day, roughly half the share (35%) who said this in 1984. Among seventeen-year-olds, this number has shrunk during the same period from 31% to 19%.
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Reddit user Ganmedddie belongs to that dwindling minority. However, his love for the written word recently became a source of conflict. After he reconnected with his estranged father, he brought a novel on one of his visits, but his dad's wife took issue with it because of the protagonist's sexual orientation.
After a period of no contact, this boy reconnected with his father
Image credits: pvproductions (not the actual image)
Only to fall out again over his reading choices
Image credits: peoplecreations (not the actual image)
Image credits: Florencia Viadana (not the actual image)
Image credits: Ganmedddie
Vicki Broadbent of Honest Mum says reading helps kids with every subject—not just English—and provides relief from the online world
Image credits: Dreamy Fox Photography
To learn more about the ways parents can encourage a love of reading in their kids, we got in touch with Vicki Broadbent. She is the founder of the family blog Honest Mum and a multi-award-winning TV director and broadcaster who has released a book of her own—The Working Mom: Your Guide to Surviving and Thriving at Work and at Home.
"Reading is such a wonderful skill to develop, not only for literacy but also for imagination and creativity," the mom-of-three told Bored Panda. "It expands the mind and allows the reader to travel over time, geography, and space and into the minds of others. I have incorporated a 20-minute daily reading practice with my children, and we often visit the library too to take out fiction and nonfiction books."
Vicki herself isn't a fan of censorship and believes it's not helpful, "unless the book might be harmful (encouraging violence, etc)."
"If the subject matter does not fit your own values and beliefs, that's not a good enough reason in my 'book' (pun intended) to ban something. If it's been published for teens and your child is interested in the topic and it is age-appropriate, I think that the teen should have the freedom to read what they wish!
"We as parents are here to guide, care, and keep our children safe but censorship never works as it makes anything censored more exciting and it can be unfair on the child who is seeking alternative viewpoints," Broadbent added.
Out of all the content that their teens consume, literature might not be the one parents should worry about in particular
In 2023, United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, released an advisory called Social Media and Youth Mental Health, in which he says there is growing evidence that social media is causing harm to young people's mental health. Shortly after, the American Psychological Association issued its own health advisory. A year later, Dr. Murthy called for a surgeon general's warning label on social media platforms, which would require an act of Congress to implement.
But, as Vicki Broadbent pointed out, literature is different.
For example, Stetson University psychologist Christopher Ferguson says research does suggest that parents can take it easy when it comes to what their kids are reading.
If a kid wants to read at all, he believes, "it's so remarkable that you don't want to be a roadblock.
"People's fear of fictional media is greater than the actual threat, and parents often worry that kids will read and imitate, but I don't think there is any good evidence for that."
Simply put, reading 'Divergent' is not going to cause violent behavior, and reading 'Twilight' is not going to make someone date a vampire.
Ferguson conducted a study in one Texas city, examining whether reading banned books was associated with behavioral problems in adolescents. The answer in that group was no, with the exception of a small subset of kids — mostly girls — who may have been struggling already.
"Some kids who already have mental health issues may be particularly drawn to certain kinds of edgy books," the psychologist explains.
He advises parents to check in with their teens to determine whether they're depressed or anxious and to ask why they're drawn to the books they're reading. In such cases, he says it's likely that "the problem is not the book, but something preexisting."
Image credits: EyeEm (not the actual image)
Most of those who read about what happened, said the boy did nothing wrong
But some said he could've been kinder
