Dad praised for reading 'inappropriate' horror books to his 10-year-old daughter
Fairy tales and classics like Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood are often staples for bedtime reading, with parents and children both looking forward to nighttime reading routines. Some children love the classics, but what would you do if your child took an interest in genres not typically meant for children?
One Redditor is calling for advice on the 'Am I the a**hole' thread after letting his child read horror stories at bedtime. The married father of one is an electrician and his wife Basia is a child psychologist. The couple agreed to read their 10-year-old daughter Julka more 'grown up' literature as according to Mum Basia, it makes children smarter.
But Basia hates horror according to the Redditor and "considers it degenerate, inappropriate for children (and) mentally harmful." The Redditor was therefore surprised when Basia read a Polish poem to their daughter called Lilije by Adam Mickiewicz that was about a wife being haunted by her husband's ghost. Basia said that the poem was not horror and that scary poems were okay, so the Reddit user started reading Julka some translations of Poe and Lovecraft.
"Julka loved the poems, but she found out their authors wrote stories too and she wanted them", he wrote. "I said no, mum doesn't want you to read scary things. Julka said that was nonsense because scary is scary, rhymed or not. I said scary is scary, but rules are rules. I asked Basia, and she said she trusts my judgement about what stories are appropriate for children."
The Redditor then started reading Julka stories from Hawthorne, Bierce, Blackwood, Poe, and Lovecraft. "Julka was fixated on the more scary elements and wanted more of that. So, yes, I did end up reading her horror. No sex, no excessive bloodshed, but still horror", he said.
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The stories proved popular with Julka and a clear new love of literature was sparked. Julka's Dad wrote on the thread: "Normally when I read to Julka, she lies in bed with a polite/bored smile, staring at the wall but when I read her scary stories, she makes comments, gasps/laughs/hides under the blanket when something happens, talks a lot after we're done, wants to look at pictures. I haven't seen her this excited about something since she was three, she's been low energy most of her life."
The new bedtime reading habit has caused conflict with wife Basia who became concerned after seeing some of her daughter's new drawings that were darker than usual. Basia also noticed that her daughter had become less interested in the stories that she was reading to her.
"I told Basia what we've read, and she became angry", said the Redditor. "She said I'm putting degenerate stuff in Julka's brain, traumatising and overstimulating her, and destroying the development of her personality. I am not allowed to read to Julka anymore. (Julka) is very sad and angry about it and calls Basia some bad names. I'm an electrician, so I don't know how children’s brains work, and I am willing to accept my wife's expert knowledge. Am I the a**hole?"
Comments were divided with some agreeing with the Redditor that the reading was fine and others with his wife that the material was inappropriate. One said: "Your poor child. Your wife is sucking everything that brings your daughter joy out of life. I don't have a judgement just, wow, your poor child."
Another wrote: "Not the a**hole - a ten-year-old can handle gothic horror, by that age I was reading my grandfather's Tom Clancy and Jack Higgins and there's swearing and sex and violence a-plenty in there. Still went on to scale the heights of literature and didn't turn out a serial killer."
However, someone else wrote: "She's ten. Let her decide what she wants to read. You are working some sort of marital argument out by punishing your kid. Stop. You are destroying her love of reading. Let her pick anything she wants from the young adult section. You are both being ridiculous."
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
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