26 Books That Parents Read Back In School That They Feel Their Own Children Should Never Read

We got in touch with redditor u/masterbuildera, who started up the viral r/AskReddit thread, and asked them to share a few thoughts. We were curious how they had decided to ask such an unusual and interesting question in the first place.

"I started the thread because I read a book that was not suitable for my age," they opened up to Bored Panda.

They said that they were "traumatized because of it." However, they were unsure if their experience was unique. "So I decided to ask people on Reddit to see if they had read a book like that," u/masterbuildera shared that they were curious how widespread this phenomenon really was.

According to the OP, whether or not banning books makes them more likely to be read by people will depend a lot on the context. The redditor noted that "if the book has strong content," then it wouldn't necessarily be something that others might be very curious about.

Bored Panda wanted to get the thread author's opinion on where the line between censorship and protection lies. We were curious where they think the line is between being too strict and wanting to protect children from being traumatized by books, just like they were in their youth.

"From my perspective, schools need to ban books that are meant for adults," the redditor said that books that are clearly marked mature, meant for 18 and over, shouldn't find themselves in the hands of school kids.

Meanwhile, they added that parents should also observe what books their kids read and what reading lists schools have.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. The redditor noted that even though they were traumatized by a book in their past, they've also found some books that had some tips that directly improved their life. 

Being a parent is tough. When it comes to reading, you have to find the right balance between protecting your kids from extremely unsettling ideas while also allowing them to grow and develop their thinking. You can’t expect them to ever think outside the box if they’re kept firmly within it.

When it comes to visual media like movies and TV shows, things are slightly simpler: there are age ratings that help guide parents. However, while some books do have recommendations for age groups, it’s not like you can declare that George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is only ‘meant’ for those 18 years old or over. Imagine the outrage!

The desire to limit people’s access to reading material, in order to protect them (or society at large), can quickly devolve into censorship. However, we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. You have to trust that people will be able to deal with the uncomfortable things they read on a page.

Meanwhile, if we’re talking about kids, parents can either help contextualize these ideas or simply explain that the themes are slightly too mature for them at this moment. There’s nothing wrong with putting a book off for a couple of years. Though, naturally, you might make your children even more curious to read them if you ban those novels outright! If it’s forbidden, we can’t help but be even more intrigued…

Reading is such a natural part of our daily lives that some of us can forget that there are plenty of people out there who are illiterate. It’s a luxury to consider what books should or should not be read by our children. ‘Think Impact’ reports that in the United States, 79% of adults are literate. Though this might sound like a big number, it means that a jaw-dropping 21% of all American grownups cannot read. Meanwhile, 54% of adults have literacy below the 6th-grade level. 

The World Population Review notes that the 10 least literate countries include Chad (with a 22.31% literacy rate), Guinea (32%), South Sudan (34.52%), Niger (35.05%), Mali (35.47%), the Central African Republic (37.40%), Burkina Faso (41.22%), Benin (42.36%), Afghanistan (43.02%), and Sierra Leone (43.21%).

Poverty and illiteracy are closely linked together. Areas that are deeply affected by poverty offer fewer opportunities for education and, by extension, reading. Meanwhile, instead of going to school, children from poor families might instead find work to help out their families financially. There are around 781 million adults around the globe who cannot read or write, and two-thirds of them are female.