I got a chuckle out of this. My college student kids installed it on H’s and my phones. They wanted to know where WE were… (so they knew they weren’t likely interrupting us when they called).
I had never heard of it before that. Now, we find we all still use it for the same reason - to know we’ve got a good shot of reaching them if we call, esp since neither we nor they work regular hours.
So precisely what purpose is served by the Florida school book ban then?
H and I suspect those wanting it think they’re making a difference that they want to see.
We think they’re causing those books to become more popular among many than they ever would have been without the attention drawn to them.
I’d place money that it’s backfiring as far as suppressing those books is concerned.
I have never used Life 360, but so many of my friends do. I told younger D to share her location with me on Google maps the first time she had to drive to a friend’s house across town. It drove me nuts, she went the wrong way and ended up on the highway during rush hour. Never again, it caused me too much anxiety.
My kids apparently share their location with me. Joke’s on them, I have no idea how to find that on my phone!
Interesting. My focus was on the books - removing temptation/opportunity by removing books from the school library when they are available elsewhere vs. parenting - parents setting and enforcing rules for their OWN children rather than changing the environment for all children so they don’t need have those, perhaps, hard discussions and set rules for their own.
In macro terms though, I do think we are controlling kids more. While there may be more temptation/opportunity - everything is certainly at their fingertips through the internet, I do think there is somewhat less freedom. When I was a kid when I left home I was, essentially, free and somewhat unreachable. Now parents can track a kids cell phone and know where they are. Most kids don’t walk to/from school. Most kids now have scheduled activities/playdates rather than going out and playing in the neighborhood - with all age groups of kids getting together in the street or in a park or playground. Most parents now know exactly where their kids are and can reach them pretty much at any point. Wasn’t the case in my youth. Perhaps your experience is/was different.
Getting off track though. My point was - if I didn’t want my kids to do something, read something, see something I would tell them they couldn’t. I wouldn’t remove the activity, book, image/movie so no kids could.
ETA - sorry, crossposted with many others discussing life 360 - exactly what I’m talking about - ability to know kids’ locations at all times
Nvm
Or for kids to know where their parents are as happened with us. Our kids were raised with a lot of freedom. We never tracked them when they were with us. We let them go down to the creek at the woods or across the planet and only expected to hear back when they returned.
Even now with Life 360, we only “track” them (or them us) when one of us is headed to the other’s place. Then we’re merely getting an ETA on arrival. Otherwise we only use it when we’re thinking about calling. Perhaps they track us daily? I dunno.
Some parents keep more control over their kids. Isn’t that where the title, helicopter parenting, came from? Not everyone does it though.
Schools have a limited budget and many choose books that will help the most students - help them read more, are of interest to more of them, cover a subject no other book in the library does, expands a subject many students have shown an interest in by checking out all the books on that subject.
Some schools buy the Scholatic books because that’s what they have a budget for - hold the book sales and they get a percentage of the sales to fill their shelves. What is in the sales brochures, both the ones they distribute in the classroom and the big book fairs, is pretty political too. My aunt writes Young Adult books, mostly biographies, and she really only makes money when her book is in the brochure (sells many times as many when her books are in the brochure as when they are just offered to bookstores or to school districts for libraries or classrooms). There is nothing controversial about her books about presidents or first ladies, but she’s competing with a lot of other books. If the book is offered for free to the librarian, that librarian may say sure, we’ll take that book.
There are a lot of baby board books, but does a school library need to buy every one? Is Babies Everywhere that much better than the 10 other baby board books the library already has? Does the hs library need that book? Does the fact that it appeared on the book list a certain group wants banned mean that the school district is really banning it or could they have come to the decision independently that they just don’t need that book, or that it is outdated or that they are removing it because no one ever checked it out so they are making room for a more modern book that more kids will check out? Huck Finn was banned, but if a library had it today, would a lot of kids check it out?
I think if kids live in an unincorporated area that has no public library, and the state doesn’t provide access to a public library, the state should change that. In Colorado anyone can get a library card and borrow from any library in the state, and return the book to any library in the state (or borrow an ebook). It may take some double registering (get a card at your home library and then register at other libraries) or using interlibrary loan, but it can be done. When we lived in Florida, there was no public library in our area (not really a town) but my kids had access to all the reading material they needed, either through buying it at a bookstore, Target, school library, online, borrowing from friends, ordering online.
I agree that kids are more likely to read something if they have easy access, but I think in the 21st century they have pretty easy access to everything.
I was surprised at how many of our kids needed hot spots and laptops when the pandemic hit. I would not assume kids all have such easy access. Some of these books are being challenged in the Public Library as well. What happens when they get removed from there? One public library disabled it’s Overdrive (online books) because they couldn’t figure out how to get rid of 2 books. I couldn’t find out how long or if it has been reinstated, but that was back in December.
As long as I can remember there were books/movies/tv/media that were restricted/banned/unavailable. Concept isn’t new at least from my perspective. Though there is some ebb and flow over time.
We never tracked our kids. No one in our friend group did. We may be old fashioned in that when we call our kids or they call us and its a bad time, we/they don’t answer (and call later) or text “call you in an hour, or tomorrow, etc.” And when we are on our way to see them or they to see us, we give an estimated time when we/they leave and that works. I could see they are say an hour away but maybe they are stopping somewhere on the way so go with the time they told us they would meet us rather than an ETA I pegged from tracking them. That is the same as it is for extended family members and friends. Not sure why it would be different with adult kids.
But different people have different experiences.
Public schools need public support, and not just financial support. A decreasing percentage of adults have children at all, and a decreasing percentage of those children attend public school. Schools with transparent processes which welcome public input are more likely to get community support, and budgets which match that support, in the long term.
School board meetings have been posted online for years. If people wanted to know the process they needed to care to know about it. I doubt that the parents who have been going and screaming at school boards about everything from masks to books even really care about actual education. They don’t even seem to have any confidence at all in their teachers. Is that because their child’s experience was awful, or is that because the news they listen to has been telling them their education is lousy.
What really is not helpful is equating a book with a gay character in it to indoctrination. Or calling anyone who wants to have books like that included in a school library a groomer.ETA: That is what is being said by some of these groups.
One might have expected that greater exposure to their children’s teachers and classroom environment via zoom would have increased parental confidence in schools. Apparently the opposite occurred. Schools will have to deal with the fallout.
I agree with what you’ve written when it comes to buying new books, but remember, a lot of this is from parents wanting to get rid of books the library already has. It’s not a cost thing at all at that point.
And as per @88jm19 's link - it doesn’t surprise me at all that it’s mainly a very loud minority - quite similar to those who made big fusses about wearing masks inside of stores or planes. Most didn’t fuss even if they’re have preferred not to wear them. Some felt the need to get attention from anyone who could hear them.
If a certain book being required reading in a class is truly a community concern, then enough parents pulling their child from having to read the book would likely get the teacher to opt for a different one. If it’s only one or two parents - or none - there’s no reason to have the book banned.
I bought a copy of “Everywhere Babies” immediately. LOL.
Some posters confuse objection to a particular book with objection to a topic. There is no evidence that those seeking to exclude Beloved in Walton County are seeking to exclude Roots or 12 Years a Slave or any of the other hundreds of books, both fiction and nonfiction, on this topic, and it is expected that their school and public libraries contain those. Not sure why that one particular book is considered so crucial to some that any attempt to question its appropriateness brings out the pitchforks. Lots of other quality literature on the subject remains and serve the same purpose.
Why couldn’t there be more people like you? Live and let live. So great. And respectful of others. Just love this post.
Many or most of the targeted books on the Florida Citizens Alliance list are, without a doubt, targeted precisely because of the topic. Close to half the books deal with LGBTQ+ topics.
There is nothing explicit about Two Dads. Or Mommy, Mama and Me. Or Everywhere Babies. They are included on the list because these groups want even the hint of any potential LGBTQ+ topic kept out of public schools.
Likewise, books and topics addressing slavery, racism, Jim Crow, lynchings, systemic racism, etc. are also under attack in Florida and elsewhere. Here is a link to a list of 850 books being investigated in Texas because a Texas Representative is concerned that the books might make some kids feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”
Topics are being censored under the guise of insulating kids from addressing any topic that might make them feel uncomfortable.
Thank you for your kind words. I learned a lot about life from those little kids I had the privilege of being around and the teachers. I am hoping to be able to go back to volunteering in school. I’ve missed it.