Anonymous
Post 02/22/2024 12:37     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Anonymous wrote:Artists, performers, writers, and characters say and do things that are are fine in their own context but wouldn't be acceptable in real life. Apply to books with bratty characters, performers wearing overly sexualized costumes, songs with bad language, etc.


And btw, my elementary schoolers have no trouble understanding this. That's why they didn't become Junie B. and I can listen to whatever music I want in the car.
Anonymous
Post 02/22/2024 11:38     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD loved these books and no she is not getting the attitude from the books

because the main character who is writing diary entries is a huge pushover and people pleaser who never says or does anything mean and thinks the mean girl is terrible.



This!

If OP's daughter is getting this from the book, then she's emulating the villain, which is sort of a problem. The book doesn't encourage bullying or name-calling, it just writes about it.

It would be like if your kid starting reading Harry Potter and thought Voldemort was the hero of the story....

"my child has recently started reading the Harry Potter series and is now starting to organize a group of pure blooded neighbor children to both worship my child as their leader and to systematically eliminate those that aren't pure-blooded. are these books a bad influence on my child?"


Thank you! Your child is copying the villain. Every story has a villain.
Anonymous
Post 02/22/2024 11:29     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Artists, performers, writers, and characters say and do things that are are fine in their own context but wouldn't be acceptable in real life. Apply to books with bratty characters, performers wearing overly sexualized costumes, songs with bad language, etc.
Anonymous
Post 02/22/2024 11:02     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Anonymous wrote:We saw this with Disney and Nick shows with kids being rude to parents and teachers.


Yes! There are some Disney shows (iCarly is one) where the kids are sooooo bratty. My first grader was immitating that. Cutting off her access to the material has helped a great deal.
Anonymous
Post 02/22/2024 10:56     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Offer her better books instead of making a fight over the bad books.

It's pretty obvious from the title that that you shouldn't have started that series.
Anonymous
Post 02/22/2024 10:44     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
My daughter got 2 of these books from the school library. The 6 book and the 7 book. I thought both were okay. But oh boy! SCHOOL DANCES AND YELLING AT PARENTS IN BOOK 6?!?!? Okayyyy! We tried the seventh book and there could have been not one but TWO scenes of kissing! Inappropriate in some books! My daughter is 4 YEARS OLD!
Anonymous
Post 02/22/2024 10:39     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Don’t take the books away and make her cry! I think you should read with her when possible. If you can’t but your daughter can, have her tell you if she sees something inappropriate. I have 2 sisters and one is 5 and one is 8. 5 years old was reading 8 years old books and she has the same books! After a while my mother got calls from her teacher saying that she is doing name calling almost daily and once wore magenta lip gloss! MY magenta lip gloss, I am the same age as niki and I don’t like the idea of my sisters
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 23:18     Subject: Re:Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Anonymous wrote:When my DD was in kinder & 1st grade, the hot books were Junie B. Jones. And all the little girls reading them became super bratty, just like the main character. I told DD that these books were not good for her, and I would help her find books that wouldn't cause her to have bad behavior, because it wouldn't be fun if she got punished. And then we went to the library and did that.

Since your kid is 10, I would give her the choice. "Since you've been reading the Dork Diaries, your behavior has become unacceptable. You do A, B, and C, which I can tell you lift straight from these books. The Dork Diaries are a bad influence on you. I know you love them, so I am going to put you in control. If you can manage your behavior and stop doing A, B and C, then you can keep reading them. If you don't stop within two days, I am taking the books away, and we will find other books that are conducive to better behavior. Go think about what I said and let me know which direction you've chosen to go in."


We too had to pull the snarky and disrespectful book series. Hate how the schools doesn’t care either.

I do go on Amazon to check reviews too, they are mixed and I don’t bother with any where there are comments on main characters being bullies, name calling, hating their parents, etc.
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 22:13     Subject: Re:Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Anonymous wrote:Also the best inappropriate book series for 10 year old girls is the Alice books from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Hands down. And, set in Silver Spring! So maybe try to get her hooked on those instead.


I have never heard of these. Did you mean to write "inappropriate?" Are you recommending the series or saying they promote bad behavior?
-OP
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 15:42     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
I’ve done a combination of “if you continue this behavior you will no longer be able to read these books” (and did once gather up the books and institute a temporary ban) and reading parts together and talking about how mean/inappropriate/rude whatever the character was doing was and I hoped my child would never act like that. The later I would do with a fair amount of good humor/joking so it was more a fun conversation than a lecture, but I made my point. In some ways, the books were helpful in that they prompted those conversations.

If memory serves this was back when my kids was 8 or so and reading My Weird School.
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 14:47     Subject: Re:Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Also the best inappropriate book series for 10 year old girls is the Alice books from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Hands down. And, set in Silver Spring! So maybe try to get her hooked on those instead.
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 14:45     Subject: Re:Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why do these authors produce this crap!?


Because it makes them lots of money. Some folks advocate that you let kids read what they want, regardless of content, because it is reading! Or parents see the books and think that they are just books and not a big deal. Different people have different tolerances.


This garbage can be avoided. There are so many wonderfully written classics.


But I can't force my daughter to only read THE SECRET GARDENS of the literary world. She wants to read what's relevant to her and her stage of life, which is exactly Dork Diaries unfortunately. I get her all the classics and she chooses not to read them.
-OP


The Secret Garden is FULL of bad behavior! It's a major theme! I love The Secret Garden, to be clear, but the reason it's a classic is that it tackles the big issues in a honest way that is still accessible for children.
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 14:44     Subject: Re:Dork Diaries causing these issues?
This happens to me when I binge watch shows. I start to talk like them/use similar humor.

It sounds like she's kind of processing them by acting them out. PP's suggestion of putting her in charge of controlling that is fine, but I might add a required "book club" with you. Read whichever one she is reading and discuss it in a non-sanctimonious way (like try to pretend you're really in book club together and make it fun). You're teaching her to process it without trying it out on her little brother. If it goes well but she hates "book club," you can drop it as the problem fades away.

Kids need literature that pushes their boundaries. Better books than some other sources.
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 14:37     Subject: Re:Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When my DD was in kinder & 1st grade, the hot books were Junie B. Jones. And all the little girls reading them became super bratty, just like the main character. I told DD that these books were not good for her, and I would help her find books that wouldn't cause her to have bad behavior, because it wouldn't be fun if she got punished. And then we went to the library and did that.

Since your kid is 10, I would give her the choice. "Since you've been reading the Dork Diaries, your behavior has become unacceptable. You do A, B, and C, which I can tell you lift straight from these books. The Dork Diaries are a bad influence on you. I know you love them, so I am going to put you in control. If you can manage your behavior and stop doing A, B and C, then you can keep reading them. If you don't stop within two days, I am taking the books away, and we will find other books that are conducive to better behavior. Go think about what I said and let me know which direction you've chosen to go in."


Junior B Jones is the worst. Horrible grammar on top of the poor behavior.



Not a fan but my daughter loved these books in very early ES so I would have her identify the poor grammar and correct it.
Anonymous
Post 07/05/2021 14:31     Subject: Dork Diaries causing these issues?
Absolutely makes a difference with us. I started checking the books about a year ago. Sometimes I asked where he learned this word or insult and it was a book. There are so many nicer books to read.