A teacher has warned parents not to let their children read a hugely popular series of books which she says teaches the wrong message.
My daughter is eight years old and has recently begun to enjoy reading independently, which is great (although we still read together and will for as long as she wants us to). But it has made me think about the type of content that she is consuming. For the most part, she is into Isadora Moon, animal books and other cute things.
But she is also a lover of slapstick humour and pranks, and has recently gotten into the Beano comics, a nice bit of nostalgia, but not particularly to my taste.
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Book teacher is warning against
One teacher took to Instagram to warn parents against reading an incredibly popular book among tweens, which has spawned various movies – Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
If you have an older child then you have probably heard of this book, it is likely even sitting on your bookshelf right now. But if your household has escaped it as of yet, then you might want to hold off on buying it, or at least do some research about the content first.
Teacher and children’s author Vaishali BK took to Instagram to share her thoughts about the book with parents, revealing that when she read it, she vowed to find something better for her students to read.
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What is Diary of a Wimpy Kid about?
The novels are aimed at 8 – 12-year-olds and revolve around 12-year-old Greg Heffley, his friends and all the antics they get up to in school. The books are illustrated and written in a diary format (although Greg insists that it’s a journal), which is probably one of the reasons that it is so popular.
Throughout the books, Greg struggles to survive middle school, tries to become popular and deals with many friend and family issues, all in a humorous way.
Why are parents being warned against Diary of a Wimpy Kid?
The series is undoubtedly funny, but according to teacher Vaishali BK, parents should really examine the kind of humour in the book before letting their children read it. Taking to Instagram, she says that Greg is a ‘flawed protagonist’ which makes him relatable; however, he is many things that she does not like.
She says that he is ‘lazy’ ‘lies to get away with stuff’ ‘avoids responsibility’, and ‘is often unkind’, plus his pranks often go beyond ‘toeing the line’. Sounds like something my daughter would eat up to be honest.
‘But what I cannot get over is that he is downright cruel to his best friend’.
‘Yes, children find these books funny but where is that humour stemming from?’ the teacher asks. She says that it is often from other people’s embarrassment, exclusion, unkindness and making others the butt of the joke.
‘I find myself wondering, what are children learning to laugh at?’ Vaishali says. ‘Because humour is powerful. It tells children what is acceptable, what is normal and who gets to be included. It quietly teaches children who get to belong.’
While she understands why children like this book, she says that she will ‘never recommend’ it. She did add that her own child brought the book home from the school library, and instead of banning her from reading it, she got her to reflect on it by asking some questions such as: ‘What made that funny?’ ‘Who is that joke about?’ and ‘Would you feel the same if it happened to you?’
People shared their thoughts in the comments and so many agreed with her opinion. ‘I couldn’t agree with you more. The scariest part for me is that because of the perceived popularity, these are the books (sometimes the only book series) that can be found on the bookshelves of schools. I am constantly trying to get parents to turn away from these books but unfortunately, many parents feel very strongly that “if my child is reading, it is good,” regardless of the content,’ one parent wrote.
Someone else added: ‘I really struggle with the fact that with so many good books about there, adults are still encouraging DOWK.’
What to read instead of Diary of a Wimpy Kid
In her post, the teacher shared some alternatives that parents can encourage their tweens to read instead. These include:
- El Deafo by Cece Bell
- The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey
- The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier
- My Life as a Cartoonist by Janet Tashjian
- Smile by Raina Telgemeier
- The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
Would I let my child read Diary of a Wimpy Kid?
As the parent of a new reader, would I let my child read this book? Probably not, if I’m being honest. She definitely watches TV shows that I don’t like, which I try to curb as much as I can without being too controlling, if it’s not inappropriate – she’s already not allowed to watch YouTube, so I don’t want to micromanage her Netflix too much.
But books are different as they involve a lot more time investment and concentration. If she was adamant that she wanted to read it, I would look at reading it first, or with her, to really decide if it was the type of content I want her to consume.
