Twaddle – – the highly debated, variously defined, fascinating word used to describe material that talks down to a child and/or does not feed their intellectual appetite or imagination.
From Volume 1, Charlotte says,
“Even for their earliest reading lessons, it is unnecessary to put twaddle into the hands of children. That children like feeble and tedious…story books, does not at all prove that these are wholesome food; they like lollipops but cannot live upon them.”
And from Volume 3:
“The question resolves itself into–What manner of book will find its way with upheaving effect into the mind of an intelligent boy or girl? We need not ask what the girl or boy likes. She very often likes the twaddle of goody-goody story books, he likes condiments, highly-spiced tales of adventure.
We are all capable of liking mental food of a poor quality and a titillating nature; and possibly such food is good for us when our minds are in need of an elbow-chair; but our spiritual life is sustained on other stuff, whether we be boys or girls, men or women.”
I have not successfully figured out how to eliminate twaddle completely, which maybe is not even a good idea. To try to completely reject aspects of the culture is hard on parents and kids. I started out wanting to allow no twaddle ever but my kids were feeling deprived. I’m definitely not a person who will let my kids do what their friends are doing just so they feel included, but in this case, as something rather inconsequential, I decided a middle-of-the-road approach would be best.
So this is how I handle The Twaddle Dilemma.
- We don’t go to the library anymore. It’s just too frustrating! I request things and my husband picks them up and returns them. I miss going but there’s just so much garbage!
- My kids each have to read a few books ( the number depends on the child and which books they choose) from our library, mostly non- and historical fiction from the time period we’re studying, and then they can read a book of their choice.
So far this solution is working great. They are not feeling deprived and I am satisfied that no matter how much twaddle they read, they are reading MORE literature. It’s my philosophy about food too – I love dessert and I don’t focus on NOT eating sweets but on making sure we’re getting lots of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts, etc. Give the good stuff attention and that’s what will be predominant in your life. The “less good” stuff will take a back seat without becoming attractive and desired.
The stack of books above is all the phenomenal free-reading literature we’ve collectively done so far this year. We have eaten a lot of intellectual meat!
How do you handle twaddle???
