Thanks, Rich! And a story about Crusherette #1

[Crusher]

A while back after I got the books I'd ordered through the Kickstarter deal, I left my new copy of "Don't Split the Party" out on the kitchen table. Coming back later I found my oldest daughter engrossed in it and up to page 10 or so. I asked her if she liked it, and she responded with a mumbled "Mmhmm" while not even looking up from it. This is about the highest praise she can give.

At first I was pleased. I enjoy OotS quite a bit, and its a really nice feeling to see your kids enjoy some of the same things you do. But then I realized, she's only 9, and not an especially worldly 9 at that. There are things about the world that she just doesn't know yet. Awkward as it may be, as a parent you really do have to keep your eyes open to make sure your kids learn the right lessons at the right time, when they're ready for it.

So, over her surprise and objection, I took the book away from her and told her that she's only in 4th grade and there were things she wasn't ready for yet. In time she'd understand and would probably even thank me. I took the book upstairs and put it away with the other OotS books in a spot she couldn't get to.

Then I took out "Dungeon Crawling Fools" and brought it down for her to read. What kind of parent would I be if I let her start a series on book 4? What message would I be telling her about the importance of pacing and continuity? A bad parent, that's the kind of parent I'd be.

When she finished DCF, I gave her Origin of PCs, then Paladin Blues, and so forth, going through the series in order and letting her keep them after she finished each one. As a nice plus, she even said she was glad to have read them in order and as a father of daughters I don't get to be right all that often.

At breakfast, we laugh at her retelling Belkar's finest moments which have the added joy of being brand-new to her, and she described a good-hearted but not overly bright new classmate as "kind of an Elan". With the benefit of hindsight it might have been a better idea to wait a little bit before letting her read Snips and Snails, but as long as my wife hasn't read it I can't get in trouble.

Anyway, to Rich, not only have you created something I really love, but I got to pass it on to my daughter and she loves it too. You've made us both happier (and I think we've both found it frequently thought provoking), and its also something we can share together. Thank you for that.

[Vinsfeld]

I've been trying to get my sister to read it. I guess I'll use your method of leaving the book around the house. :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Torath]

My kids love The Order of the Stick. Unfortunately (for them), I won't let them read more than carefully selected strips until they're 13. The oldest are 12, and my youngest just turned 9. They all love the coloring book, though. (If only I could get it as a .pdf, so I can print out pages for them to color without "ruining" the original. Yes, I want to have my cake, and let the kids eat it, too! :smalltongue:).

My wife couldn't be bothered to read the online comic, but went through the books in record time after I got The Whole Story from the Kickstarter. I've had to promise to get a copy of the next book the instant it is available for her gratification (not that I wouldn't want to get it anyway :smallbiggrin:).

[Kolhammer]

I won't let them read more than carefully selected strips until they're 13.

Which strips are those?

[Grey Watcher]

A while back after I got the books I'd ordered through the Kickstarter deal, I left my new copy of "Don't Split the Party" out on the kitchen table. Coming back later I found my oldest daughter engrossed in it and up to page 10 or so. I asked her if she liked it, and she responded with a mumbled "Mmhmm" while not even looking up from it. This is about the highest praise she can give.

At first I was pleased. I enjoy OotS quite a bit, and its a really nice feeling to see your kids enjoy some of the same things you do. But then I realized, she's only 9, and not an especially worldly 9 at that. There are things about the world that she just doesn't know yet. Awkward as it may be, as a parent you really do have to keep your eyes open to make sure your kids learn the right lessons at the right time, when they're ready for it.

So, over her surprise and objection, I took the book away from her and told her that she's only in 4th grade and there were things she wasn't ready for yet. In time she'd understand and would probably even thank me. I took the book upstairs and put it away with the other OotS books in a spot she couldn't get to.

Then I took out "Dungeon Crawling Fools" and brought it down for her to read. What kind of parent would I be if I let her start a series on book 4? What message would I be telling her about the importance of pacing and continuity? A bad parent, that's the kind of parent I'd be.

When she finished DCF, I gave her Origin of PCs, then Paladin Blues, and so forth, going through the series in order and letting her keep them after she finished each one. As a nice plus, she even said she was glad to have read them in order and as a father of daughters I don't get to be right all that often.

At breakfast, we laugh at her retelling Belkar's finest moments which have the added joy of being brand-new to her, and she described a good-hearted but not overly bright new classmate as "kind of an Elan". With the benefit of hindsight it might have been a better idea to wait a little bit before letting her read Snips and Snails, but as long as my wife hasn't read it I can't get in trouble.

Anyway, to Rich, not only have you created something I really love, but I got to pass it on to my daughter and she loves it too. You've made us both happier (and I think we've both found it frequently thought provoking), and its also something we can share together. Thank you for that.

This is incredibly sweet. :smallsmile:

I'm curious though; what, specifically, about Don't Split the Party don't you want her to read yet? Granted, I'm not a parent myself, but I can't think of anything that leapt out at me as too mature for a 9 year old.

Also, I still remember getting my mother into this. I think it was the "Nale nail not-Nale" gag that had me laughing so hard she wondered what was up. She knew about the strip before, but that was what inspired her to go start reading her way through my book collection.

[Aolbain]

Which strips are those?

Properly the ones without sandworm sex.

[King of Nowhere]

I've tried to interest my little cousin in it, but while he enjoied single strips, his english isn't yet good enough to appreciate all of it. unfortunately, there's a vast gulf between "understanding a language" and "being good enough at a language that you can enjoy literature in it". That limited my capability to spread oots around.
I only succeeded with my brother and my best friend so far.

[Copperdragon]

People worry too much. Half of what they think will hurt their children won't be understood by them anyway, another quarter is amusing them, while they get the last quarter "might be something sexual" but then they flip on to something that interests them.

The violence is often very harsh, but also very cartoony. I doubt it's beyond them pulling of the heads from their lego-figures and Tom & Jerry are worse in regards to showing graphic violence.

If you let them read the stuff "early", they'll grow into it and understand more and more of what's happening. When remembering back, I constitute that's what happend with stuff I read when I was young and in retrospect, that was awesome.

Waiting with OotS until children are 13 to "cope with what's there" is imo very over the top.

But in some way I envy you people who have native speaking children so you can even give them OotS. :smallwink:

[Umberhulk]

I asked her if she liked it, and she responded with a mumbled "Mmhmm" while not even looking up from it. This is about the highest praise she can give.

As a nice plus, she even said she was glad to have read them in order and as a father of daughters I don't get to be right all that often.


This is really depressing, but only because it reminds me of my life. :)

[Crusher]

This is incredibly sweet. :smallsmile:

I'm curious though; what, specifically, about Don't Split the Party don't you want her to read yet? Granted, I'm not a parent myself, but I can't think of anything that leapt out at me as too mature for a 9 year old.

Also, I still remember getting my mother into this. I think it was the "Nale nail not-Nale" gag that had me laughing so hard she wondered what was up. She knew about the strip before, but that was what inspired her to go start reading her way through my book collection.



Well, its book #4. If I let her start the series on book #4, a local author would probably have called child protective services on me. I let her read Split the Party after she'd finished War and XPs.

[Grey Watcher]

Well, its book #4. If I let her start the series on book #4, a local author would probably have called child protective services on me. I let her read Split the Party after she'd finished War and XPs.

Ah, yes, that makes sense. I got the impression from your post that there was something in the book you didn't want her reading due to her age.

[Kish]

I believe he deliberately phrased it to sound like he thought OotS wasn't age-appropriate, the "twist" being that he only took the fourth book away from her in order to start her on the first book.

[Poppy Appletree]

I believe he deliberately phrased it to sound like he thought OotS wasn't age-appropriate, the "twist" being that he only took the fourth book away from her in order to start her on the first book.

Yeah, that was my conclusion as well.

[Crusher]

Ah, sorry, was trying to be entertaining.

[sam79]

Ah, sorry, was trying to be entertaining.

And succeeding, IMO. Thanks for the story!

[Lord Torath]

Which strips are those?
The more sexual ones. (Yes, we've had The Talk, several times with more info each time). Elan pretending to be invisible is fine (and one of their favorites!), and they really love the "didn't we leave the horses back at the exploding inn?" But just like Crusher, I don't want them to read too much out of order. So they only get non-plot-revealing stuff. Come October, they'll be 13, and I'll let them read the lot. Maybe by the time they get through Don't Split the Party, Book 5 will be out.

[fill-in-name]

Ah, sorry, was trying to be entertaining.

Yeah, I liked the twist. It made me smile.

[R_G_R]

These make me smile so much :smallsmile: I really hope Rich sees it...

[Grey Watcher]

Ah, sorry, was trying to be entertaining.

Heh, sorry. I've been working hard on an application for a training program and I guess I'm a bit tired as a result. It's a good story. :smallbiggrin:

[Gamgee]

I knew when I was 3 years old about the "facts of life". Nature shows. I reasoned that if animals had to reproduce, then humans had to. I also read nothing but books on dinosaurs, birds, and all sorts of science. So I guess I wasn't exactly normal.

Just sharing a possibility.

[Crusher]

I mentioned to my daughter this evening as I was putting her to bed (she and my wife have been out of town the last few days and just got back tonight) that I'd posted the story, and she had two quick reactions:

First, she noted that I botched the story a bit. It wasn't Split the Party she was reading at the table, it was War and XPs.

Second, she pulled out DCFs (which she apparently keeps under her pillow, explaining why I haven't been able to find it recently), cuddled up, and made me read her favorite page out loud. Its the one near the end where Celia hands Nale and Thog over to some guardsmen for imprisoning and their casting Ring of Truth leads to, among other things, some unfortunate corn-related revelations from Thog. She's probably read that page 20 times already but it still made her laugh out loud.

As a dad, that's good stuff.

[Living Oxymoron]

So, over her surprise and objection, I took the book away from her and told her that she's only in 4th grade and there were things she wasn't ready for yet. In time she'd understand and would probably even thank me. I took the book upstairs and put it away with the other OotS books in a spot she couldn't get to.

Then I took out "Dungeon Crawling Fools" and brought it down for her to read. What kind of parent would I be if I let her start a series on book 4? What message would I be telling her about the importance of pacing and continuity? A bad parent, that's the kind of parent I'd be.

That was really unexpected and made me laugh. I think Rich is making some fine apprentices here.

And, Crusher, you surely do rock as a father! Congratulations!:smallbiggrin:

[Clertar]

LOL that story was really nice and sweet :)



People worry too much. Half of what they think will hurt their children won't be understood by them anyway, another quarter is amusing them, while they get the last quarter "might be something sexual" but then they flip on to something that interests them.
+1

On this off-topic issue:

Other observations of Pirahã sexuality were a bit more shocking to my Christian sensibilities, especially when they involved clashes between our culture and Pirahã values. One afternoon during our second family stay among the Pirahãs, I walked out of the back room of our split-wood and thatched-roof home on the Maici into the central area of the house, which had no walls and in practice belonged more to the Pirahãs than to us. Shannon was staring at two Pirahã men lying on the floor in front of her. They were laughing, with their shorts pulled down around their ankles, each grabbing the other’s genitals and slapping each other on the back, rolling about the floor. Shannon grinned at me when I walked in. As a product of sexophobic American culture, I was shocked. “Hey, don’t do that in front of my daughter!” I yelled indignantly.
They stopped giggling and looked up at me. “Don’t do what?”
“That, what you’re doing, grabbing each other by the penis.”
“Oh,” they said, looking rather puzzled. “He doesn’t like to see us have fun with each other.” They pulled their pants up and, ever adaptable to new circumstances, changed the subject and asked me if I had any candy.
I never really needed to tell Shannon or her siblings much about human reproduction, death, or other biological processes. They got a pretty good idea of all that from watching the Pirahãs.

Daniel Everett, Don't sleep, there are snakes