Reply With QuoteI wouldn't be comfortable with that topic at all! I would say not appropriate, but then I also think teaching 9yo children about anal sex is inappropriate too and that's what's done in the UK.
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Creative writing topic for 9 year olds.... Murder in the Theme Park
Is it appropriate...?
Students were given the task in class and only finished it at home if they didn't have it completed, most parents were not aware of the task as it was completed in class, until another parent sms'd them....
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I wouldn't be comfortable with that topic at all! I would say not appropriate, but then I also think teaching 9yo children about anal sex is inappropriate too and that's what's done in the UK.
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It makes me wonder how short our childrens "childhood" is becoming....
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As for the murder in the theme park i find that a little disturbing, maybe if they were a few years older and fully understood what murder is.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
What??? My kids wouldn't be doing it.
BellyBelly Member
It doesn't sound appropriate to me, but I think it's like a lot of those kid's books in the Goosebumps series or Paul Jennings - maybe it's based around something like this. Have a chat to the teacher and find out where the idea comes from. Putting it in context may help a bit but I still don't think it would be appropriate.
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Well I wrote a murder story when I was 9 years old during creative writing at school. It took place at school and all my friends were clamouring to be a character in it and the murderer character was an axe murderer so the story got a bit gory. The teacher was fully aware of it and didn't discourage me at all. In the story, we (my friends and I) were all trying to catch the murderer - a la Enid Blyton. In fact, the story got even gorier because there were so many suggestions from the other kids about additional details to put in.
I can assure you I am perfectly sane and have no psychopathic tendencies, I not have been abused in any way, nor was I permitted to watch or read inappropriate material.
Kids can be gruesome little things at times. Fairytales can be quite horrific too (eating up the 3 little pigs, the witch wanting to eat Hansel and Gretel) when you think about it...but they are all about giving them that delightful chill while still feeling quite safe.
I'd be interested to find out the context, remembering that kids generally don't have the same scope of understanding about murder as an adult does.
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I have to agree with Curly. Would be interested to hear what context it is in and what the previous lessons/books etc that are being read behind it all.
My first reaction is to be gobsmacked but then I think about when I was about that age I used to love playing Cluedo (the boardgame) and taht was all about guessing where the murder was and what with.
As a child though I never thought about gory stuff. I didnt really think about it at all.
Let us know how you go at the school.
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Yeah, I'm going to agree with Curly on this one. I vividly recall some of the creative writing stories I did in primary school, the vast majority descended into gore and murder mysteries by the time 'the end' (in lovely cursive script lol) rolled around... and I don't think I was a particularly morbid child. Just found it interesting as it was a bit 'taboo', so to speak - I wasn't permitted to watch M-rated movies so I'd write my own M-rated (or at least pretty hardcore PG lol) tales for assignments
Context puts things in a whole new perspective, really... although I can't recall a teacher ever setting a similar task when I was in school - more just 'Okay, this week you have to write a story about (eg) cruise ships' and I turn in some story about a murder mystery in which the captain is thrown overboard with no life-jacket, the sauna door is mysteriously locked, leaving clients to fry in their own juices and there are blood spatters everywhere I could find an opportunity...
I'd vouch it's as age-appropriate as it can be for kids of that age - I'm sure they all have vivid imaginations and even if they don't grasp the reality of 'murder', I'd bet it's fun for them to let loose and write about something a bit 'naughty', kwim? Probably gets better results than asking them to write about the family of ducklings down at the pond :/
BellyBelly Member
I wouldn't be happy with this at all as a parent but I think Alibaby has an important point coming from a teacher.
I huess I would go to the teacher to get the absolute facts so you can really know how you feel
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It would freak my DD who is nearly 9 out and she wouldn't be able to do it. I guess if they were given a free choice and that what a student wrote about because it interests them then it would be OK
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Well, there's a whole literary genre - murder mysteries - that encompass everything from the morbidly gruesome to fantastically tame...think Agatha Christie. Kids are exposed to 'whodunnit' type conundrums at school too (the ones like there was a man found dead in the room with a goldfish, how did he die?) - so hmmm, while it's not my choice of topic it could be really engaging to some kids. My DD tells me that last year one of the teachers with 9 & 10 yr olds had them write spooky stories, and the murder theme came up in a lot of those stories.
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If DD nearly 9 came home with that story to write I would not let her do it, knowing the type of child she is it would upset her very much.
Regards,
Dianne
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
but out of all the wonderful things in the world to write about/investigate, they choose that?
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Yeah, I agree that there are lots more fantastic (literally! why get weighed down with the negative stuff of reality so early?) things to write about at this age. I don't think I'd be upset enough to complain, just disappointed I suppose.
In what context are kids being taught about anal sex in the UK, Lady Zaidie?!?
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In that primary school children MUST be taught that homosexuality is great and this is how it's done, boys.
I don't mind my son knowing that some boys like boys, or that some girls like girls. They marry them and can be two daddies or two mummies. But I don't want mechanics of the love lives taught! I'd rather it focus on emotions rather than mechanics at that age.
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Goodness. I was hoping it was in the context of child protection.
It's hard for kids to just be kids these days.
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