Why You Should Read/Watch Things for Children

Some people dismiss children's books or children's movies as being juvenile, boring, or not worth their time. While that can be true for some, it can also be true for any other genre. In this post, I want to make an argument for why you should read or watch things made for children and I hope you'll be convinced. And a quick note, I know not all of these apply to all of what I'm talking about. I'm being more general.

They're simple

Raise your hand if you've ever gotten confused trying to keep track of all the characters, goals, and sub-plots of YA or adult fiction. *raises hand* You sometimes need a flowchart to keep track of it all. The same goes for movies, especially the ones based off of books. They try to cram so much in at once, it gets muddled.

Children's books are often far less complicated. Not all, but most. There's a character, a few friends, the baddie, and a goal. Sometimes its just nice to go back to the basics of storytelling, you know?

They're short

Attention spans seem to be getting shorter, while books and movies get longer. What's with the 600 page books these days? Or the 2 hour and 35 minute Avengers? (Long run times are only allowed for things like The Lord of the Rings.) I don't always want to read a book heavy enough to use as a weapon.

Sometimes I want a nice easy read that doesn't take a lot of effort to understand or get through. Children's books are often under 400 pages and their movies under 2 hours. Perfect for when you don't want to commit as much time.

They have good lessons

Or might I say, more easily accessible lessons. Can you tell me something you learned, something valuable that is, from the last YA book you read? Probably not. They have lessons, but it takes more digging to find them. And then there are those sad books that don't have them at all.

While kid's books and movies might sometimes whack you upside the face with the lesson, at least it's easy to see. It's often easier for me to understand the point of something when written for children. But that doesn't mean it's a simpler lesson. Kids books have just as much depth to them (most of the time) as any other type of books.

They have good worlds

I tend to find better built worlds in children's literature or movies than in older ones. I think the problem is we spend too much time focusing on characters and plot (both good things) that we forget we need a good world to set it in.

You don't always need a wonderful world to set your story in, but think how much better it is when you do. People love the world of Narnia or the ones from the Rick Riordan books or Hogwarts just as much as they love the stories themselves. We want to go live there. And those are all from kid's books. I can think of plenty of movie worlds I'd love to live in too.

They have heart

Older books don't always move me. (Except A Monster Calls. I cried so hard over that one.) Same with older movies. Once again, people get too caught up in telling a cool story or using a bunch of green screen that they forget one of the most important parts- a story's heart.

Kid's books and movies far more often make me laugh out loud, cry, have my heart broken, and more. Look at A Series of Unfortunate Events or Wonder. If a story makes me feel something beyond momentary humor, then I'm likely to love it. And I seem to find this more in things meant for children than for teens or adults (although there are plenty of wonderful ones there too).

They're not really for children

YA and adult books are dark and brooding. They're full of deep themes and looks at the degradation of society. But that doesn't mean I want to read them, no matter how true they are.

Things for children are really more often for us. We write them to give ourselves hope, watch them because we know we'll find a nugget of truth buried in the middle of the humor. Not all kids things are like that *ahem*Emoji Movie*ahem* but I find a lot of them, if they're made well and come from the heart, are.

Just to finish this post off, I'll give you two quotes by C. S. Lewis, master of both serious adult books and some of the best love children's books, for you to think over.

Let's talk! What's your view on books and movies for children? Do you ignore them or are you willing to branch out? Finally, what was the last book that made you cry? Tell me in the comments.

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