JR is almost 8, and although he’s really struggling at school he’s starting to take an interest in the world around him, and in particular the current affairs he sees on the news. I however am concerned with what he sees on those programmes and would like to preserve his innocence just for a little bit longer, also he has quite a sensitive personality and a lot of the things that he sees can be quite upsetting to him. Having said that I don’t want to quell his thirst for finding out about the world, and this is always a difficult balancing act.

However a few weeks ago whilst browsing the shelves of WHSmith in between connecting trains at Birmingham New Street I discovered something which I realised he’d like, ‘The Week Junior’- a children’s magazine for 8-14 year olds is quite like a newspaper in that it is full of current affairs articles from the previous week, film and entertainment reviews, puzzle pages and other interesting facts. All of the articles are quite short and written in a child friendly way, and at £1.99 a week it’s an expense that won’t break the bank.  If you fancy trying it out but aren’t sure whether or it your children would like it you can always do what I’ve done at set up a subscription and get your first 6 issues free.

So far we’ve had 1 issue and JR seems to be quite interested in reading it, or rather having me read it to him. He is at the younger end of the age bracket though and does sometimes need things explaining to him, but to be honest he’s still only young.

So What Did JR Actually Think?

At first JR loved reading ‘The Week Junior’ but now says that he doesn’t want to read it anymore after being told by someone at school that only boring geeks like reading the news, this is something which has upset both me and JR greatly as we both loved our special time each week sharing the news, and I hope we can get back to it soon.