When did your kids start appreciating irony?

[Grammar Stage Parent]

A year ago, I decided to start my daughter at WWE 3 in part because her summary of "The Emperor's New Clothes", which the first lesson of WWE 4 focused on, missed the details hinting at the irony of the story's theme. On this and other occasions when she read it, she took the humour on a "slapstick" level: a man walking around naked, and nothing more.

 

Having graduated from WWE 3, we tackled lesson 1 from WWE 4 last night, and, even though her diction is much stronger now, she doesn't seem much closer in appreciating that it is a child and a commoner who declares the emperor has no clothes, and that it is the powerful who are all self-deluded.

 

She is excelling at the logic program we have started, as per SWB's recommendations, so she appears to be fairly bright for her age.

 

At what point did your kids start developing a sense of irony?

 

Daughter: 10; Singapore Primary Mathematics 4A; Story of the World Level 4; Writing Strands 4; Spelling Workout Level E; Science experiment books recommended in WTM; WWE4; FLL 4; Mindbenders

 

Son: 7: First Language Lessons Level 2; Singapore Primary Mathematics 2A; general handwriting practice and reading practice; SOTW 1; WWE 1; Science experiment books recommended in WTM

[Mom22ns]

I don't remember, but my son's is pretty well developed and my daughter does get it.

[Tullia]

Don't remember an exact age, but it was about the same time the dear boy began to accept the fact that his parents were fallible and human. It was probably late middle school/early high school. He'd discovered that basic truth earlier, but it took him awhile to accept it.

 

My experience has been that appreciation of literature and history is very dependent on a student's maturity level and personal experiences. And, all too often, it's the negative experiences that help spur achievement in that regard. If, at 10, your dd seems slow to catch on I wouldn't worry about it. Other things being equal, she will eventually develop a sense of irony. The wonderful thing about reading good/great literature is that it's worth reading more than once, and a person can experience the same book in different ways as they gain experience.

[elegantlion]

I think my son was born understanding irony. However, we've discussed in less formal settings for years.

[Julie in MN]

Somewhere I heard that irony was the last skill to be taught in literary analysis. Maybe it was at my work. We use Oedipus for that skill, and it seems it takes the whole lesson group before the kids really start to get it. It isn't studied until the "11th grade" level (although many of our students are doing that level by about 8th grade).

 

I'd say my ds has had an understanding of ironic life situations since even younger than 8th (he has adult siblings), but not sure he would discuss it in literature yet.

Julie