So many things triggered this week's editorial. Raging angry tweets from a repentant dad describing how a culture of 'bants' and braggardly locker-room sexism continuously leads boys and men to consider the sexist treatment of women acceptable (and, ugh, harmless) normal everyday behaviour.

His impassioned tweets were thought provoking. Not least of all because the man had a daughter, and realised that at some point in her life she would be on the receiving end of such behaviour herself.

The other trigger was being the only male at a female-only table at a pub, listening to mums talking about their own fears of walking down a street - even in broad daylight and the fears they had for their own daughters.

Needless to say, these things strike a chord with me. A dad, writing a book blog with my daughter who is the apple of my eye and from the moment she screamed at the top of her lungs when she popped out of her mum, I swore to do everything in my power to look after her, care for her and nurture her.

Naturally there's only so much you can do to bring up your daughter to be strong, wary, worldly-wise and non-accepting of any sexist behaviour but the real effort is in educating our sons, not our daughters, to buck a trend and become a stereotype that has existed for far, far too long.

On a daily basis, I see women being harassed, getting unwanted attention, having to deal with 'harmless' flirting from men who have absolutely no idea what wretched arsehats they're being (apologies, I will try to keep my language under control). On one hand it's pathetic watching these idiots somehow dream their way through life believing that they're some sort of 'catch'. On the other hand it's menacing, because there's absolutely no doubt that men like this still hold a belief that it's a fine, fine way to assert their measly level of power over women, who are intelligent and wary enough not to respond.

Listening to the mum's anecdotes was spine chilling - more so than reading the tweets from the guy mentioned at the top of this article as these were people I know, kids I know. I sat silently listening, feeling like I needed to interject to apologise at every given opportunity for being male but too terrified to do so.

What can be done? Where can you start to tackle such a gigantic and all-encompassing problem that stems from childhood behaviour not addressed or discussed, that continues to grow like some festering rot, that leeches into practically everything that has impact and influence on our daily lives?

It has to start with boys - there is absolutely no reason why mums and dads cannot raise children who understand what it means to treat everyone with respect and as an equal. There is no excuse for that sleeveless beer-gut sexist caricature of the male species to continue to exist this far into the 21st century, no more than it was acceptable for that caricature to exist beyond the last few decades of the 20th. We see so many cases where fervent denial is quite often followed by aggression whenever high profile examples of everyday sexism become loud enough to hit the press or the media.

I've never understood the mentality of someone who thinks that they're somehow being charming by being overtly (and quite often sexually) threatening to someone they perceive as 'weaker' or an easy target. It disgusts me just as much as it disgusted the guy and the mums who inspired this blog post. Teach your sons that the modern world has no place for this crap any more.

The key to a successful marriage is knowing your boundaries. At no time is this more clearly defined than when loving husband turns to loving wife and says "Don't you get tired of reading that stuff? Why don't you try this instead?"

My wife is a kindle fan whereas I never get on with e-books - and she often finds herself mulling over the top 100 books in the free / paid for category, mumbling a mantra along these lines...

"Smut, soppy love story, smut, smut, biography, smut, smut, soppy love story, career girl puts love first, murder, horror, murder, soppy love story, and back to smut"

I sympathise. Looking at the Kindle Top Ten (and bearing in mind that my wife absolutely DOES NOT DO Science Fiction or Fantasy) it's slim pickings for someone who wants a little more from their reading material than - well smut!

"So what has this got to do with children's books?" I hear you ask. Well, here's a thing. Charlotte's book choices at the current Middle Grade stage of her reading journey is absolutely chock full of diversity, choice and now - more than ever before - a final nail in the coffin of those bloody awful "Books for Girls / Books for Boys" old fashioned marketing snake-oil tactics that really get everyone's back up.

But I'm now worried, because it feels like once she passes the excellent choices of YA, is she going to be repeating the same mantra my wife does once she gets to adult books?

Where does the path career off the edge of a cliff into the abyss of seemingly terrible cookie-cutter women's fiction choices that the chart suggests are popular?

These musings raise another point that I will admit to being horribly guilty of. Do we, as parents, interfere way too much in what our children's reading direction will be? I naturally love the idea that I'd be able to swap anecdotes about books I have loved and still love with Charlotte one day when she's older. I'm sure my wife feels the same way, but should we just back the heck up a tad and cross that bridge when it comes to it? Does parental influence cross over into - well - being pushy and interfering?

Secretly I sometimes wish my wife would pick up a copy of Watchmen and be as gripped by it as I was when I first read it. Or V for Vendetta. Or the splendour of the very first Rendezvous with Rama book as Cmdr Cook opens his eyes on the vastness of the inside of Rama when the lights first go on. Does my wife similarly wish I'd find some love for Laura and want to laugh, cry and cheer as she finds the perfect man?

The key to a successful marriage is knowing your boundaries. The other key is knowing (and being happy with) your own choices when it comes to literary material :)

Humans. Strange beasts aren't we? In our consumerist society we have so many methods of providing feedback to anything or anyone we purchase something from or have been supplied a product by.

Amazon reviews, customer surveys, even word of mouth all contribute to a mass dissection of our collective opinions on 'stuff' and of course the whole crux of writing and contributing to a children's book blog revolves around writing something that may convince or steer away others from grabbing the book, comic or product you're imparting your wisdom and experience on.

Sometimes I still feel a weird sense of guilt about trying to do so when it comes to things we've been sent 'for free' - and I still feel a bit uneasy about the whole 'parent blogger' thing of reading a piece of ringing praise for something that you know wouldn't perhaps garner such a positive response if you had to pay out your own hard earned cash for it.

It is slightly easier with books than juice drinks, admittedly. Anything that is underpinned by your own personal tastes can go either way, eliciting a positive or negative response that others may or may not agree with but it's still sometimes good to find yourself in a position where, despite a good case being made, you hugely disagree with someone over a particular book.

One recent title we reviewed really did fall into the cliched "Marmite" category. Both Charlotte and Mummy loved it. I just couldn't get on with it at all on any level and it was a great cause for debate for quite some time. I'm a complete wussbag when it comes to things like that so I always buckle under the majority vote (and with two girls at home calling the shots, it's always the best bet to tuck your chin in and go with the flow unless you really like long-drawn out arguments! I do have a stubborn streak but where Mummy and Charlotte are concerned, it often comes to naught!)

But returning to the question, why do we humans feel the need to review things? I feel like I've been doing it since time began - initially writing videogame reviews (don't bother searching for any, they're terrible!) and realising that writing about videogames really does bring out the very best and worst in people (and sometimes the worst in yourself).

Children's books are a lot easier to write about, the whole community is entirely different, nice people are everywhere and though there are arguments and counter-arguments that the children's publishing industry is female-dominated and that could well be the reason it's a much nicer place than the videogames industry, that's a debate for a separate editorial!

For us it's the chance to share something with others, to build a sort of 'You liked this? Me too!' rapport with other lovely book folk or in some cases, to get into a well-reasoned debate or discussion about why a particular title didn't hit the mark for us (or you).

It's also partly a reward for a job well done. In instances where we've written something nice about someone's book and they've responded saying they like what we wrote, the reward is double-sided and it means a heck of a lot to know that someone whose work you've evaluated has responded in kind.

We put a lot of effort into what we write, and sometimes I think that gets lost in the assumption that because we write a lot of reviews, we do so without thinking about the content. Each review, drawn from mental and scribbled notes of our shared experience during readings, often may look fairly short and concise on the blog page but will be the end result of a lot of trial and error. I came to the conclusion that anyone who manages to get their child to write reviews that are pleasurable to read and informative really has a prodigy on their hands because even now, with Charlotte old enough to pick up the keyboard and peck out reviews herself, the end results wouldn't really cut the mustard. It seems to be far more easy to distil a verbal discussion into a review than it would to watch a child put together a readable review, marrying what they're thinking to what they're typing.

(That's not to say I write pleasurable readable copy every time. You can probably tell when it's been a long day or a book has been a bit of a chore to get through!)

So in answer, we review because we love those moments when reviews receive any kind of feedback - even if it's just in passing and we also love to write about books and later hear that someone has taken our recommendation seriously, has purchased a book, and has loved it as much as we have. Yep that makes it all worthwhile really and that's why we'll carry on...

Is this the best year yet for children's non-fiction books? We really believe so and the year's far from over yet. Pop in for another random wombling about books in this week's editorial...

Awesome image courtesy of Claire Barker (@ClaireBarker on Twitter)

It's a tough thing to admit it but this year has already been so hectic. I started a new job and as she moves through year 2, Charlotte is sent home with more homework, and is taking on new challenges like learning the piano.

I began to worry that the blog might start to slip away from us.  My new job means no social media in the daytime, no promoting of blog posts and no surreptitiously writing reviews during daylight hours.

We still love books though, and that header image sums up just how 'golden' our reading time together still is (and I know @TheStrollingMum feels exactly the same way too). I started to realise that it's actually no bad thing to sit down in the evenings and type up a couple of our reviews. We can rein ourselves in so if you spot that review numbers go from several a day to one, you can bet we are pouring our book-loving hearts and souls into each one.

Our reviews are still compiled in the same way. I take mental or written notes of what Charlotte thinks about a book, and the discussions that surround each new book we read are still as animated and passionate as ever they were. Thank goodness because I can't imagine what it would be like if we really had to give up being ReadItDaddy (and believe me, it will take a lot more than 'just being a bit busier' to make us want to throw in the towel, in fact I can't think of anything that would).

If only there were more hours in the day though, eh?

(Huge thanks to Claire Barker for her inspirational image, what a fantastic little picture!)

EEEEEEEEEP!

One of the trickiest things about writing a regular blog that's designed to be a mouthpiece for your child's opinion is the assumption that the blog is "all you". It's tricky, and I've often wondered how other kidlit book bloggers balance things and try to ensure that the voice you read (hear) is the voice of the organ grinder, not the typing monkey.

I always go out of my way to say "We" rather than "I" in blog posts, opinion pieces and correspondence with the lovely booky folk who send us books. I'm always at pains to point out that, though I might hate the very BONES of a book that's all about a twinkly fairy and her glitter-covered pals, Charlotte would absolutely eat that book alive.

Most importantly though, the whole deal around the "Book of the Week" nominations. Sometimes we just can't agree on what should be book of the week and some quite animated discussions have taken place when Charlotte's rooting for one book and I'm rooting for another. Should I just politely step to one side and leave it at her choice? (The simple answer is "quite possibly" but sometimes it really is impossible to pick just one brilliant book nomination per week).

We've also had some quite amusing conversations about fame. "Who are these people you talk to on Twitter?" asks Charlotte, when I show her tweets where lovely authors, illustrators and book folk have chatted to us over everyone's favourite social media distraction. I explain that sometimes authors and illustrators say hi, favourite things we've said, and give us brilliant feedback and encouragement. I wonder if one day through the magic of the internet, where nothing ever seems to go away, whether Charlotte as a grown up will trawl through the blog or through tweets or facebook posts to find out how ReadItDaddy came about (I really hope she does, if for no other reason than to hear her youthful voice reflected in the books she's loved and read).

I had a point somewhere, it seems to have rolled under the settee - ah yes, there it is - the point is simply this. Please, please give my gorgeous girl her props because really it's her opinion on books that matters, her favourite bits and her exclamations of joy as a parcel of books arrives and lights up her world. This is her blog and I aim to make sure that in 2015 that is made clearer than ever before.

I'm just the monkey who presses the buttons to put words on the screen because the organ grinder can't (yet!) but watch out world when she can!

Our usual default expression when reading books. That's a good thing, right? Right?

“We need a critical culture in books. We need for people to say what they want about a book, for a healthy book culture.” “Books are ideas. They are debate starters. They are conversation starters. They are meant to spark a range of opinion.”