Gatekeepers - writing for the under-13s

Hello everyone. I'm a long-time lurker, very new forum member.

I write children's books (and books for grown-ups). They are very obscure. One of the difficulties I have encountered with children's writing is that I have to please both the parent and the child.

My parents pretty much let me pull anything I wanted off the book shelf, reasoning that if I was curious and engaged enough to look into a subject, it was probably going to enlighten rather than traumatise me.

But I've had feedback from some parents that indicate that the historical presence of some subjects, like slavery, for instance, would put them off the book. No indication of whether their child feels the same, obviously.

Parents, do you gatekeep stories? If so, why? What are your criteria?

Other writers, do any of you write for children, and if so, what's your take on this?

All parents gatekeep stories, if only to the extent of deciding which stories to keep around. We differ on what our criteria are. I have no problem with my kids learning about slavery. I might balk at The Exorcist, or The Godfather. Anyway, its all about videogames these days.