why aren't I given the option to shade on my document?

Dear Lainie J Comeaux,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you. 

Per the description shared, I would like to summarize your concern i.e., you would like to shade the content in the Word document but you are not able to find the option.

If my understanding is correct, I would like to let you know that shading feature is available in the Word application but not in the Word for the web (as per my test). So, I suggest you to open your Word document in the Word application to apply the shading to the Word document.

In addition, I would like to suggest you to add your valuable idea in the Word · Community (microsoft.com) which is the best place to improve the Microsoft products.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Mia | Microsoft Community Moderator

You can apply shading using the Shading button in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. If you just click in a paragraph, the shading will be applied to the paragraph. If you select text first, the shading will be applied to the selected text. For finer control of shading, you need to access the Shading tab of the Borders and Shading dialog, accessed via the button at the bottom of the Borders dropdown in the Paragraph group.

There you can select colors and patterns (including different percentages of shading) and opt for either paragraph or text shading.