She doesn't like it! - Page 2

[mommy2abigail]

Hehe JMO! No, I wont be taking them away from her...she would have an attack, and you know I'm all into lazywhatevermakesherhappysoshedoesn'tscreamatme parenting now anyway! TBPH tho, *I* kinda find some of those classics boring.: And I love to read. So I can understand her pov.

I will try again in a few months, maybe she will like them a bit more then. I just hate that she got sucked into the character/mainstream junk in the first place, you know? It's like it puts blinders on them so they don't even want to look at any other types of books! Although we did read the first 6 magic tree house books together..but that's not exactly quality literature either!

[aprildawn]

My youngest DD (who is one day older than your DD, btw) won't sit much to be read to. She gets on a princess jag for awhile, then it passes. Then it's Skippy Jon Jones, then it's Miss Spider, etc. etc.

I'm like you, though. I read classics to my oldest DD starting when she was 2. People didn't believe she'd sit through them. Really, I think she just loved being with me doing whatever I was doing. She's still like that. For example, she'll cook dinner with me, but won't eat it because it's "gross."

DD2 just isn't the same. She likes what she likes, and that's it.

I just remembered, though. When DD1 was about this age she was obsessed with the princess stuff. I was so sick of it. So, I grabbed a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales and started reading her the actual fairy tales, not the Disney-fied versions. She actually liked them.

[meetoo]

i wouldn't take them away. My 3.5 yr old is currently obsessed with comics books, so we read tons of them and you know what? Comics books have much more vocab then i ever would have imagined, they also have much more involved story lines then many other books I would read him. So while it may not be Charlotte's Web, they do have value and most importantly and the reason I read them is he just plan old loves them. I do have "mommy gets to pick" story time too the though LOL.

[meetoo]

[QUOTE=mommy2abigail;13800424}
I will try again in a few months, maybe she will like them a bit more then. I just hate that she got sucked into the character/mainstream junk in the first place, you know? It's like it puts blinders on them so they don't even want to look at any other types of books! Although we did read the first 6 magic tree house books together..but that's not exactly quality literature either! [/QUOTE]

Has far as quality literature whos to say... I don't always feel like reading classics. Sometimes I read crappy novels from the check out line. And I even like them!! I do understand totaly about the commercialized thing though. I managed to avoid that all with my DD she never got to into that kind of thing, but My DS oh my. He spent 20 minutes telling our new dr about a Lego Batman game his cousin lent him. I'm sitting there the entire time wondering how in my parenting journey he ended up playing a lgeo batman game in the first place.

[skueppers]

I agree that she might just not be developmentally ready. My daughter recently turned 4.5, and she's only in the last month or so been interested in hearing fairly simple chapter books. Almost all of the books we have around the house are quality books, and she's been hearing original Grimm's fairy tales and the like for years.

I agree with the others who said that quality children's literature doesn't have to be from 100+ years ago. The Ambleside Online booklists are all older books in part because they're trying to select books that are out of copyright. That doesn't mean there aren't more recent books that would fit in with Charlotte Mason's ideas.

You might take a look at the book finder at Simply Charlotte Mason for suggestions.

[AAK]

Just another thought, the Beatrix Potter stories are also done well on dvd. I found that with my kids and the classics (esp classics that are wordy like Pooh, or where the language is different) it worked better to introduce first on the TV and then later, introduce the book. We aren't TV heavy here at all, but that worked better for us with those titles. But seriously, I think some of the children's classics are boring to read. I really have a hard time with Pooh, it is like they never edited the thing and Milne got out of hand with wordiness (my opinion). So, I totally understand when kids can't sit through them.

There are MANY quality children's books out there though. It shouldn't be tough to find some. And yes, keep the princess books. Maybe also check out the "Princess and the Pea" or whatever to branch out from them from time to time.

Amy

[theretohere]

Originally Posted by mommy2abigail

thanks for your replies. she has tons of books...and yes, I am happy that she enjoys reading with me. We have everything, from classics, to twaddle and everything in between. We do read the picture book classics as well. I don't know about taking the twaddle (princess) books away, she loves thme and it would be devastating for her. Maybe she is just a bit too young. She turned 4 on March 31, so about 6 weeks ago. With everything else she is in Kindy level, and I guess with reading she is too, just not kindy according to CM... she does like poetry sometimes, so we read that...and dr.suess too. We have the pig a party/mouse a cookie books, and lots of other good ones. Thanks a bunch, maybe I will just put away the classics for a few months or so.

She might be ready for Kindy skill wise, but not emotionally. CM is a lot more rigorous then it looks and it's a big jump.
I'd put them away and try some middle ground for a while.

[craft_media_hero]

Well, what's the most important here? Reading for life, right? People who read for pleasure don't always read classics---compare the princess stories to a good sci-fi or "trashy" dramatic novel you might enjoy. The point is that reading is fun as well as a learning activity.

But I understand that you want your girl to enjoy these stories. This is just what we do, which may or may not apply to you....

We read every day with my (5yo) dd, and pretty much have her whole life. When she was younger, I would keep a stack of visually interesting board books or books that have great rhythm (Dr. Seuss!) We would read in 5 or 10 minute spats---any book she was interested in, any time all day, taking "little kid" books with us everywhere. I'm sure lots of families do this.

Reading was a very fun, positive activity at that age, never a drag for her. You don't want her to associate reading with being a droning, boring, academic activity. LOVE of reading is the most important thing you can give her, Beatrix Potter will come later; I promise!

That said, we have cultivated a habit of enjoying a bit of "heavy reading" (Through the Looking Glass, Peter Pan, etc.) before bedtime. When she was smaller, we would read several short "fluffy" books and then finish off with longer one, or one with less pictures, or something "literary" (Shel Silverstein esp. for weaning kids off the mega bright commercial stuff).

At that age, I admit, part of my motivation was to read for a really long time to wear her out before bed, LOL, but the effect has been that she now is able to enjoy the longer books (Peter Rabbit, non-illustrated folk tales and such) that at 3 or 4 she just didn't care to hear.

Now that she's older, we still read our old board and little golden books, but our big reading time is the bed time story, which is almost always longer (the story can last over several days---younger kids don't enjoy this til later?) and is not limited to "child" vocabulary. She doesn't interrupt to ask a ton of questions or fidget. We've settled in that this is a quiet time to relax and listen to mom (or dad) read a nice long story. This has never been forced, tho. We tried Peter Rabbit before, and she wasn't interested. We'd read a few pages, and put it back on the shelf. Recently, it's come back up and seems to hold her attention.

Don't despair, just put the "big books" on the shelf for a few days and just get down and really have fun reading with your kid. Slip a longer story in from time to time to see if she's more tolerant.

I will say that the badly written stuff has slowly been weeded out. I don't give away the ones she's attached to (Mickey's Christmas Carol I know; Dickens, right?). We do have lil golden books of Pinochio and other "commercial" stuff; but I pick and choose what works for us.

ie--We may read Grimm's Fairy Tales for read-aloud time, but I may give her the My Little Pony books for her b-day. Why? Because I think they have high literary quality? Ha! No, they make me pretty gaggy, but I know my budding reader would nearly explode with joy if they were hers, and she'd enjoy the act of reading. <shrug>

My Lil Ponies are her style; not mine. I'm an old fashioned fairy tale kinda girl. And she's okay with that. She's a sparkly princess kinda girl. And I'm okay with that, too. I'm not going to plaster her room with it, but if a little pony story makes her happy, who am I to deny that, eh?

I've heard some good advice that's hard to do: hold a little back. If it's a book that might become dry after a chapter, only read a page. This drives kids crazy! They want more! You must not give in, lol! If they are still a little curious or hungry to find out--the book mom only gives us a taste of will become anticipated.

[mommy68]

Originally Posted by yippityskippity

Not every adult likes the same type of books, so why should every child?

Originally Posted by theretohere

At 4 she's young to be starting CM. I would work on cutting down or out completely the twaddle if you want to do CM, and give her some time to mature.

I agree with both of the above comments. I'd give it some time and go back to it later.

I also agree that we should teach our children that reading is fun and by taking away something they actually "enjoy" reading will only help push them in to thinking that reading is hard work or possibly a chore that they don't want to do. I think it's important to let them read what interests them. As they get older they will learn to appreciate a wider variety.

[elizawill]

i don't see the disney princess fairy tales as a complete waste to a child. you can actually catapult into some great discussions with these stories. even if you hate the stereotypes in the books, use it to your advantage and let it serve as a launching point for discussion. compare and contrast. ykwim?

OP, a really great collection of classics and fairytales with somewhat short stories and beautiful pictures are the following books:

a treasury of children's literature
the classic fairytale treasury
classic children's stories

these are based on the original versions, and the books are just fabulous. we've read them since my dd was 3, and they have always held her attention. we have all 3 and still enjoy reading them. the velveteen rabbit is another we love. we have an illustrated version by margery williams.

we used these books a lot as part of my dd's kindergarten curriculum.

[mommy2abigail]

THanks again for the ideas and replies! Craft_madia_hero, that is kind of what we do...I will read her picks first and then read something I pick...at the very least it will bore her to sleep!
I may try to movie versions of Peter Rabbit, I saw those the other day at the store and was wondering about them. We did find a boxed set of Scholastic books on dvd which included lots of classics (29?) and from that sparked an interest in Harry the Dirty Dog (which we found at the thrift store!) and a few others that we hadn't read before.
Just to be clear, I absolutely DO let her pick what books to read. I would never deny her her chioce of books or take something away from her that she loves! I just want her to like other types of books IN ADDITION to the ones she loves now.
Elizawill, thanks for the suggestions, I believe we have two of those...but they may be different versions. Do you have a link to amazon so I can see what they look like? Thanks!

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by mommy2abigail

Elizawill, thanks for the suggestions, I believe we have two of those...but they may be different versions. Do you have a link to amazon so I can see what they look like? Thanks!

here are links.


A treasury of children’s literature: http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Child...2910314&sr=1-1

classic children's stories: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DN%26um%3D1


the classic fairytale treasury: http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Fairy-...ref=pd_sim_b_2

[mommy2abigail]

thanks! Those are different than what we have...I will have to try to find those you suggested. She actually does pretty well when there are pictures, so some of our classic book collections are working well atm since there are pictures on every other page or so. Off to look for those books!

[elizawill]

the stories are very good & the pictures are lovely. some stories even make me cry (the matchstick girl is terribly sad). we love these books & you could get them all under $15 including shipping if you buy used at amazon. that's a great deal!

[mommy2abigail]

woo hoo! I found them all on amazon...for less than $1 each! Yeah for amazon!:

[craft_media_hero]

Nice!

Sorry, I realize that was a realllly long post ^^ I meant it as a reassurance; it sounds like you're totally doing the right thing.

It's great to have a community of people to share with!

[St. Margaret]

I just read the Read-Aloud Handbook, and it had studies of how all these adult book lovers (English teachers, librarians, professors, authors, etc) LOVED series like Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High, Goosebumps, etc., as kids. And comic books, too-- that was like the #1 favorite as youths. So I wouldn't sweat it. Reading as something worthwhile, something that coveys fun stories, as something you do together-- that's supposed to be the biggest thing to create a skilled, avid reader later in life. And there are thousands of great books that I would enjoy more than Potter or Milne. We have lots of Barefoot Books, Dr. Seuss... I would check out the many lists like in this book or online, all over the place, for recs, if it would make you both more happy

[mommy2abigail]

yeah you are right...I'm an avid reader now, and I read through the entire baby-sitters club series in 4-6 grades...

[Just My Opinion]

double post!

[Just My Opinion]

Hey, I still skim The Baby-Sitter's Club when I am in the bookstore :