Reading to Children

[everettdaddy]

I have posted this other places, but thought i might see what you all thought on the subject.

I am sitting in my favorite chair reading my copy of "1984", and I start thinking to myself. Why shouldn't I be reading this to the children?

Is there a reason that I don't start them off at an early age, in this day and age of "Dora the Explorer" and "Blues Clues" (For the younger ones, and "Pokemon" and Comic books (For the older ones)? Should one really worry about what society is doing on the outside world, when someone is trying to raise their children to be better people than everyone else.

I say that the earlier the better. Sure, they are not going ot understand "Johnny Got His Gun" By Dalton Trumbo or "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.. Buyt that is what being a parent is all about. Opening doors for their little brains to enter rooms never explored.

Should one ignore "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne or "Moby Dick" By Herman Melville just because they live in the middle of the United States and will probably never see theocean in their lives. NO... Then why should the children suffer. It gives their imaginations a chance to grow.

Now, would I read the "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson : or "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy : .. Probably not. The only reason is that the books are so long, and that the childs interests are in the action-packed or simple ideals presented.

So I leave you with this thought, the next time you are sitting around doing nothing with the children, and you want to do something that mainsteram society will give you a load of crap for, start the children of our future on the classics.

It will be fun to see what the future generations think about how we live today!

[ktbug]

i think kids would enjoy the hitchikers' guide series.
i can't wait to read it to mine.

[Potty Diva]

I agree with opening a child's imagination, but we need to do things that are age appropriate, IMO. No Dora or barbie, but books that are filled with concepts and ideas they can grasp and will be able to remember, and yes understand.

Kailey is 5 and we have started on some short chapter books and we talk and explore some philosophical ideas. I would love to read her Anna Karenina, but I also want her to appreciate it.

Since she is a beginning reader we want reading to be something she wants to do and gets excited about, so far it is working. We are huge readers at our house, we have tall shelves in every room (including hers) so I don't see Kailey not being a big reader herself. I think once she starts developing a larger understanding of books (like the chapter books we have started) then we will begin to read more books with deep and more complex plots.

[MamaVolpe]

Love my American Girls

If you are looking for some great younger kids books try the American Girls series. I love them. They are a great way to introduce some american history to younger kids in a way that will engage them and still be age approprate.

[musicman]

I read everything to my boy, from ingredient labels and roadsigns, to Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein, to Wordsworth and Thoreau... sharing language with him whenever I possibly can! He's going to be one of those kids who can write paragraphs in Kindergarten

[Potty Diva]

Musicman~ we do the same with kailey, minus Wordsworth and instead of writing paragraphs she is creating works of art

[Blue Dragonfly]

Everttdaddy, that is awesome.

My ma (a teacher) saw a study that said the biggest indicator of whether or not children (especially boys) will be readers is if thier fathers read to them.

And I remember my ma reading the Hobbit to me when I was 7. I was consuming a Nancy Drew book in a day by the time I was in grade 2, then the library ran out, so I switched to the Hardy Boys.

I think kids can grasp a lot more than we give them credit for, My ma ran a literacy program in her library for elementary school children (who were having trouble reading at their grade level). The story that blew me away was a girl in grade 6, after a few months in the program came to my ma all excited about the Count of Monte Cristo. I can't even wrap my head around much of it. But this little girl was so excited about it.

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

My DS is too young (1yo) to understand anything beyond Pat the Bunny, but as he starts to get older I can't wait to share with him books like:

Fahrenheit 451
Moby-Dick
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Time Machine
Jekyll & Hyde
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Lord of the Rings
The Three Musketeers
Kim
20,000 Leagues
Treasure Island
Horatio Hornblower
The Island of Dr. Moreau

I could go on and on.

I work with seventh graders at a charter school and they just finished reading Jekyll & Hyde and most of them it was over their heads, or it just didn't engage them, and that blew me away! : I just this week put together a list of classic literature for them to choose from (because their next project is to read a piece of classic lit and then there will be a series of projects based on their reading). I know that quite a few of them are going to fight the idea of reading tooth and nail :, and I don't want DS to be one of those. I plan on working with him intensely on his reading and comprehension skills from a very early age, so that he enjoys reading and - more importantly - enjoys reading good literature.

[Vellorian]

I have read studies that have found that reading to children is one of the best ways to ensure they are good readers themselves. (And good readers are almost universally good students and smarter kids overall.)

While I'd question some of the highly sensual elements of a book like 1984 (mind you, I read it as a young teen and was extremely titilated by it), I've had no compuncion sharing some of my other reading with my kids, up to and including the first few books of the Dune series.

My wife reads an hour of King James Bible to them every day and it's amazing how good their comprehension of it is!

[frontierpsych]

I'm definitely considering this, since most of the books I own are considered classic literature. I'm sure I have more than a few that are appropriate. I was always WAY ahead in reading for my age. Part of it was that I loved proving people wrong. I read War and Peace in third grade, because my teacher told me it was too hard! I never would have accomplished something like that had my father not had these type of books lying around the house. Challenge your children to do amazing things. They might just surprise you!

[Potty Diva]

Kailey is now in first grade and loves reading.

Currently we are reading (I am reading to her) Turn of the Screw. She is totally in love with the story.

She also enjoys reading her bible. She just one day out of the blue picked it up and started reading it. It'is the first "book" she has spontaneously picked up. She even has a page marker

[Potty Diva]

oh! and today she wanted me to spell a word for her and so instead of me telling her right off, we got the dictionary down. She didn't know what one was?

Anyway, after that she started trying to look up words. So cool!

[Neuromancer]

Our parents read to us at bedtime, and often well above the level that we would have been able to read on our own. My mom says I learned to read by memorizing Dr. Seuss books that were read to me and then looking at the books and connecting the words I was saying to the words on the page. That said, the books I remember are my mom and dad reading The Hobbit, the Narnia series, and My Antonia by Willa Cather. Once I was reading myself to sleep, I was a voracious reader.

[thixle]

um, my DD loved The Anarchist Cookbook right before she turned two

[cicely_m]

Originally Posted by everettdaddy

Now, would I read the "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson : or "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy : .. Probably not.

We are reading War and Peace to our newborn.

Well, to each other ,really...

[everettdaddy]

Originally Posted by cicely_m

We are reading War and Peace to our newborn.

Well, to each other ,really...

I find Tolstoy rather dry, droll, and boring. At one point i tried to read it, because (and this was when I was a sheeple, and didn't know any better) I was going to use it as a punishment. But i then I figured I wouldn't have them do anything i couldn't do, or wouldn't do. So, War and peace went out. I will read it to the, if they ask, but because there are so many more books out there, it is not one that i will reach for first.



'

[neko]

my father read me lord of the flies when I was 7... and i turned out fine. I didn't find it odd until i reread it at a later age. He also read us all of cs lewis' books, bible stories... it didn't matter what he read i just loved it!

As a child i didn't waste much time with kid's or teen readers. But i did enjoy little house series, red wall books, and classics like the secret garden.

I, too can't wait to share "real" books with my daughter.

[Potty Diva]

Tolstoy boring?
Have you read Anna Karenina?

[innle]

I would definitely be reading as many books as possible to them; my parents used to read to my brother and I all the time - lots of the 'classics' and other "difficult" books. They made us think and concentrate and gave us a love of reading.

[smeisnotapirate]

My dad read The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings series to us once when I was 7 and my brother was 5 and again when we were 10 and 12. We also read as a family the Redwall series, Watership Down, and most of Isaac Asimov's books (can you tell my dad's a geek? ). I loved it, and can't wait until this baby is out of the womb so I can do the same.