I was at the library today and checking out a bunch of books for my kiddos, as well as a bunch of books for me. The librarian checking out my books asked if I was going to enroll my kids in the summer reading program. I said probably not, my oldest was only three. She replied that that was not a problem, as the children don't have to read themselves, listening counts too. Well, that's nice. She went on to describe all the prizes they can win and such. I said, well, Anna might enjoy prizes, but I wasn't sure I really philosophically approved of getting extrinsic rewards for reading (which should be its own reward) and also I wasn't sure I wanted to get into the whole keeping track of how long the kids listened to books, etc. The librarian went on about how when you work, you are rewarded by a paycheck. I told her that I didn't want reading to be work but fun, and she said, "Well, for a lot of people it is work." And if I had a kid who was struggling with developing fluency or something and reluctant to read, I can see a place for rewards and incentive to develop the skill and fluency that would make reading a pleasure. But it just rubs me the wrong way.
We read a lot at our house. I suck at playing with my girls; I really don't pretend well. I can do art stuff and sing and set up obstacle courses and play board games and do puzzles, but the whole nuts and bolts of early childhood: pretend play, is lost on me. And quite frankly, I hate it. So I don't do much of it. I encourage my girls to play together, and my kids to play alone. And daddy sometimes plays. And while it's mostly a self justification, I think playing alone, in ones own world is a good skill. But while I don't play with my kids much, we read a lot. I love children's books. I love reading aloud. My girls enjoy it, although sadly we read less than we did when Catherine was younger. When my second was a baby, I could get away with having "Anna and mommy time" and foisting the baby off on Daddy for a while and reading. But as Catherine got big enough to listen too, it became harder to justify separate reading times. (Catherine being a major klingon and protesting mightily at time away from Mommy.) But Catherine doesn't have the attention span for books of my first born, and the two of them together encourage silliness, so it just doesn't work as well. But we still read at least an hour a day. (Though I miss being able to cuddle with just my first born. She gets neglected because Catherine is such a mommy's girl. But Daddy doesnt want to deal with the upset, and I understand. It's just a tightrope.)
So anyway, I have a history of philosophical ambivalence about reading programs. I did them as a kid and always won, by a lot, every time. It never meant much to me and I hated keeping track of books and coloring in the logs and such, but I did get a couple cool prizes. And when I taught, I never had classroom reading incentive programs like most classes. I would hand out the pizza hut read-it or whatever the school was doing, but I personally did nothing to encourage them. I did read aloud to my kids a half hour a day and had extensive time for them to read themselves, had a large selection of books available on many topics, talked to kids about what they read, and would seek out (or order on ebay) books I thought a specific child would enjoy and offer them to the child. I didn't assign book reports, although instead of the basals, I had my kids read trade books and discuss them/ do skill work through them. My kids had high reading test scores and read a lot independently, despite my not bribing them like most other teachers did. I was kinda lazy and hate keeping track of all that stuff, as well as disliking the whole issue of kids racing through a book to check it off and what not.
But now it's another issue: my own kids. Anna would enjoy the program, probably. If she were old enough to want to do it and do it mostly herself, I certainly wouldn't forbid it. But do I encourage it and do all the work myself, so she can get prizes. (Which she would like, but for a philosophy I'm skeptical of), or do I just say no?
We read a lot at our house. I suck at playing with my girls; I really don't pretend well. I can do art stuff and sing and set up obstacle courses and play board games and do puzzles, but the whole nuts and bolts of early childhood: pretend play, is lost on me. And quite frankly, I hate it. So I don't do much of it. I encourage my girls to play together, and my kids to play alone. And daddy sometimes plays. And while it's mostly a self justification, I think playing alone, in ones own world is a good skill. But while I don't play with my kids much, we read a lot. I love children's books. I love reading aloud. My girls enjoy it, although sadly we read less than we did when Catherine was younger. When my second was a baby, I could get away with having "Anna and mommy time" and foisting the baby off on Daddy for a while and reading. But as Catherine got big enough to listen too, it became harder to justify separate reading times. (Catherine being a major klingon and protesting mightily at time away from Mommy.) But Catherine doesn't have the attention span for books of my first born, and the two of them together encourage silliness, so it just doesn't work as well. But we still read at least an hour a day. (Though I miss being able to cuddle with just my first born. She gets neglected because Catherine is such a mommy's girl. But Daddy doesnt want to deal with the upset, and I understand. It's just a tightrope.)
So anyway, I have a history of philosophical ambivalence about reading programs. I did them as a kid and always won, by a lot, every time. It never meant much to me and I hated keeping track of books and coloring in the logs and such, but I did get a couple cool prizes. And when I taught, I never had classroom reading incentive programs like most classes. I would hand out the pizza hut read-it or whatever the school was doing, but I personally did nothing to encourage them. I did read aloud to my kids a half hour a day and had extensive time for them to read themselves, had a large selection of books available on many topics, talked to kids about what they read, and would seek out (or order on ebay) books I thought a specific child would enjoy and offer them to the child. I didn't assign book reports, although instead of the basals, I had my kids read trade books and discuss them/ do skill work through them. My kids had high reading test scores and read a lot independently, despite my not bribing them like most other teachers did. I was kinda lazy and hate keeping track of all that stuff, as well as disliking the whole issue of kids racing through a book to check it off and what not.
But now it's another issue: my own kids. Anna would enjoy the program, probably. If she were old enough to want to do it and do it mostly herself, I certainly wouldn't forbid it. But do I encourage it and do all the work myself, so she can get prizes. (Which she would like, but for a philosophy I'm skeptical of), or do I just say no?
We've never been about rewards for reading, and she gets that. She keeps track of the reading for the program and we redeem the prizes throughout the summer.
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