Childhood without books, or why instill in a child a love of reading

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Have you seen demotivators about a happy childhood without the Internet and computers? There was another good thing in our childhood - books. American journalist Stephanie Rice wrote a wonderful essay about what her childhood would be like without books.

What if, when I was little, social media already existed? Would I learn to formulate thoughts longer than 140 characters? What if after school I didn't write children's stories about a gullible dog and a cunning cat, but played Angry Birds? If you fell asleep not with Scott O'Dell's Island of Blue Dolphins on your chest, but with your iPad mini?

Probably the best thing my parents did for me was to open up the world of books.

They introduced me to him in early childhood and did not distract me from learning about him. This allowed me to become a writer.

My parents first tried to enroll me in the library when I was four. The librarian looked down at me and said, "First she needs to learn how to write her name." We went home. My parents showed me how to spell it, and when I managed to repeat it, we returned and I received a library card.

They taught me to read even earlier.

No no! I'm not a child prodigy! I was an ordinary child. I spent a lot of time in the backyard and taught ants to swim in plastic containers. I often tried to teach cats to wear socks and pestered my mother with questions like "why do the clouds go down when the plane flies up?"

But my parents persistently taught me to literature.

At the age of six, one by one, I "swallowed" books from the children's department of the local library. In elementary school, I obediently read the works assigned for the summer. All one hundred. Maybe I just had a problem with math, because to win the annual library competition, I just had to read as many books as you submitted. For example, ten.

At times I wandered through the children's section of the bookstore, scanning the shelves for items I hadn't read yet. Charlotte's Web by Alvin Brooks White, Little Women by Louise May Alcott, Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson, Nancy Drew Investigations by Edward Stratemeyer, The Chronicles of Narnia by Clive Staples Lewis; Little House on the Prairie by Laura Wilder, Indian in the Palm by Lynn Reed Banks, The Girl with Silver Eyes by Dashil Hammett, Scott O'Dell had it all - I loved it all.

Parents imposed restrictions on some books. As a result, I even read some things beyond my age: the biography of Patsy Cline, "Street of Fear" by Robert Lawrence Stein and the series "School in Tender Valley" by Francine Pascal.

I’m ashamed to admit, but now I’m not as voracious a reader as I was as a child. Now I stare at screens and monitors no less than others. If before going to bed I doubt between the volume of William Bryson and the next episode of Project Mindy, the latter, as a rule, wins.

But I am convinced that I can put words into harmonious sentences because I caught this mechanism early enough.

I don't know what it would be like if my mother, to distract me while shopping for groceries, shoved an iPhone into my hands. Instead, she made up stories that carrots dance when I turn away. And if I didn't believe, I called the seller to confirm.

I have always loved the word. This is true. But it is also true that I had to spend a lot of time one-on-one with books, not being distracted by anything. My parents were active, and I spent most of my childhood waiting.

I was waiting for the business meeting to end. I waited for the interview to take place and it would be possible to leave the room. I waited for someone to take pity on me and maybe give me some candy. While the adults discussed business strategies, I sat on the sidelines with my favorite books. Of course, sometimes someone would say, "How do you make her sit quietly and just read?"

Sometimes the adults worked so long that I ran out of books to take with me. Then out of boredom, I composed my own stories.

I remember that most of all I was fascinated by the story about the rustic-stupid golden retriever and the cunning cat, who enjoyed the dog's gullibility. Their complex relationships developed in the animal world and were hidden from the understanding of the owner.

I was ten then. Parents sat for hours at the meetings of the American Federation of Teachers. In addition, we have almost settled in the campaign headquarters. So not only did I do a pretty good job of refueling the office coffee maker, but I also finished several chapters about the dumb dog and his cat-like cunning enemy.

But what if I spent this time flipping through Tumblr or watching YouTube? Would words get into my nervous system? Would I jump out of the shower with a soapy head to write down a line before it melted into my consciousness?

A 2014 report from the company (one of the world's largest publishers of children's literature) found that the number of children reading for fun has dropped since 2010. This is especially noticeable among boys six years old and girls nine years old. And this is against the backdrop of an increase in the number of children playing video games and hanging on smartphones.

It is noted that the frequency of reading is influenced by the time spent at the computer: the less children sit in front of the monitor, the more readily they read … Thus, 54% of children who rarely read visit social networks at least five times a week. Only 33% of the surveyed children aged 6 to 17 can be classified as avid readers. Moreover, 71% of parents would like their children to look at screens less time and more time in books.

Of course, the fact that the time spent by the younger generation in front of screens is increasing does not prove that it is because of this that children stop reading. There are many other reasons. What do children read and how carefully? How much did their parents read? Does the child enjoy reading?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends: children from three to seven years old should spend in front of screens no more than one to two hours a day; guys younger - zero hours … The organization encourages parents to be reminded of this at every scheduled check-up.

But at the same time, the one-year-old child of my friends is capricious if, while eating vegetable puree from a spoon, he is not turned on a children's YouTube channel. He can easily unlock an iPhone left unattended. I will not be surprised that in a couple of years he will not let go of him. (I left my phone in another room to focus on this stuff, so I'm not a role model either.)

What do I mean by this?

Not that modern technology is bad. It just raises concerns about how much time we spend on gadgets.

Who would we be if we did it differently? Why do mature individuals procrastinate on Facebook and Instagram, and we don't know how to help them?

Probably need to buy a book by Randy Zuckerberg (yes, yes, the sister of that same Zuckerberg) "Dot". The main character, a girl named Dot, loves technological gadgets, but when her mother took her tablet away from her, she quickly realized how beautiful the world off-screen is.

Or buy a novelty "". (Spoiler alert: it's worse than Laura Numeroff's legendary If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.)

I have no answers to the questions posed. I'm not a psychologist, social media expert, parent, or advanced teenager. I'm just a girl who grew up surrounded by books and sometimes misses them.