Post 50! Reading to Kids
I can't believe it. This is my fiftieth post!
Before I get into my topic, I want to take a second to say thank you. If you're reading this (which I'm guessing at least a couple people are. You can't all be bots), you've helped give me the drive to keep posting each and every Wednesday for the last year. I plan to keep things coming for... a long time, but seeing a constant readership has helped me keep going even when I didn't really want to write a post for the week. And you know what? That has helped a lot! You've all helped me become a more consistent, connected author. Thank you so much!
And now on to the main event...
It's about two hours before this post is scheduled to come out, and I just finished reading to my kids. We finished reading the second-to-last book in the Origami Yoda series tonight, and it got me to thinking... reading to kids is awesome.
A couple days ago, I wasstalking researching an agent, and I saw in her bio that she started reading at an extremely early age, and I thought... "I did too!" And tonight, I started thinking about why that's so important.
My kids are at the age now that they are learning to read. My oldest is finishing first grade, and my second is finishing kindergarten. They're both working on learning to recognize and read words and put them together in sentences. But they're enjoying it. Sure, they say it's hard, but they really do enjoy doing it. I love seeing their eyes light up when they show me they can read a new word or can recognize a certain letter-group that makes a unique sound (think "ph" or "ght").
So I got to wondering why they're so into reading. Part of it isn't hard to see. I read to them every night, and they see me with a book everywhere I go and my computer so I can punch in a few words whenever possible. My wife is an elementary school teacher who focuses heavily on literacy because of her background. These kids were destined to be bookworms. But looking outside my family, why do/should we read to kids?
First things first. Why do we read to kids? The big answer is easy. People have been telling stories to kids since there were kids. Whether those stories were about ghosts lurking in the forests or a kid with a Yoda finger puppet. We do it to pass along some sort of message. Hansel and Gretel? Don't take treats from strangers. Goldilocks? Don't break into peoples' houses. Little Red Riding Hood? Don't eat someone's grandma. We want to pass along information, and a narrative is the best way to do it.
Now for the bigger question. Why should we read to kids? I realize I'm a bit of a biased source, since I'm a writer. But bear with me.
I'm not a scientist, but I know that reading to kids is a good thing, regardless of the side of the reading you're on. If you're reading to the child(ren), you're essentially giving them a gift. You're giving them time, and you're giving them a story they can go over repeatedly in their heads and keep with them forever. But the kids are getting a lot more out of it. Not only are they getting time with a grown-up, they're getting that time on a more level plane. For once, they're not kids. They're not a separate group. They're readers going through a story along with the grown-up and they can enjoy things on the same level as the adult. I always say that I'm enjoying the Origami Yoda books as much as my kids. In reality, it could be that they're enjoying them as much as I am.
And I think that's the big picture. We should read to kids because it's important to us (I assume it's important to you, because this is a blog about reading and writing). They can see a broader perspective as they get older. They can relate to others better because they have a grounding in how people should act based on the stories they've heard, since books are basically a laboratory-like environment to see how characters react to each other and different situations. They get to see the range of emotion not just in a book, but in how the reader... well, performs the book. Kids get so many different things from an adult (a parent, especially) reading to them.
I don't know if I'm getting this through very well. I'm tired. I just want to go to bed and read.
Long story short: adults have been telling stories to kids since the beginning of time. We're not going to stop anytime soon. But what we get out of the experience is much more than "Once upon a time..." Experiencing a story together—with all its twists and turns—provides an experience that enriches the lives of both the listeners and the tellers. And in many, many more ways we can guess at.
And I'm starting the Dresden Files. Excited!!
Thanks for wreading!
Jeff
Before I get into my topic, I want to take a second to say thank you. If you're reading this (which I'm guessing at least a couple people are. You can't all be bots), you've helped give me the drive to keep posting each and every Wednesday for the last year. I plan to keep things coming for... a long time, but seeing a constant readership has helped me keep going even when I didn't really want to write a post for the week. And you know what? That has helped a lot! You've all helped me become a more consistent, connected author. Thank you so much!
And now on to the main event...
It's about two hours before this post is scheduled to come out, and I just finished reading to my kids. We finished reading the second-to-last book in the Origami Yoda series tonight, and it got me to thinking... reading to kids is awesome.
A couple days ago, I was
My kids are at the age now that they are learning to read. My oldest is finishing first grade, and my second is finishing kindergarten. They're both working on learning to recognize and read words and put them together in sentences. But they're enjoying it. Sure, they say it's hard, but they really do enjoy doing it. I love seeing their eyes light up when they show me they can read a new word or can recognize a certain letter-group that makes a unique sound (think "ph" or "ght").
So I got to wondering why they're so into reading. Part of it isn't hard to see. I read to them every night, and they see me with a book everywhere I go and my computer so I can punch in a few words whenever possible. My wife is an elementary school teacher who focuses heavily on literacy because of her background. These kids were destined to be bookworms. But looking outside my family, why do/should we read to kids?
First things first. Why do we read to kids? The big answer is easy. People have been telling stories to kids since there were kids. Whether those stories were about ghosts lurking in the forests or a kid with a Yoda finger puppet. We do it to pass along some sort of message. Hansel and Gretel? Don't take treats from strangers. Goldilocks? Don't break into peoples' houses. Little Red Riding Hood? Don't eat someone's grandma. We want to pass along information, and a narrative is the best way to do it.
Now for the bigger question. Why should we read to kids? I realize I'm a bit of a biased source, since I'm a writer. But bear with me.
I'm not a scientist, but I know that reading to kids is a good thing, regardless of the side of the reading you're on. If you're reading to the child(ren), you're essentially giving them a gift. You're giving them time, and you're giving them a story they can go over repeatedly in their heads and keep with them forever. But the kids are getting a lot more out of it. Not only are they getting time with a grown-up, they're getting that time on a more level plane. For once, they're not kids. They're not a separate group. They're readers going through a story along with the grown-up and they can enjoy things on the same level as the adult. I always say that I'm enjoying the Origami Yoda books as much as my kids. In reality, it could be that they're enjoying them as much as I am.
And I think that's the big picture. We should read to kids because it's important to us (I assume it's important to you, because this is a blog about reading and writing). They can see a broader perspective as they get older. They can relate to others better because they have a grounding in how people should act based on the stories they've heard, since books are basically a laboratory-like environment to see how characters react to each other and different situations. They get to see the range of emotion not just in a book, but in how the reader... well, performs the book. Kids get so many different things from an adult (a parent, especially) reading to them.
I don't know if I'm getting this through very well. I'm tired. I just want to go to bed and read.
Long story short: adults have been telling stories to kids since the beginning of time. We're not going to stop anytime soon. But what we get out of the experience is much more than "Once upon a time..." Experiencing a story together—with all its twists and turns—provides an experience that enriches the lives of both the listeners and the tellers. And in many, many more ways we can guess at.
And I'm starting the Dresden Files. Excited!!
Thanks for wreading!
Jeff
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