I'm not sure how I would have felt if neither of my kids was a reader. I know it's a big part of my personality. I loved children's books and had a collection before I even had kids, and reading to them every day was really fun. Eve moved smoothly into chapter books and is definitely what you would consider a reader. With Angus I read one entire Percy Jackson book with him, and it was great, but after Diary of a Wimpy Kid his reading fell off and it didn't really bother me. During one camping trip a few years ago he pilfered my stack of books and took one and since then has been asking me to give him books for Christmas. I think he still only reads a lot on vacation, but that's fine. Would it have bothered me if neither of them read? I honestly don't know.
I am constantly getting frustrated with myself for not being able to lay hands on old pictures - I started organizing all of them last year and then put the mess away for Christmas and then got horrifically depressed in January and here we are again. Anyway, years ago I took a picture at brunch of Angus leaned over a Harry Potter book intently while absently stabbing at pancakes with his other hand and sent it to his grade three teacher saying 'job well done!' I mentioned this to someone a few weeks later and he said indignantly "she SHOWED THE WHOLE CLASS", but he hadn't mentioned it before then so it can't have scarred him that badly.
I did love the way Eve and her friends talked about our book-stuffed house. I took Eve and a friend to meet the teacher night in middle school because the other mom was busy, and the friend said to their English teacher "their house has books EVERYWHERE. Eve goes into her mom's room and asks for a book and she just GRABS one out of a pile!" She left out that there are so many books there's no room for anything else to be put away properly, so also a win.
Eve and I like a lot of the same books, and sharing books with her has been kind of magical. We buddy read some of her books in undergrad, I never have trouble finding books to give her for Christmas, and now she recommends books to me, which is a bit trippy. I gave her my old ipad last year and she got into borrowing library ebooks and loved it because then she could turn off her lights except for the little fairy lights and read in the dark and be cozy.
We both love Miriam Toews, and she has had the weirdest good luck with finding used Toews books on sale at new bookstores. This is the latest one - is it not just stupidly beautiful? It looks like her lamp and the Coach purse I got her for her birthday last year.
Last week she told me she was going to put a real actual paper book on hold (I guess she wants to be more like Sarah too) and then sent me this picture. We were on Facetime and I said it gave me a tiny bit of a weird feeling seeing her last name, which is different from mine, on the label.
I'm also a bit jealous that she has an A name so will also be right at the beginning of the holds, rather than an M name which is always, always on the bottom shelf. Have you tried picking up seven books from the bottom shelf? It is inelegant, to say the least. ALSO Also, it's an Olga Tokarczuk book that she is now reading before me. Is that even allowed?
14 comments:
North went through a period of not reading much (all of middle school and the beginning of high school) and it did bother me, but I tried not to say much about it and they came back to reading. I still share more books with Noah, though.
My boys read a book or two a year. Two is probably overstating it. I don't know. We always read together when they were small, and I always gave them books they were interested in and didn't try to put any of my own input into it (one loved Harry Potter and those books that were Greek myths, can't remember the name, the other one was really into the Wings of Fire series). As adults, they just don't read much. I wouldn't say it bothers me, they are just interested in other things I guess.
I assume my dog and cat read a lot when we're not around. You can never tell me otherwise!
So here's a difference in how our hold system works. At my library, I have to go to the desk and give them my card and then they go in the back and get my holds. I've never gotten my holds off a shelf by myself in my life!
I have had off and on frets about my kid not being a reader, enough so that I know it would bother me. But as my husband points out, he hated reading from high school for years and now is an avid reader. So there can be fluctuations and I try to remember that.
I have a friend who is an English teacher and read to her kids, and neither are readers, so I know that some of it is that they just are who they are. Another friend who is mathphobic, and her daughter used to ‘play with’ math books on the first day of school. That means opening the book to a random page in the middle of the book and seeing if you can figure the problems out. As my husband’s mom used to say, ‘you make your children, not their minds’. I put it a little differently - we don’t get all of the credit, or all of the blame. Having said all of that, I am really glad that not only is my daughter a reader, we like the same kinds of books, so we can talk about them.
I am a big reader. I grew up in a family of big readers. Well, my parents and I were and my younger sister never was much. My husband also likes to read, and our daughter is a big reader (though less so now, at 15). In Kindergarten we were lucky to realize she had "convergence insufficiency," which means it was hard for her eyes to come together to focus on the words. We did 3 months of vision therapy (to the tune of over $3K) and then she was fine. My sister was intrigued when we described the condition to her and it turns out she also had it! And that is why she never loved to read (because it made her super tired and gave her a headache). So she also went to vision therapy and now she likes to read a lot more than she used to! The 12yo is not a big reader. We have to force him to read. The only thing he reads by choice is manga. I keep thinking he'll find a book that will convert him, but maybe it will never happen. I guess by high school I'll stop requiring him to read. Blerg, it makes me sad that he doesn't love it like we all do...
I read a TON to my kids when they were little. My son read on his own for a while- Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson- but then stopped reading in high school. Now he has come back to it, and he's recommended some great books to me. Nothing is more fun than discussing books with your adult kids!
Now, my daughter... ugh. She never reads. But, she's in high school and that's when my son didn't read either. So maybe she'll come back to it someday? I hope. There's only so much you can do.
Former English teacher here. My eldest son loves to read and writes poetry. My youngest son dislikes reading and builds/restores cars. Did I read to them/with them their entire childhoods? Yes. Was their home filled with books? Yes. Did they both take honours level English and get A's? Yes. Happily, they are both excellent writers and best friends.
And wonderful men. What else must we wish for?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure harping on it is not the way to increase their love of reading.
The Greek gods is the Percy Jackson series. Angus loved them. We all went as Greek gods that year!.
WHAT? That's way too people-y. Doesn't that just make so much more work for the staff? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT
Yeah, for sure. Not for us, but, like, for normal people.
So true - I have found math on my dining room table DURING SUMMER VACATION. I don't like and excel at everything they do, I wouldn't expect the reverse either
Yes, quite.
Post a Comment