Blogger: Etta Wilson
Location: Books & Such Nashville Office
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Being a kids book’ advocate, I don’t think you can start little ones too early in grasping new experience from a book. Well, maybe I draw the line with prenatal reading, but I’ve had too many lovely experiences holding those six-month-old cherubs and sharing books with them not to think it’s valuable.
Of course the question comes to mind about their ability to absorb meaning from the page versus the feeling of being loved while wrapped in the arms of a caring adult. Does it really matter if the love a child feels at this stage carries over to a love of reading? The book and the love can become indistinguishable.
But what about all this talk and some evidence that kids of today have become adapted to and enamored with electronic formats? At what stage of a child’s life does that take place?
We’ve read about and perhaps seen preschoolers at computer keyboards where they may be cued to an electronic picture book or cartoon. No adult needed there. The e-book makes the reading/viewing even easier for smaller and perhaps younger ones. We’re getting there in regard to making content and format accessible for very young children.
However, even with all these technological breakthroughs, I hope we don’t lose the opportunity to connect love and reading for the preschool child. So many of them need it. Nobel author Pearl Buck’s children’s book, One Bright Day (1950), seems pertinent to this question. (And maybe I need to read again The Good Earth.) Born in 1892 and taken to China by her missionary parents before the start of WWII, Buck escaped indescribable tragedies by her mother’s reading to her and then by reading herself at an early age. How did she come to know love when she was finding mutilated body parts in her yard if not through books?
Well, that’s history, and we live in the 21st century. Thank heaven we have children and love and books to share in so many forms. What affect do you think reading an e-book might have on children?
I do not think that the medium is necessarily the problem, if you are asking, “Should we keep using books, or is it OK to read from a screen or device?” I know my kids enjoy various electronic media with no problem. The big issue for me is losing track of the major influences in my child’s life.
Because the preferred method of delivery for all this content is the Internet, you end up having to get your child “connected” and “plugged-in” to a conduit that offers instant delivery of a full range of information. It is extremely difficult to monitor, much less control, your child’s usage. It is amazing to think that your child has the capacity to communicate with people all over the world, until you realize that you are still responsible for helping them manage it all and protecting them from the entire world.
I am not as concerned about my kid cuddling with an e-Book as I am with who is cuddling back. I would love to hear how other parents are dealing with this issue.
Good points, Timothy, especially about the difficulty of a parent keeping track of the influences that come through electronic media. Maybe I should have said “skin touching skin while reading” rather than the more general “cuddle.” My main question is “Where’s the love?”
I think in this day and age it is becoming increasingly easy for parents to disconnect from their children. TV used to be the problem babysitter. Now it is the computer/internet. Technology isn’t the problem. It’s the parents who need to make the effort to get involved and connect with their children. As parents, we can’t take the easy way out. We have to educate ourselves on what is out there and figure out a way to use it to OUR advantage. And if we have to, let’s go back to the old fashioned ways of storytelling, board and card games, playing outside, reading an old fashioned book … It doesn’t matter what the technology is, parents need to think and interact with their kids.
I write about creative things parents (or teachers, grandparents, babysitters, etc) can do with their kids to SHOW love on my blog.
Jenny
jennyrosewriter.blogspot.com/
I’d be very interested to hear from a parent who has an ipad, or a kindle, and who has downloaded picture books to read to a child. Though I have a four-year-old still in the house, and though he likes clicking around on the computer and is quite adept at roaming the pbskids website, etc…, we still haven’t invested in any electronic reading devices. We head to the library each Tuesday and pick books off the shelf the old fashioned way.
I can imagine, though, that the reading devices are just a good a conduit as a paper book for allowing the adult and child to zoom off into other worlds on adventures, or to connect in a loving way to each other, and hopefully instill a love for reading in the child…
Unless… the reading devices are actually reading TO the child, so that a pre-reader no longer needs the aid of an adult for the story. I can see how this could be a saddening affair, where a two-year-old is propped on a couch with an e-read picture book, and mom or dad heads off to another part of the house to check email or read the paper. That scenario, if it were to become the norm, would make me cry indeed…
The cuddle factor is critically important to instill a love of reading. But Endangered Minds by Jane Healy, gives scientific evidence that children exposed to television and computers at an early age suffer from under-developed communication and relationship skills. Read this informative book and you’ll switch off Sesame Street and read to your toddler!
Chiming in from my early literacy librarian perspective: The interaction between a parent, young child, and a picture book is the key to developing critical pre-reading skills. Even the act of turning the page of a board book is teaching a child about a book. It’s so much more than just reading the words on a page (or screen). It’s talking about the pictures, asking questions (developing narrative skills, the rhythm and rhyme of the words. Yes, cuddling is part of the mix, too.
I just don’t see this happening with an e-book.
Thanks for your excellent post, Ella. The comments bring up important points, too.
Oops! Ella, there was a study in which a pregnant mom read Green Eggs and Ham to her unborn child. When the baby was born, Green Eggs and Ham was the child’s favorite book. It wasn’t the rhythm and rhyme of Dr. Seuss’ books–Cat and the Hat–wouldn’t do. Had to be Green Eggs and Ham. 🙂
We (librarians) encourage parents to read to their unborn child.
Barbara, thanks for the reference to Endangered Minds by Jane Healy. I knew there was a book on the subject but couldn’t remember any more.
Judy, I knew someone would take the challenge about pre-natal reading. My niece is a big advocate and her 1 1/2 year-old shows evidence that it may have worked.
My mother swore I learned to read from watching Sesame Street. (I saw the first show when it came out; I was four). People told her she should give me books. She did! I had a balance, which I think is key. There are many ways to learn and, of course, we know that each child learns differently.
So, I’m not opposed to tech-savvy kids, but there must be a natural balance. My youngest is 16. She can text on her phone, chat online, listen to her iPod, and do her homework at the same time! And, she is a straight-A student in all the AP classes. However, when she reads, and she reads often, she reads a book. She has no interest in eBooks and neither does my 18-year-old or 21-year-old. I like to think that this is because we read together every day, right into their middle school years. Balance. : )
My youngest grew up with lots of books and has always been an avid reader. She got a Nook (B&N e-reader) last Christmas and reads more now than ever. She also administers an FB site for Nook users loaning e-books. (I have a NOOK and I’m willing to share books!) They have almost 2000 members. She was really bummed when someone gave her a book the other day, and it was an old-fashioned a paperback.
My three-year-old granddaughter cuddles on her father’s lap while they read on-line comics or watch podcasts. (‘Podcast’ has been part of her vocabulary since her second birthday!) She also loves cuddling for the print versions of books. As you all have said: Balance!