Thursday, March 29, 2007

Gotta disagree!

From Charlotte Mason:

Reading to Children––It is a delight to older people to read aloud to children,
but this should be only an occasional treat and indulgence, allowed before
bedtime, for example. We must remember the natural inertness of a child's mind;
give him the habit of being read to, and he will steadily shirk the labour of
reading for himself; indeed, we all like to be spoon-fed with our intellectual
meat, or we should read and think more for ourselves and be less eager to run
after lectures.



While I think some kids may try to depend on the adult to read, I know that my reading aloud to the kids did not in any way hamper my dd's reading (she is a voracious reader) and it helped the 12yo see books as actually interesting things, rather than just work imposed upon him. Not to mention there are a ton of benefits of reading aloud to kids. Read Jim Trelease's book The Read Aloud Handbook and you'll certainly be convinced! I also tend to read books to the kids that they wouldn't necessarily be able to read on their own.

1 comment:

Correne said...

I'm with you, Daisy. I read novels to my kids because I know they can't read them themselves yet. I don't know what she's talking about with the "inertness" of a child's mind. My children have ALWAYS been curious, engaged, and interested.