Hello! And Happy November!
Did you have a fab Halloween?
I thought about going as one of these guys…I mean, books.
We thought we’d start out November, a rather cheeky month, by all accounts, by repurposing some good old Screen Time Rants and Prescriptions for your enjoyment! Now, you must know we’re not espousing that you get the kids a “second wall screen.” But sometimes, well, we should probably listen to our own complaining. Let’s just see what happens when “screens” and “books” become interchangeable…
“So many parents use books as babysitters! I mean, they just hand the kid a book and walk away!! The kid could be on that thing for hours!!!”
“Reading time v. play time: What famous authors won’t let their own kids do…”
“I’ve seen those kids. I’ve had them over to my house! We invite them over for a playdate. And in they come, armed with their novels and their chapter books, and I mean, they don’t even bother to talk to each other! They just sit there, side by side on the bed, reading!!”
“They’re pretty good at knowing what they should be looking at. Once, I found my daughter reading books about pregnant parents. She said: ‘I really love babies. I just want to read about babies being born.’
“I told them, sure, you can read as much as you want, as long as you do ALL THESE THINGS first. “
“There are concerns that these novels have negative impacts on children’s attention spans and social development, as well as their physical health (not to mention the additional worries of exposure to sex and violence!)”
“While most experts recommend no more than one to two hours of reading time per day, most kids are in front of a book for 45 hours!”
“When they finally put them down, their eyes are all red. And then, they can’t sleep through the night!”
“My son is pretty much free to read what he wants now, but he’s good at self-regulating, partly because he has built other interests.”
“I limited reading time by offering my kids unlimited reading time.”
“I bought her a Good Night Moon, which has been by her side and is now battered. We do a terrible thing, which you’ll frown at, but if she’s playing up in a restaurant, we’ll get out the Good Night Moon and use it as a kind of pacifier. That’s the one time when I question my parenting. It’s me pushing it on her – she’s not asking for it. It’s literally like a dummy. It’s like saying, ‘Please go into your own world so I can have a conversation.'”
“We also have the ‘find my book’ app turned on, so we always know what he’s reading. We do stalk him quite a bit in that way.”
“I got home the other night and couldn’t wait to show my son the new War and Peace translation, because we’ve been reading it together. It’s a book that’s been out since before I was born, and now my son’s into it and collects the toys. It doesn’t stop at the book, for a lot of children; it inspires them to draw and make things, and play.”
“If my kids had a diet of blockbusters only, that would be a shame, but if you look at what most kids consume books-wise, it’s far more varied and interesting than what my generation has consumed.”
“Her current usage is limited to a story app on my phone – which looks like a real story book – if she needs an emergency distraction, like, if we happen to pass a library.”
“You could say, for example, that reading is OK from 7 to 9 p.m. or after the homework is done or only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Consistency through the years is also important. ‘If you are a permissive parent for the first six years, it makes it harder to switch that off later on.'”
“Be on the alert for teachable moments. “Pose questions like ‘Why do you think the characters are being mean to each other?’”
“We decided that there’s no harm in not exposing children to books until they’re big enough. It can only be beneficial.”
“That’s definitely a book I’d let my daughter read when she’s older. And I’ll start getting her into writing, too. But I’ll take a similar approach to my parents: I didn’t get a composition book until I was 11, and then it was one hour a day.”
“It’s interesting how powerful it is, how one particular image has such an effect on his mood. It reminds me we need to be careful.”
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