Your 21st century child: Raise a book lover

#2 on my list of strategies to raise a happy and successful 21st century child? Raise him/her to be a book lover.

There are, of course, clear benefits to being a good reader and to enjoying books:

• Reading skills are one of the best predictors of academic success. (However, cause and effect are not clear since good students tend to be good readers and vice versa but, as we say in the trade, honing your child's reading skills wouldn't hurt).
• Despite inborn differences in how skillful a reader a child will become, as a parent you can work to ensure that s/he comes to enjoy the experience of reading. A good book is one of life's great pleasures, affording a lifetime of entertainment, knowledge, new experiences, insight.
  

Those are pretty obvious, but I also have a few more subtle advantages in mind.

First, let me state that I'm not at all a TV, media, computer opponent (for example, I thought the Academy of Pediatrics was ill-advised to forbid TV for kids under 24 months), as long as they are used in moderation and with close parental attention to the content. The electronic media will certainly be a fact of life for your kids and, hopefully, a positive one.

Having said that, these omnipresent 21st century TV and computer-based experiences have three qualities that worry me:

1. Everything moves at a fast pace. Even the great Sesame Street has taken some heat for promoting short attention spans as their lessons fly by at a dizzying pace (and they are the good guys). Most TV images are fleeting: BIF! BAM! BOOM! Process it quick and move on to the next image.
2. These experiences are essentially passive ones. Everything is laid out for the watcher, unlike books or even radio. We don't have much work to do; mostly we're along for the ride. (I love Harry Potter, but I was sorry they made the movies. It was heartwarming to see children so excited about reading, each with his/her own image of Hogwarts and Harry, fueled by imagination. Now the need for that creative leap is gone - the movies have done all the work for us and it's hard to imagine Harry as anything other than the actor who plays him.)
3. There are no long, complicated stories, no slowly developing narrative flow, no time or need to anticipate and guess what is coming next. Our kids are being raised on a diet of short stories instead of novels.
   

Could such experiences have unintended long-term consequences?

These issues are not well studied, so I admit there is little or no scientific evidence (yet), but my fear is that we may be raising a generation of kids with shorter attention spans, a passive stance to taking in information, and little ability to follow or create a complex story.

If I'm right, reading might just be the antidote. The story evolves slowly. Your child has to do creative work, to create characters, to anticipate possible plot twists and predict what might happen next. It is an incredibly active experience rather than an incredibly passive one.

How to raise a book lover?

About 17 years ago one of my Developmental Pediatrics fellows started a program called "Reach Out and Read". (http://www.reachoutandread.org/ ) in which pediatricians give out books to kids at every visit, starting at the 6 months, to encourage an early love of books.

It's been very successful and is now in thousands of pediatric offices. There is good research to show it improves interest and appreciation of books in all kids, but especially those from disadvantaged circumstances. Parents love it, kids love it, and pediatricians love it (it's a lot more fun to give a child a book than a shot!). And we've learned a lot from the program.

In my blog of 12/05/05, I advised you to read aloud to your kids, giving them books to chew on and to enjoy from early age. The key is for them as infants and toddlers to associate a book with your attention and love. Later on, when you can read them a story or book before sleep, creating a wonderful shared experience.

Keep lots of things to read in your house -- it doesn't have to be great literature. The key is for them to read and to enjoy the printed word, any printed word (well, almost any). Of course, do this in a second language and you've got a twofer of raising a bilingual lover of books - a Dr. P dream come true!

Well, this blog is already long enough. Really my intention has been to explain why it might be a good idea to raise a booklover. I'll save more of the how for another time and, anyway, I'd love to hear your suggestions, especially with your older kids.

(In my next blog, I'll opine on my #3 best strategy to help raise a happy and successful 21st century child. Stay tuned!)

Related Blog Entries:

• Raise a bilingual 21st century child
• Your 21st century child: Raise a lover of science
  

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