2013/07/24

Older children reading for younger siblings

I didn't have the heart to interrupt the beautiful moment
by taking a photo, so in lieu of that I'll recycle this old photo
they wanted me to take of them in front of a Caterham 7.
(There's also a very cool old Porsche in the background)
This is a milestone I enjoy very much. Yesterday Maxine read How the rhinoceros got his skin by Rudyard Kipling for Maximilian. He wasn't the easiest of listeners, as he wanted to play a game on the smartphone, but he settled down eventually. I feel phones and tablets (and computers if they're only used for entertainment) are almost as bad as TV for children and should be used with extreme care - not as an automated babysitter. For children, they're practically useless devices for anything but a few minor exceptions, such as basic coordination skills - which they learn fast anyway and after that the device is more a nuisance than anything else.
Anyway, she has been reading for quite some time now, years even, but it just dawned on me that she's now so good at it that she can read fast enough not to become boring for smaller children, as well as having full comprehension of what she reads. I will encourage her to continue reading for her little brother, it will be good for her, as well as for her little brother, as he too will learn to love books.

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