Reading aloud to your teen
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Anonymous
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I love the idea.
Another option is to listen to a book on MP3 together each night. Perhaps a little more relaxing and a little less like the "little kid" days, and still a nice way to share something together at the end of the day. |
Anonymous
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My mom was a junior high librarian and my parents read to me nightly until 2nd or 3rd grade. We read chapter books that were a bit beyond my reading abilities - Of mice and men, watership down, Charlotte's web, dr. Dolittle, etc.
Around first grade I would read part and then they would read. By mid-elementary I would read to them as our night time routine. After that I would read by myself for 30 min before bed. It seems odd to read out loud to a HS student. What we would do in Jr high and HS was to read the same books as a family and discuss them. Mostly we'd read the books I was reading for school and it was helpful because then my parents could read my papers or quiz me when I was studying. I'm an only child with a mom who read young adult lit for a living - not sure if I could do what she did with me with my own kids. |
Anonymous
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Lots of interesting responses. DS is a fairly amazing reader, great comprehension and an insatiable desire to read. Even at 11, he loves when I read aloud before he goes to bed. On car trips we listened to books on tapes. I lived in a group house during my junior year abroad, and we took turns reading aloud. I plan to do this as long as is plausible.
What I think some PPs are missing is that reading aloud is not just for literacy, but also a way to foster intimacy and communication. DS is most likely to share with me in these unguarded moments. And it can also be a form of entertainment. May sound quaint in this day and age, but my friends with what seems like the most healthy home life read aloud, play charades, and engage in a lot of "old-fashion" activities. |
Anonymous
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Every morning we read the Bible together. Each family member reads a verse until the passage is done. Then each picks out a word that strikes his/her fancy. It can be profound or trivial - just whatever word leaps out from the page at each person. Some mornings the kids are really not into it, but some mornings they get into it despite themselves.
The whole thing takes about five to ten minutes. A very small exercise in a family reading together. |
Anonymous
+1 There is nothing wrong and everything right about encouraging a connection with your children, yes, even teens. My kids love to be read to and I hope they always will. As pp said, I remember teachers periodically reading to the class even into high school. We loved it. |
Anonymous
| Pretty disgusting all this judging going on here. You didn't read to your child so it must be wrong for everyone else? Just wow. If a child enjoys being read to there is exactly ZERO reason not to do it. If a child hates it it would be pretty clear to Mom because the child wouldn't sit there all happy and dreamy eyed while being read to, no? It's wonderful if this kind of bond and togetherness goes on beyond the child learning to read themselves...there's no reason not to do it unless the child expresses that they do not enjoy it. |
Anonymous
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My mother and I read all of the books on my mandatory summer reading list aloud to each other (taking turns) the summer before I started 9th grade. Honestly, those are some of my fondest memories. My mother was only going to get me started but got engrossed in the books and stayed with me until we finished each and every book. We'd read on side by side lounge chairs outside or lying side-by-side on my bed.
I'm smiling now thinking about that summer! My mother passed away soon after that so it really sticks out in my mind as a great bonding experience. |
Anonymous
What a lovely memory. I still read aloud occasionally to my teen and tween. My tween often has trouble finding books he's interested in, so I frequently start reading a chapter or two to him to get him interested, and then he usually takes over from there. Other times, I read to him from an anthology of sports articles from the New Yorker or from other more "adult" works that I think benefit from discussion. My teen loves to be read to, although we don't have as much time to read together as we used to. I read to him from the New Yorker and the newspaper on weekend mornings if we have time, when I come across something I think he would be enjoy. (He reads the paper on his own most days.) We have read plays aloud and once this past year we took turns reading a book he was assigned in school that he truly despised and was having trouble getting through. I think reading it together he was able to find more to appreciate about it. My kids think I'm a terrific reader, though, so maybe that's why they like me to read to them. I do accents, different voices for different characters, etc. They tell me I could narrate audio books (which, actually, I would love to do, lol). I can't for the life of me think why someone would be critical of reading aloud. It can be a way for families to spend time together and entertain one another, no different from playing a game, etc. In fact, families used to read aloud all the time, until the radio came along. If you don't think it's weird to watch movies with your kids, why would it be weird to read to them? |
Anonymous
| Educational motivation and outcomes suggest you read aloud as long as they will listen. Go for it OP. |
Anonymous
When I was on my honeymoon I was sitting on a bus behind another newlywed couple reading Sherlock Holmes aloud to each other. I wanted to throat punch them both. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
New poster. I've read the same thing and one article suggested reading up through middle school/around 13 if they will listen. That's my goal. Families go to movies together. What's wrong with reading together? |
Anonymous
| I'll read aloud to my son as long as he's interested. |
Anonymous
Seriously? There's an obvious difference between doing these kinds of things with a group of people who all enjoy doing them - or doing them in a public scenario with others around you who have no choice but to listen to you. What a useless comment -.- |
Anonymous
| What a lovely idea. I will suggest it to my teen and hope he'll go for it. |