Do you allow your kids to read in the car?

[Anonymous]

Y'all are bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course. Why would it be any worse for your eyes than reading anywhere else? As long as you have enough light it's fine.

My kid knows that if she reads too much and starts to feel motion sick, she should stop reading. A lesson every avid reader has to learn at some point. But that's when audio books come in handy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can't be real, can it? You'd prevent your kid from reading in the car so he can be "more present?" I hope you don't let him look out the windows, there are words everywhere out there.

Yes, it’s real. I just took him to lunch and he was trying to eat a sandwich and read a book in his lap. I asked him to put the book away so we could enjoy lunch and chat. You don’t think being present is an important skill for kids to practice?

Thats completely different topic. Your kid is hyperlexic and likely using reading for escapism. The need to bring a book everywhere is also a crutch to signal that he doesnt want to interact socially.

Stop making things up. Hyperlexia isn't just a kid who loves reading, it also refers to verbal and social deficits. If there are no deficits, there is no reason to pathologize the reading.

Some people are just very bookish. It's okay to have limits on it -- we don't let our kid eat at the dinner table or during certain family functions. But during a drive? Sitting in the back of a car while your parent runs errands is boring. It's the perfect place for a book, assuming it doesn't make you motion sick.

[Anonymous]

^ should say we don't let our kid READ at the dinner table or during certain family functions. We of course let her eat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can't be real, can it? You'd prevent your kid from reading in the car so he can be "more present?" I hope you don't let him look out the windows, there are words everywhere out there.

Yes, it’s real. I just took him to lunch and he was trying to eat a sandwich and read a book in his lap. I asked him to put the book away so we could enjoy lunch and chat. You don’t think being present is an important skill for kids to practice?

Thats completely different topic. Your kid is hyperlexic and likely using reading for escapism. The need to bring a book everywhere is also a crutch to signal that he doesnt want to interact socially.

My kid who reads the most is the most social. Studies actually show that novels help with empathy and social skills, so scientists agree that you’re wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ should say we don't let our kid READ at the dinner table or during certain family functions. We of course let her eat!

Stfu

[Anonymous]

No I do not because of car sickness. Also dont allow screens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This can't be real, can it? You'd prevent your kid from reading in the car so he can be "more present?" I hope you don't let him look out the windows, there are words everywhere out there.

Yes, it’s real. I just took him to lunch and he was trying to eat a sandwich and read a book in his lap. I asked him to put the book away so we could enjoy lunch and chat. You don’t think being present is an important skill for kids to practice?

Thats completely different topic. Your kid is hyperlexic and likely using reading for escapism. The need to bring a book everywhere is also a crutch to signal that he doesnt want to interact socially.

I looked up hyperlexic and that doesn’t sound like him. He didn’t get into reading until maybe 1st grade and was not an early reader.

I would think you can see that eating at a table with others is a different social setting than in a car. And that these settings have different rules.

[Anonymous]

So should add that if you can’t see the difference between a dining table and a car, you can look at the chair arrangement. In a car everyone usually faces forward but at a table the chairs face the table and the people across from you. That is a sign the table is more social than a car.
Therefore they have different rules about expected socialization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine never did, saying it was bad for my eyes. And I know if can could motion sickness (which I usually had lol). Now I have an avid reader who wants to read while while sitting in the car during errands, on the way to practice / school, on road trips for hours in the car.... Is this bad for his eyes? I also think it might be good for him to be more present. What do you think?

My biggest concern here is that he might get an academic advantage over his classmates by practicing reading so much. Have you considered giving him a phone or a tablet instead?

[Anonymous]

I always read in the car as a kid. Actually, my very carsick prone kid outgrew the issue recently (end of elementary school) and now reads Harry Potter in the back seat sometimes. So much better than the days when I tried not to put her in the car without a couple bags and a lined bucket. And oh my gosh, she hated being in the car so much. It took so much convincing to get her in there to leave the house and then to get her back in to head home. She used to tell me she only wanted to walk places. It’s delightful to see her happily reading a book. I’ve started throwing out my old Dramamine, which she always disliked anyway.

[Anonymous]

Since the discussion seems to partially revolve around low light hand lunch time, I can assure you that outdoors is generally much, much brighter than indoors, even with tinted windows, when the sun is up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since the discussion seems to partially revolve around low light hand lunch time, I can assure you that outdoors is generally much, much brighter than indoors, even with tinted windows, when the sun is up.

*and

[Anonymous]

I let two of my kids read in the car, but not the third.

My third kid is the most voracious reader, but also the most motion sick kid. She would get sick 100% of the time she read in the car, so I wouldn’t allow her to read in the car.

[Anonymous]

My voracious kids only read in their rooms