Children's Literacy
DT! for today
I posted this one up on social media yesterday in response to another dispiriting article published on the Guardian about decline in the amount of children reading for pleasure. I also have a 9yo daughter who doesn’t read for pleasure and it’s been a worry for us parents. It's just something she doesn't really want to do. She doesn't have an iPad or phone. She's not staring at a screen. She loves to draw and write and play with toys and do imaginary play. She just doesn't like to read.
It does seem a depressing state of affairs when, despite there being a plethora of insanely talented authors specialising in really great Children's Books, the market dictates we kowtow to stupid Celebrity created swill instead. Comics are well known to be a great way to get into reading, and were for me. But the snobbery around them being ‘not proper books’ is still prevalent, so many kids just find the act of reading ‘normal’ books impenetrable.
I don’t know what the answer is, but treating children’s literature as if it’s some easy or something to just toss out there is certainly contributing to the glut of terrible stories that are forced upon them. Kids deserve better.
I was an avid reader, my sister not! My dad discovered she liked reading magazines, so she got weekly magazines! Reading is reading, and as long as you enjoy it, you will keep doing it. She reads more books than me now, cos it just took her a bit longer to get there, I'm more likely to read a manga!
"Fanny crystals" :)