WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT READING TO BABIES
The baby board book industry has grown exponentially in recent times to answer a call from a variety of market and experts' demands. In 1997 Time magazine published an article by Hilary Rodham Clinton entitled Comfort and Joy. The former First Lady used advances in brain research to convince readers why reading to infants is so important: "[t]he intimacy of sharing books and stories strengthens the emotional bonds between a parent and child, helps a child learn words and concepts, and actually stimulates the growth of a babies brain." While she stressed the importance of the research, she was quick to point out that the study's authors were not interested in pushing infants to become superbabies, but rather to promote the joy and comfort of reading. She stated that "[w]hile critical to building brains, reading is equally important to building trusting and close relationships. . . . [a]nd that's why reading should not be viewed solely as an intellectual proposition . . . ."
In 1996, the authors of From Crib to School: Families Reading to Babies asserted that reader development is established from earliest childhood. They describe ways in which young readers are exposed to literate structures, including the physicality of books, and how children incorporate these structures into their reading development and ability.
An article entitled Books and Babies by Jane McFann quotes researchers as making the link between baby reading times and later school-reading success: "reading books to young children is a powerful way of introducing them to a lifelong relationship with quality literature. It has also been one of the early experiences identified as making a significant difference in later reading success."
Kathleen Odean, in the book Great Books for Babies and Toddlers promotes reading to babies as a way to enrich emergent literacy practices. She asserts that by reading to babies they will come to understand many things about books and learn:
To me it appears that while the 'experts' hope to encourage parents to read to their infants, they are very aware that some parents will take that advice to the extreme and attempt formal teaching. Each article and book I have come across reiterates the importance of reading to babies for their love of it, but not as an intellectual or academic pursuit. As Odean states, "[r]eading aloud is not about teaching young children to read. A child who learns to read as a pre-schooler gains no advantage over a child who learns in early elementary school, any more than a child who walks early necessarily becomes a better athlete" (36-37).
Questions
1. What do you think that parents who read to their babies expect as an outcome?
2. Do parents actually get more out of the reading experience than their children do?
The baby board book industry has grown exponentially in recent times to answer a call from a variety of market and experts' demands. In 1997 Time magazine published an article by Hilary Rodham Clinton entitled Comfort and Joy. The former First Lady used advances in brain research to convince readers why reading to infants is so important: "[t]he intimacy of sharing books and stories strengthens the emotional bonds between a parent and child, helps a child learn words and concepts, and actually stimulates the growth of a babies brain." While she stressed the importance of the research, she was quick to point out that the study's authors were not interested in pushing infants to become superbabies, but rather to promote the joy and comfort of reading. She stated that "[w]hile critical to building brains, reading is equally important to building trusting and close relationships. . . . [a]nd that's why reading should not be viewed solely as an intellectual proposition . . . ."
In 1996, the authors of From Crib to School: Families Reading to Babies asserted that reader development is established from earliest childhood. They describe ways in which young readers are exposed to literate structures, including the physicality of books, and how children incorporate these structures into their reading development and ability.
An article entitled Books and Babies by Jane McFann quotes researchers as making the link between baby reading times and later school-reading success: "reading books to young children is a powerful way of introducing them to a lifelong relationship with quality literature. It has also been one of the early experiences identified as making a significant difference in later reading success."
Kathleen Odean, in the book Great Books for Babies and Toddlers promotes reading to babies as a way to enrich emergent literacy practices. She asserts that by reading to babies they will come to understand many things about books and learn:
- The physical properties of a book.
- Conventions of print.
- ". . . written language is different from spoken language" (6).
- ". . . stories have structure andsequence and that some can be predicted" (6).
- ". . . become familiar with rhyme" (7).
To me it appears that while the 'experts' hope to encourage parents to read to their infants, they are very aware that some parents will take that advice to the extreme and attempt formal teaching. Each article and book I have come across reiterates the importance of reading to babies for their love of it, but not as an intellectual or academic pursuit. As Odean states, "[r]eading aloud is not about teaching young children to read. A child who learns to read as a pre-schooler gains no advantage over a child who learns in early elementary school, any more than a child who walks early necessarily becomes a better athlete" (36-37).
Questions
1. What do you think that parents who read to their babies expect as an outcome?
2. Do parents actually get more out of the reading experience than their children do?
posted by Carol N. @ 6:00 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Well, I can't speak for all parents. I think that both my daughter and I benefited from the experience. I know that I had two reasons for reading to my daughter. The main one was pleasure, hers and mine. It was nice to cuddle together and share a story. I also knew that reading to her would help her with reading later in life. I wasn't trying to teach her to read, but I knew that she would absorb the basic structure of a story... beginning, middle, end. She would know "how" to read a book: starting at the beginning and turning pages until you get to the end. This may sound really obvious, but I had a friend who taught kindergarten who told me that she could always tell who had been read to and who had not. The ones who had would pick up a book, turn to the front and start moving sequentially through the pages. The ones who had not, didn't know what to do with the book.
Nowadays there is a big emphashis on emergent literacy practices. A lot of indirect learning does take place just by listening to stories, and playing at reading and writing. Heather mentioned that children who are read to learn the conventions of print, and the way of a story. I love that period in my own children's lives. Liam is finishing my sentences as I reread familiar books. Kieran is keeping a logbook for nature hikes. Each page has blue scribbles on it, but it means something special to him. It's great fun!
1. What do you think that parents who read to their babies expect as an outcome?
Hopefully just to instill the enjoyment of reading and sharing time togther.
2. Do parents actually get more out of the reading experience than their children do?
It depends on the parent.
I derive a lot of pleasure from sharing stories with my niece and nephew. I enjoy the quiet time & visiting about the book. My niece enjoys it a lot too, and it's not something that she will just go and do on her own. It's not a habit that she grew up with.
I like to have picture books laying around the house when they come over so that if the right moment presents itself we can just sit down together and read. It's spontaneous rather than scheduled. When they come over, it usually doesn't take long before we've plunked down on the floor to share a story or two, or three...together.
Why read to them, and is it more for the parents?
- it's fun
- it's bonding
- it's a nice break from playing Barbies ;-)
- it's beneficial (e.g. vocab)
- did I mention it's fun? ;-)
In my case, it's not always "more for the parents". My eldest, who spoke early to boot, would often say "gen" (translation = "again") after we finished a favourite book, and so we'd re-read it. There were days we wanted to hide some of her favourites so we wouldn't have to see them again. The only time my husband ever wished he knew how to drive was after 10 hours in the car with my daughter reading Franklin the Turtle books to her ad nauseum. We read anytime with our kids (usually they dictate when, but sometimes we suggest it too) and one of my daughter's favourite reading times is "slumber party" time. There were times when she had chosen 6 picture books or a novel and my throat would be sore from constant reading aloud, so my daughter definitely "got more out of the reading experience" during those periods than I did. My girl has a very large vocabulary, and there are times when she "talks like a book". My wonderful son, who is more bodily-kinaesthetic than verbal-linguistic, thrills me to death when I have recently heard him reciting lines from the board books we read him. Of course, the temper tantrum we narrowly avoided in church because we didn't bring his Olie book he wanted at that moment is a "benefit" of the love of reading we didn't anticipate ... ;-)
Funny that re-reading to the point of annoying is mentioned. Kathleen Odean has a section about repeat reading. She says that "[h]earing books over and over is vitally important because it gives a child the chance to understand the words and pictures completely." She also makes note of the fact that a baby's and a toddler's life is so filled with new experiences that turning back to the familiar stories gives them a sense of control and comfort. They are also attempting to master the vocabulary and content (27). My oldest, Kieran, likes to substitute characters if the story is really familiar. He went through a Max and Ruby stage, and now he's into Batman. Also, at Christmas time, we turned old favourites into Christmas stories. Liam on the other hand is at the point where I can stop mid-sentence and he will take over.
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