Monday, November 27, 2017

Parenting Pointers: Reading Children’s Books in the Digital Age



“Book”: a written or printed composition on pages bound together for associated reading. “File”: a folder or receptacle for storing written unbound compositions, usually in a particular order, for reference. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” compliments of William Shakespeare. So, without engaging in the semantic twaddle of it all, the question is, are the digital versions of a book in fact a ‘book’ by definition?  And if so, what the heck is the difference?
Well, as all definitions morph into what society classifies them to be and this being the age of technology, it follows that technologically, it is unquestionable that a ‘digital book’ is a ‘book’—after all, it has the word ‘book’ in its title. But on a larger scale, is it the book delivery system we are really talking about, or the age-old content of the book argument in disguise?
 So, since the present society seems mostly concerned with the science of life more than the humanity of it, where are all the scientific studies related to the cognitive effect of reading and learning directly from an emitted light source versus learning from a source which is naturally reflected? In essence, what is the difference between having knowledge beamed into your child’s head or having the child acquire it instinctively? Additionally, how does this digital transference of knowledge affect a child’s ability to retain what is read compared to the physical grasp of the work itself? These questions are certainly important however, because those comparative techno-studies are few and far between, I believe we should instead focus on how a child develops through the two different methods of reading by beginning our own comparative analysis. First, we can begin our study by separating the sample group of society into two distinct groups: the children and the adults. Now, how elementary can you get?
Adults, or so recognized, are free to act upon their own volition, while children are not. Adults are also considered to be responsible for their actions, while children are not. So, for this reason, the adult is given the dominion over the child’s development and entrusted with the child’s welfare. A system cannot be an adult; an institution cannot be an adult; and a technological advancement cannot be an adult, either. Therefore, it is only an adult who alone bears the responsibility for a child’s melioration, not that of the ubiquitous society.      
And this is where the entire debate over the reading of children’s books and the child’s development come in. When it comes to a child’s intellectual development going awry, blaming digital media for sharing venues such as YouTube for having inappropriate content, as is so often done in this modern world, is only an argument to those who choose it to be. Nearly all of the books that are on the digital sites are on the bookstore shelves as well, including The Catcher in the Rye—or has everyone forgotten about that one?  Face it, this tactic is merely a diversion and simply an excuse for parents not to make the effort to teach their children to read, including what content is appropriate to be exposed to from the beginning; if an adult had selected and purchased the tactile book in the first place and read it to the child, the excoriation of the entire digital world would be unnecessary.
Children learn by example—the second child almost always learns to walk faster than the first one did, or hasn’t anyone ever noticed this?  If you read to your child, they will try to read the book by themselves, and a caring parent should read to them until they do. Now, without having all the techno-studies available to us, as mentioned earlier, it just might be a good idea to pick up a copy of The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease; all the data you need should be right there.
  So again, how a child is taught to read is just as important as what they learn to read, and it is the loving parent’s job to teach them how, not to farm the task out to a robot, no matter how well disguised. Be a human and teach a human, I say. And look at the benefits! A book that has been read as a child often becomes a life-long treasure and a family tradition. Try that with an E-Book, especially if the file gets erased. And, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what a great feeling it is to have when that flattery come from your own child, following in your own footsteps; furthermore, never mind that stock phrase “quality time” and read to your child for the love of it, rather than out of a societal duty.   
Finally, be honest: isn’t skimming a digital book something akin to reading Cliff Notes? A valuable resource perhaps, but did you really love reading it? Would you give a Cliff Note book to someone as a Christmas gift? Of course not. So, give your child a book to have and to hold, okay? And whenever it is read together, forever it will always be, etched inside your child’s heart, a cherished memory.  – J. L. Baumann  

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