Posted on 05/05/2015 11:00:34 AM PDT by wtd
Reading to children at bedtime: ABC questions value of time-honoured practice
THE ABC has questioned whether parents should read to their children before bedtime, claiming it could give your kids an “unfair advantage” over less fortunate children.
“Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?” asks a story on the ABC’s website.
“Should parents snuggling up for one last story before lights out be even a little concerned about the advantage they might be conferring?”
The story was followed by a broadcast on the ABC’s Radio National that also tackled the apparently divisive issue of bedtime reading.
“Evidence shows that the difference between those who get bedtime stories and those who don’t — the difference in their life chances — is bigger than the difference between those who get elite private schooling and those that don’t,” British academic Adam Swift told ABC presenter Joe Gelonesi.
Gelonesi responded online: “This devilish twist of evidence surely leads to a further conclusion that perhaps — in the interests of levelling the playing field — bedtime stories should also be restricted.”
Contacted by The Daily Telegraph, Gelonesi said the bedtime stories angle was highlighted by the ABC “as a way of getting attention”.
Asked if it might be just as easy to level the playing field by encouraging other parents to read bedtime stories, Gelonesi said: “We didn’t discuss that.”
Swift said parents should be mindful of the advantage provided by bedtime reading.
“I don’t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly have in their minds the way that they are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children, but I think they should have that thought occasionally,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytelegraph.com.au ...
Seriously?!?!!
My DIL grew up in a non-English speaking, broken home.. Her mother was either working or partying. She saw her dad 2 weeks every summer. Oh yeah, her mother is illiterate. Little to no guidance, children raising children.
When she was in college the professor did a little exercise to prove her point that those who would make the best COTAs had this certain kind of raising. They stood in the middle of the room with their eyes closed and the prof said things like “You were read to as a child.”. If yes step forward, no, step backward. Mostly just things that we take for granted. My DIL ended up with her back against the wall while almost all her classmates were at the front.
OMG, she cried so hard when she told me about it. But that’s okay, she is a wonderful OT and she has done everything she could to give her all the advantages that she missed.
She now works in the school system and helps teach parents what they can do with their children to help them to excel.
Why would anyone deny their own child anything because another child doesn’t have it, I don’t know, that’s just insanity. Oh yeah, there are hungry children in Africa so I’m not going to feed my children well either.
The book "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 50 Easy Lessons" was brilliant. We never got through all 50 lessons, because a month later he was reading on his own.
He was 3 years old.
I read to my kids at bedtime until they learned to read. Then I had them read to me.
Now whenever any of our grandkids spend the night I read to them. A good book is much better than technology any day!
So because some individuals are too stupid or stoned to read to their kids, the normal people are criticized for doing it?
Typical leftist way of looking at things. The people who better themselves by effort are the ones they hate.
When Dan Quayle referred to the fact that children who grow up in stable, two-parent households grow up to have better outcomes, as a whole, to their peers, the howls of outrage were incessant. How backward-thinking! Does he not respect the work of the single parent?
Fast-forward a few decades, and now not only is the truth acknowledged, it is done so as a pretext that the preferred state is now somehow an unfair advantage that must be compensated for? Western civilization is dead, it’s just not stopped moving yet.
Now, as for me personally... my eldest son is 10 and I still read to him every night, barring circumstances that make it impossible. But I refuse to read him books that he should read on his own - I will read him more “difficult” books instead (albeit with an occasional on-the-fly edit).
Why? Because I want him reading level-appropriate books himself to develop that skill but to be exposed to style and language that is beyond that to stretch his boundaries. So far, it seems to work - not only is his technical reading level high, but his comprehension and retention is high as well.
The ABC is the Australian version of the UK’s BBC, essentially government media.
They make the U.S. media seem like the John Birch Society by comparison.
My grandson and I read together over the phone whenever we could not read in person. I always bought two copies of any books he found interesting. He’s old enough and busy enough these days that we don’t get much chance to read together anymore, but he’s a voracious reader!
I used to read to my kids at bedtime but the stories got them too excited. Now I read to them while they eat lunch. We’re working on “Tom Sawyer” at the moment. :o)
Thx ...
This is satire, right? I've heard a lot of stupid things in my day, but this couldn't possibly be serious.
To the Aussies’ credit, most of the comments at the link trashed this nonsense.
He would change his voice depending on the character speaking. The most enjoyable and frightening at the same time, was the voice of Jacob Marley.
I wish I could go back to that time, when we all sat around and listened to our father read to us.
Rush made the point that socialism never raises up the poor; just hammers down the well to do. Poverty is then shared equally, except by the “masters.”
The other Rush was well ahead of them:
“Now the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, ax, and saw”
More crap from the psychobabble industry. They’re best ignored. Parents know what’s best for their kids.
Oh, GFY.
WTF?
This man is evil ... truly demonic and demented. He wants people to feel guilty when the properly care for their children. He thinks properly caring for you children is a bad thing ...
BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE DON'T DO THAT!!!
He should be tarred and feathered ... not given a platform from which to speak his evil.
I don't work, and provide the best I can for my wife and children in order to "level the playing field".
Bugger that!
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