The AAP recommends that pediatric providers promote early literacy development as an important evidencebased intervention at health supervision visits for children beginning in infancy and continuing at least until the age of school entry . . .<\/p>\n
The 2011\u20132012 National Survey of Children\u2019s Health found that 60% of American children from birth to 5 years of age from families whose incomes were 400% of the federal poverty threshold or greater were read to daily, and only 34% of children from families whose incomes were below 100% of the poverty threshold were read to daily. These numbers indicate that, even in higher-income families, many children do not experience the enhanced engagement and language-rich parent-child interactions, including book handling, print exposure, and other early literacy experiences, afforded by daily shared reading. . .<\/p>\n
All families need to hear the important message that reading aloud to their children is crucial, especially in an era in which competing entertainment imperatives, such as screen time (television, cinema, video games, and computers), may limit family interactions and live language exposures of even very young children. Although most research has focused on literacy promotion for families of lower socioeconomic status, pediatricians should remember to educate all families about the importance of reading aloud to young children because even in af\ufb02uent and educated families with plenty of books at home, many parents do not read with their children on a daily basis. Promoting literacy with parents of children beginning in infancy supports the recommendations of the AAP that children younger than 2 years not view electronic media and that older children and youth have no more than 2 hours daily of media exposure by offering parents a positive alternative for entertaining young children, for nurturing early relationships, and for developing healthy bedtime routines. The positive reinforcement of repeated developmentally appropriate encouragement in the context of the primary care visit reminds parents again and again of the importance of their \u201cface time,\u201d interactive conversations, and their own evolving and essential relationship with their children, which is critical to setting a young child\u2019s developmental trajectory and life course.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now, I think that reading to children is a good thing. \u00a0We\u2019ve tried to make a practice of this in our home, though now this largely consists of reading with my 7-year-old, who just finished first grade, and the \u201cwith\u201d usually means having him read a Magic Tree House book aloud to me, or taking turns reading a more difficult book. <\/p>\n
But infants?<\/p>\n
If there is data that shows that reading to infants has benefits, then I\u2019m quite certain that it\u2019s a matter of \u201ccorrelation
causation.\u201d \u00a0Infants who are willing to be \u201cread to\u201d could, potentially, be the sort of kids who will later do well academically. \u00a0And parents who are willing to push ahead on \u201creading to infants\u201d are more likely to be ambitious enough to push their kids academically later.<\/p>\n
And, indeed, the advice to \u201cread to\u201d infants often acknowledges that they\u2019ll more likely want to chew on the book, or throw it. \u00a0At best you can them to look at a few pictures. \u00a0But, to infant-\u201creading\u201d promoters, it\u2019s all about getting the baby, as they become a toddler and preschooler, to undrestand that a book, and printed words, are very special things \u2014 a form of indoctrination that is almost religious in nature, in the way that parents will begin teaching religion to their children with simple prayers and reverent references to Jesus or Heavenly Father.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, the AAP is headed even further down the road of \u201cparenting is really, really hard.\u201d \u00a0First they\u2019ve said \u201cno screen time below age two\u201d and emphasized the need for one-on-one parental interaction \u2014 a very new thing, and surely quite alien to our grandparents. \u00a0Now they\u2019re saying, for those parents who don\u2019t know what to do with their babies, that the answer is to read to them. \u00a0(As if parents haven\u2019t figured out that reading can be an option, or other one-on-one interactions.) \u00a0Isn\u2019t that the first step towards the overscheduled world of many children today, in which they simply don\u2019t know how to entertain themselves because they\u2019ve never had enough \u201calone time\u201d? \u00a0And doesn\u2019t this just add to the \u201crequirements\u201d of good parenting that parents are faced with, leading to viewing parenting as a burden rather than a joy?<\/p>\n
And what a high standard! \u00a0\u201cIf you don\u2019t read to your infant DAILY! you\u2019re an inferior parent, leaving them unprepared for school.\u201d \u00a0I have my doubts about the study above \u2014 or rather, I suspect that, of the 60% and 34% of children who were \u201cread to\u201d daily, a substantial portion of them were \u201cread to\u201d at daycare during scheduled daily storytime. <\/p>\n
\u00a0Here are my experiences:<\/p>\n
Two years old seems to be about the right age for a child to be able to enjoy a book, and enjoy the routine of storytime. \u00a0For my oldest, I tried dilligently when he was younger, but without much success \u2014 maybe towards the later part of toddlerhood (I admit \u2014 this was some 12 years ago, and my memory is bad) he started to have some level of interest for a few minutes of storytime. \u00a0But his lack of interest earlier certainly added to the new-parent stress.<\/p>\n
My middle and youngest child got their daily dose of \u201cbeing read to\u201d at a much younger age, pretty much by virtue of the fact that they were part of the audience, more or less oblivious to what was going on, when the oldest and then middle son had their before-bed storytime. \u00a0And, yes, there were favorite books: \u00a0there was a stretch when my oldest wanted Go Dog, Go every night (though we would skip lots of middle pages to shorten it), and my youngest was fond of Curious George (or maybe that was my middle son), and books about construction vehicles. \u00a0And they\u2019ve all turned out fine \u2014 my 14 year old likes science fiction and my 11 year old, fantasy. \u00a0The youngest isn\u2019t quite a fully independent reader, but nearly there.<\/p>\n
But in infancy? \u00a0Give me a break.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes, playing on my post title from Friday (alternatively, I might have said, \u201cthe AAP has jumped the shark\u201d), but the American Academy of Pediatricians has outdone itself this time. \u00a0You\u2019ll remember them, of \u201cno TV before age 2\u201d fame. \u00a0The new policy is that pediatricians are instructed to recommend parents to read to their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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