Reading aloud as a reaction to other media and activities casts reading in a negative light. Whether or not a family starts reading when children are in the cradle, one of the chief things is perserverence. There are always obstacles. Where viewing is a dominant leisure-time activity, viewing habits can be looked at as bases for migrating to books and short stories. We've also found that sometimes as interest in a book has waned, viewing an adaptation can re-awaken a child's curiosity.
Children seem less burdened by knowing the conclusions to stories than adults do.
In fact knowing how a story ends frequently increases interest because fear and suspense are sometimes the reason for lost interest in the first place. Ideas for bringing books and stories to life have also helped to broaden the influence of reading in our home. When, for instance, our daughter felt the injustice of having a bedroom smaller than that of her older brother, we spent little time discussing the relative measure of sibling seniority, but went straight to the genuine similarities between her room and Heidi's loft or Jo March's garret. She's loved her room ever since. Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.