There are so many things I love about having a son. In fact, I was rather relieved when I found out he was going to be a "he". I'm not good with high-pitched voices, pink or gossip. I was deathly afraid of having a child who wanted to be a cheerleader. (I guess I still am!) I didn't want the stress of letting my little girl start dating. However, the one thing I'm most scared about is not being able to share some of my favorite books with my child.
I have tried to get in some of the more neutral "girly" books before Z's too old to have a strong gender bias. We've enjoyed Pippi Longstocking and Madeline and a few others. But what happens when he's a little older? I probably won't have trouble getting him to read Harry Potter or the Benedict Society books but I might have a hard time getting him to try Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. What is the chance that he will try Pride and Prejudice?
Do any of you have the same dilemma? Do you try to get your child to read books that might not be the norm for their age or sex? And if you don't have kids yet, what are your plans for sharing everything you love with them?
Taking it in stride,
K
I think you have to ditch preconceived ideas about anything involving your children. My son loved all books until he was about two (we used to read huge numbers of different types)- and then he went through a longish phase, about eighteen months, of only reading Thomas the Tank Engine stories! (the best cure for insomnia I've ever read!). As a fifteen-year old - he's a keen reader, very good at English, can write good detailed essays on any book or play he has to read, his English teacher is always full of praise, but his personal reading preference is limited to about half-a-dozen authors (those authors do include JRR Tolkien and Douglas Adams), despite my efforts at introducing him to different books. Whereas my daughter will undoubtedly read Pride and Prejudice when she's a bit older (she loves the TV series and the movie) but she's not a big reader. She's always active, prefers meeting up with friends and playing sports.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha, you have no idea how much I'm worried about this for when I have kids. I have three sisters and no brothers, so I really feel like I have no idea what little boys like. I am constantly wondering what books I'm going to get for my children if they turn out to be boys.
ReplyDeleteJennysbooks, it's when they're older that finding suitable books becomes more difficult, so many either have a girl heroine or are written by women (not that I'm saying that women can't write books that will appeal to boys, but as teaching tends to be dominated more and more by women, almost totally at Primary school, and increasingly at Secondary school, it's important to balance out that female dominance).
ReplyDeleteI remember a conversation with my son's English teacher a couple of years ago at Parent's Evening - she's always on the lookout for authors who appeal to teenage boys, and I was the one who suggested Douglas Adams - she added him to the list.
Tracy - I've definitely done a bunch of the ditching so far! I mean, maybe he will still be that kid who reads anything that's put in front of him. Or maybe he will just stop reading, right?
ReplyDeleteJenny - And my two closest siblings were brothers who I felt I could totally relate to and then I had two sisters (who, yes, were cheerleaders!) who were younger and so we just didn't do much together. My brothers have turned out to be readers -- my sisters, not so much.
Tracy - I don't think I ever saw Douglas Adams on a reading list so BRAVO! If we don't put books that appeal to kids in front of them, they may never find the "right" book to love.
My main reading goals are Harry Potter and Narnia. After that, I'm cool. I just can't wait until we get there ... it seems like it is taking forever!!
ReplyDeleteI don't have children, but with me my mom and dad shared everything they loved with me and let me choose what to pursue...or not. It turned out I shared lots of interest with both of them, but not everything. You never know what he'll love, but you might be surprised. My parents were. :)
ReplyDeleteI have two boys - when they were younger they both loved to read and went through the whole Fear Street and Goosebumps books (I couldn't but them fast enough!).
ReplyDeleteThen they both did Harry Potter to the point that when the books were released I had to get three copies because we all wanted to read them right now! :D
Now One reads minimal (although I did get him to read Hunger Games) and the other is in college to be a journalist and reads all the time - a wide variety of books.
Jenners - It takes forever but also flies by.
ReplyDeletePaige - I don't read anything that my dad does but crossover a bit with my mom. I guess we will see!
Sheila - It's certainly strange that it's not "once a reader, always a reader". Your one may still go back to books too!
This is such a good point and I completely agree! I have both a boy and a girl, so I'm hoping that I will be able to hit all my favorites between the two of them. BUT, my biggest fear is that the love of reading will not continue as they get older! What will I do then?!?!
ReplyDeleteTif - I'm scared that he won't remain a reader too. That's one reason that I'm trying to make reading always seem fun and not a chore. If he's not in the mood, we just don't read. We've been taking a break from reading together over the past couple of weeks and he's totally still picking up books on his own but just not sitting with them as long. I'll wait until he's in the mood again!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya! I've actually been thinking about starting a kids' book club for this reason to incorporate fun games and activities into stories, maybe even some movies, and definitely fun treats! I don't have the time to do it monthly though and I'm not sure how those I know will go for it! In the meantime, mornings give me hope . . . he picks up books every morning while I'm in the shower and has really been gravitating towards some audio. Keeping my fingers crossed!! :)
ReplyDeleteTif - I like the book club idea, especially if it shows kids that books aren't just about sitting around by yourself.
ReplyDeleteZ isn't a fan of audio books yet but if he's watching a film based on a book, he loves to pull the book out and follow along!
I will keep you posted on how it all goes!! I love the idea of following along during a movie with the book! I'm wondering now if my kids can point out the pictures from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs?!? :)
ReplyDelete