Whose childhood is it anyway?
Have you ever started a conversation with your child with the words; ‘When I was a kid’?
I would love to know if it is limited as a British colloquialism, but it does very much seem to be a parent-kid-parent cycle here. Where, eventually we remember our own parents saying those words, to then only repeat the process with our own children.
Granted, it is a phrase I hear used a lot for parents to chastise children for poor behaviour, that just wouldn’t be acceptable in their childhood, and also to encourage children to appreciate the many material things, and opportunities now available to them.
I have yet to fall into this trap, at least I don’t recall citing my own childhood in such a way, mainly as I don’t see it as relevant, and my own childhood was not one of strict rules, routine and in anyway lacking in opportunity or love.
I wonder if I appreciated it at the time?
However, I am guilty of revisiting things I loved in my childhood, using my child as an excuse, or prompt.
When my wife was pregnant with our son, getting towards the end of her pregnancy, I became aware that I had not bought any thing for him, or her, to celebrate their safe arrival.
Not really a surprise, as I am not one for counting eggs before they hatch, nor am I keen to buy things for the sake of them being bought.
But never the less, I became aware that I had not really thought about buying my first child anything.
So, I decided to order a complete set of books, that I loved as a child. And here’s a video review of the Mr Men Library Bus that I bought.
These excellent books by Roger Hargreaves have always been fondly remembered, and such was my adoration of the series, that I had my bedroom decorated with Mr Men wallpaper.
I wanted to share these books with my child at the earliest possible moment.
And it was something I very much enjoyed doing, even when my son was just a slobbering baby, simply enjoying the pictures and my dulcet tones.
As he has grown the books have stayed relatively popular with him. They seem to carry favour for a few bedtimes, to then disappear again for a few weeks.
And I have been mindful to not force my son to read them, or anything else for that matter, reading should be his choice, and therefore fun for him, even if his nightly choice is sometimes not to my liking.
It seems many folks agree with this attitude, Susan wrote an excellent post on the Booklights blog, about how it is great to have childhood favourites, but appreciation that these may differ vastly by generation, and using those more familiar with today’s children’s literature for recommendations, are great ideas too.
Then there was the impending report I covered last week, about how it is expected to be reported that well meaning parents can actually harm a child’s love of reading.
Personally I believe it is all about balance, and I think I know my own child well enough to know when telling him what I liked as a child is a good idea, and when it is not.
But how about you? What books that you loved as a child have you read with your children? And how, more importantly, do you think this has affected their relationship with books?
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I think you’re spot on when you say it’s about balance. But I still believe in read alouds as a habit rather than a reward. I loved my son to make his own choices of books, but I would often throw in one I loved just for me. I figured that was MY reward for endless hours of Thomas the Tank Engine.
I think the thing I shared with my son that he took off on, was a love for humour in any media. I introduced him to The Goon Show on tape, and we had Monty Python books and movies. Nowadays, as a young man, he still loves them, as do I.
That makes me happy, and gives us a shared love. He outgrew Thomas though – thank goodness!
I think that is fair enough, and it has clearly worked in your instance.
We have some Thomas books, and I am not a huge fan either.
As someone with a huge love of books, like many parents I’ve read to my girls from the start. I’ve tended to go for a mix of old and new, and I’m delighted that my two have become big Roald Dhal fans. I have read some old favourites with m 9 year old, for example Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books, and she has enjoyed them, but if she didn’t we wouldn’t be reading them. I wasn’t sure what she’d think to the old fashioned style but she seemed fine with it.
Other books that I loved as a kid are the Jill Murphy’s Worst Witch books. E has had a quick peep at them but so far they’re not a huge hit.
There are so many brilliant new books out there and I’m enjoying discovering them just as much as my girls. We love Lauren Child, and Andy Stanton’s Mr Gum books, and I’m really hoping to be able to share Harry Potter, The Golden Compass Trilogy and Neil Gaiman stuff with them, but if they don’t like it there’s no way I’ll be pushing.
I want my two to love books for what they’ll get from them, not to please me. (Though obviously it would.) So far we’re doing ok.
Sounds like you are doing more than OK Jo, reads like you are doing brilliantly. Glad your girls are loving reading, and that you can share some of your favourites, and discover some new ones, together.