Look, it’s a wonderful thing to read your children bedtime stories. It fosters imagination, introduces the pleasures of reading, strengthens the bond between parent and child, yadda yadda yadda.
But… when’s the right time to stop? Before they sprout underarm hair, I’d wager. Certainly before they get to the Honeymoon Suite. But, when?
I was mulling this over recently, having realised that what used to be a relatively rapid event at the end of each day’s childcare (speed-read Tiddler, kiss goodnight, then hit the G&T) was fast eating into my evenings. Sometimes I wasn’t hitting the bottle until 8pm!
My son Harvey, now seven, has progressed beyond Donaldson and Blyton and likes a proper "chapter book", but isn’t ready for something that potentially might entertain us both, like Dickens or Kipling (we tried The Jungle Book, and he was literally kicking me in the face from boredom. Sometimes you’ve just got to pick your battles).
We’ve done all of Dahl, and he’s very anti-Harry Potter for some reason (I think he secretly finds witchcraft scary), so all that’s left is the dross from the dreaded "Ages fiveeight" section: adventure stories with neon jackets that are clearly designed for kids to read to themselves, but he’s not proficient enough for that, so I was reading them to him. And they’re really, really boring.
この記事は Reader's Digest UK の April 2023 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は Reader's Digest UK の April 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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