The Family that Reads Together, Stays Together

- Nikita Tripathi

The Danish Bookstart Programme in 2009 started with the philosophy “you are never too young to enjoy a good book”. Come to think of it, age is not really a factor when it comes to reading. Sure, with time habits change and you come to discover a whole new genre and writers that you begin to admire but all the credit goes to the nursery rhymes and fairy tales that were read to you in primary school.
Among several family activities like annual vacations, dinner conversations and playing scrabble and carom board on the coffee table on weekends, family reading time has its own place. In Nepal, the habit of reading with your family is rare, but the habit of reading itself has not proved to be profound yet. However, we’re getting there at an unprecedented pace, moving towards establishing a learning society.
Director Pawitra Limbu of Premier International School and Montessori Kinderworld reads to her 9-year-old son in the morning on weekends and in the evening during weekdays. Her son’s recent favorite is the Tintin series. “I always try and incorporate books that are age-appropriate; however there are some books that my son has developed a bond to, like Robert Munsch’s ‘Love You Forever’ and Sam McBratney’s ‘Guess How Much I Love You?’. He often wants to go back and reread them,” she says.
The literacy development of a child begins way ahead of joining kindergarten, in the first few years he spends at home with his family members. This period automatically addresses parents as the child’s prime teachers. Children who observe behaviors and habits unknowingly begin to inculcate them. This is when family reading time heavily influences the child.
Sapna Thapa, director and founder of Mothercare International School, reads books to her 17-year-old son. Previously, when both of her kids were young, she used to read Eric Carle to them. “I recently read ‘The Outliners’ by Malcolm Gladwell to my son and he enjoyed it,” she says.
Families who sit together and read books tend to form a bond that surpasses the mere idea of obligation, so much so, that one could state “a family that reads together stays together”.
“My daughter reads books that I recommend to her and we share a small book club kind of discussion if we have read the same book. My son reads books that are in his reading list from school and also enjoys reading articles containing the latest technological news, music, etc. on the internet. I read to the children in my school and most of them love to listen to stories. Reading aloud is one of the most important ways to hold a child’s attention and to help develop their imaginative skills,” adds Thapa.
Discussing the plot of a book that a member recently read and referring it to the others contributes to smooth communication and intellectual development to an extensive level; more so when a child can choose from the family’s collection of books and asks parents for recommendations. Limbu’s family has a strict rule that prescribes no limit on spending on books. If her children spend on books, she and her husband make it a point to reimburse the amount.
As redundant as it sounds, technology has adversely affected the reading culture. Students who otherwise would be reading Dickens and Fitzgerald in school are browsing through SparkNotes; kindles and e-books have come to replace the joy of holding paperbacks and hard covers. As depressing as this is, it should be understood that while embracing technology, the reading habit has not been lost in the process.
Thapa opined,“I don’t think that technology has affected reading that much, in fact, it has made life easier (for me especially) because you can now access a number of ebooks that may not be available in bookstores, you can also access a variety of newspaper articles, journals and magazines. I also think that technology has enhanced incidental learning because you have to go through endless amounts of data when you Google for something specific and reading happens naturally. However, I still love traditional books and would always opt for the hard copy if they are available.”
There is TV, internet, game consoles, cellular phones, a medium too many to divert the attention of a child; the unwavering presence of social networking sites, the mighty Facebook in particular that glues children to the computer screen as though the whole world were in it and even a single second away from it would make them a social pariah! But, with proper guidance and supervision, the energy of a child can be guided in any direction you want.
Shristi Uprety, 19, reads with her family in the same room, “but that is because we read all the time,” she says. Her parents used to read Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton to her when she was a child, these days her parents occasionally recommend her books and she does the same. Reading is an ingrained habit for Shristi who believes technology does take away your reading time.
Siddhant Basnet, 16, recalls how he used to sit with his family every night to take turns to read stories until a few years ago. “It was meant for quality time with the family and also to improve our English and enunciation,” Basnet says. “We usually read Enid Blyton and mostly ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’.”
Reading for most is a habit, a passion, an indulgence, but knowingly and unknowingly, reading shapes our life, the way we think and the person we become. The effort of reading and communication when nurtured by the family together becomes a lifelong sustenance. n