Right now I'm reading Dostoevsky to my baby. He doesn't care what I read because he is too young. Can you read adult books to 1 year olds and toddlers and 4 year olds? Do they enjoy it less than kid books? Of course they will not understand all the themes like adults. But in the past parents must have children of all ages adult books because those would be the books they had. And kids would gather around the fire and listen. If you read the original Brothers Grimm, it is not written in easy words to sound out. Even Alice in Wonderland has complex language.
Is there any reason kids today listen to Rafi and read "cat hat bat" before they're even old enough for phonics? I understand the utility of phonics books when they are learning to read and not simply being read to, and simple language when they are 5 or 6 and they are practicing reading and not being read to.
by lol_fi
7 Comments
Yes, of course. I’d suggest staying away from Anaïs Nin though
You read kids’ books because that is what they enjoy reading and you want reading to be fun and engaging. I could read adult books to my 1.5 year old but she would run out of the room to go read apart the toilet paper again. She loves the very hungry caterpillar and goodnight moon. Reading the same stories also helps with literacy. Simple pictures and stories are comforting. The same reason she LOVES singing wheels on the bus but if I play more sophisticated music she just walks away. You can of course expose your child to complex music or literature or art but building up to more complex ideas provides scaffolding for our brain to grow!
You can read the phone book to your kid if you want to, but if the question is whether it will be of particular benefit or will they *enjoy* it? Probably not. They will likely enjoy Dostoevsky a *lot* less than books that are specifically written for kids. They’re not going to understand what you’re reading to them and they’re not likely to remember complex adult stories that way.
Depending on how far back you go, parents didn’t read to their kids, because the majority of people couldn’t read at all. Instead, they’d have been telling stories that had a beginning, middle, and end that could be shared in a fairly short time compared to a novel. Think about how long a fairytale usually compared to *Crime and Punishment*, and how much easier the language and structure are.
Even before they’re learning to read, kids are learning how language functions. Children’s books are engaging and fun and contain simple language that the child is more likely to understand and focus on basic concepts that kids can understand.
You are, so it seems you can
My Dad used to read his Louis Llamor books to me outloud. I fell asleep to the sound of his voice. Once I was old enough to understand, then he switched to kids books.
I was reading Gibbon’s *Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire* aloud while breast-feeding my youngest — because I didn’t want to stop reading and also didn’t want to ignore the baby. Didn’t hurt the baby at all.
Later I read *The Hobbit* as a bedtime story a few years before he got into chapter books. That was wildly successful.
A lot of it is learning language. Even if you are talking, not reading, there are big benefits. Esp when they are very young.
When I taught, I used to read easy books when I wanted to practice phonics skills. When i wanted to practice things like characterization or plot, i read books several grade levels over their heads. Of course, not adult books in school, but there is value reading above their heads as long as you are checking for understanding once they are four years old and up.