5 ms·

Short answer, from the article: The secret to raising boys who read, I submit, is pretty simple—keep electronic media, especially video games and recreational I

by Hates_ 16y ago

Short answer, from the article: The secret to raising boys who read, I submit, is pretty simple—keep electronic media, especially video games and recreational Internet, under control (that is to say, almost completely absent). Then fill your shelves with good books.

hugh3 16y ago
Also known as: "How to raise boys who hate their parents". Possibly also "boys who are shunned at school", since they won't be able to take part in a huge fraction of the conversations going on in the playground. The best way to raise children with good habits is to have those habits yourself. If every day after dinner both parents retire to the lounge room to listen to some music and read a book (each), the children will quickly get the idea that's what people do. If they go and watch TV instead, they'll get that idea. One more point: childhood habits don't always bleed over into the adult. From age 13-17 I probably barely read a single novel that wasn't assigned for school. (I read plenty of non-fiction for pleasure.) But once reading novels stopped being "schoolwork" I started doing it for pleasure, and have since read... a lot.
- jacobolus 16y ago
  Oh give me a break. Not playing video games and reading lots of books growing up never made me shunned on the playground and never made me hate my parents (and I’ve never heard anyone say they hate their parents for video-game deprivation). Playgrounds are for running around, kicking things, messily digging in the dirt, and generally making mischief, not analyzing video games.
  - willydix 16y ago
    When was the last time you were on a playground? Let's assume you're only in your 20s, it's been almost a decade. Perhaps you don't know exactly what is happening on the playground. Not that I do either.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - nollidge 16y ago
    Swear on my life, I love my parents for video-game deprivation.
- jerf 16y ago
  'Possibly also "boys who are shunned at school", since they won't be able to take part in a huge fraction of the conversations going on in the playground.' If the environment is that toxic and hostile to spending time wisely, perhaps your children should not spend so much time in it.
- fogus 16y ago
  > "boys who are shunned at school" Oh boy, where to begin? OK, let's get the kids the video games and let them watch the TV shows. Hopefully they are wearing the right jeans. That's OK, we'll buy those too. Hopefully they have the right hair style. That's cool, there's a Hair Cuttery right down the road. Hopefully they are good at sports. That's OK, we can hire a personal trainer. Hopefully they are not too ugly because all of this other stuff will be moot.
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  Repost of a comment I made a few days ago: Excuse my language, but give me a fucking break. I was a teenager not that long ago, my siblings are in their teens, and I know other teens who have zero interest in video games. Aside from the fact that I think the claim of impending ostracization for non-gamers is bullshit, if your friends shun you because you don't play 20 hours of video games a week, get some new friends. You could easily make the same arguments for drugs and promiscuous sex, which I understand are popular among some groups of teenagers. I'm sure there's a lot of people that would argue that it's a "huge social disadvantage" to not being into sports, but I've lived in many places were sports seemed to be all most people cared about and I managed to maintain plenty of rich friendships, despite not giving two shits about any professional sports. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707083 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707083
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - hugh3 16y ago
    I was talking more about TV than video games, actually. I don't know where everybody got the video games idea from. Also I was talking in the six-to-eleven-year-old age group.
- run4yourlives 16y ago
  Possibly also "boys who are shunned at school", If this is a measure of success when evaluating your parenting, you are doing it wrong.
bstrong 16y ago
Another answer is to stop treating reading and video games as mutually exclusive. Maybe the real answer is a new genre of media that includes interactivity, game-play dynamics, and lots of text.
- fshaun 16y ago
  Did someone say MUD?
- gommm 16y ago
  Like old fashioned interactive fiction and point and click adventures? More seriously, I fully intend, when I have kids, to filter the games they play and try to introduce them to games like Civilization, Secret of Monkey Island, The Longest Journey and so on... I'm not exactly convinced that letting young kids play GTA and Stalker 2 is that great an idea...

by Hates_ 16y ago

hugh3 16y ago

Also known as: "How to raise boys who hate their parents". Possibly also "boys who are shunned at school", since they won't be able to take part in a huge fraction of the conversations going on in the playground. The best way to raise children with good habits is to have those habits yourself. If every day after dinner both parents retire to the lounge room to listen to some music and read a book (each), the children will quickly get the idea that's what people do. If they go and watch TV instead, they'll get that idea. One more point: childhood habits don't always bleed over into the adult. From age 13-17 I probably barely read a single novel that wasn't assigned for school. (I read plenty of non-fiction for pleasure.) But once reading novels stopped being "schoolwork" I started doing it for pleasure, and have since read... a lot.

jacobolus 16y ago
Oh give me a break. Not playing video games and reading lots of books growing up never made me shunned on the playground and never made me hate my parents (and I’ve never heard anyone say they hate their parents for video-game deprivation). Playgrounds are for running around, kicking things, messily digging in the dirt, and generally making mischief, not analyzing video games.
- willydix 16y ago
  When was the last time you were on a playground? Let's assume you're only in your 20s, it's been almost a decade. Perhaps you don't know exactly what is happening on the playground. Not that I do either.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- nollidge 16y ago
  Swear on my life, I love my parents for video-game deprivation.
jerf 16y ago
'Possibly also "boys who are shunned at school", since they won't be able to take part in a huge fraction of the conversations going on in the playground.' If the environment is that toxic and hostile to spending time wisely, perhaps your children should not spend so much time in it.
fogus 16y ago
> "boys who are shunned at school" Oh boy, where to begin? OK, let's get the kids the video games and let them watch the TV shows. Hopefully they are wearing the right jeans. That's OK, we'll buy those too. Hopefully they have the right hair style. That's cool, there's a Hair Cuttery right down the road. Hopefully they are good at sports. That's OK, we can hire a personal trainer. Hopefully they are not too ugly because all of this other stuff will be moot.
ryanwaggoner 16y ago
Repost of a comment I made a few days ago: Excuse my language, but give me a fucking break. I was a teenager not that long ago, my siblings are in their teens, and I know other teens who have zero interest in video games. Aside from the fact that I think the claim of impending ostracization for non-gamers is bullshit, if your friends shun you because you don't play 20 hours of video games a week, get some new friends. You could easily make the same arguments for drugs and promiscuous sex, which I understand are popular among some groups of teenagers. I'm sure there's a lot of people that would argue that it's a "huge social disadvantage" to not being into sports, but I've lived in many places were sports seemed to be all most people cared about and I managed to maintain plenty of rich friendships, despite not giving two shits about any professional sports. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707083 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1707083
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- hugh3 16y ago
  I was talking more about TV than video games, actually. I don't know where everybody got the video games idea from. Also I was talking in the six-to-eleven-year-old age group.
run4yourlives 16y ago
Possibly also "boys who are shunned at school", If this is a measure of success when evaluating your parenting, you are doing it wrong.

bstrong 16y ago

Another answer is to stop treating reading and video games as mutually exclusive. Maybe the real answer is a new genre of media that includes interactivity, game-play dynamics, and lots of text.

fshaun 16y ago
Did someone say MUD?
gommm 16y ago
Like old fashioned interactive fiction and point and click adventures? More seriously, I fully intend, when I have kids, to filter the games they play and try to introduce them to games like Civilization, Secret of Monkey Island, The Longest Journey and so on... I'm not exactly convinced that letting young kids play GTA and Stalker 2 is that great an idea...