3 ms·

Honest question: why don't you include books as a media?

by bpizzi 7y ago

umvi 7y ago
Same reason vegetables aren't grouped together with soda and candy and chips, despite all of them being "food"
jacobolus 7y ago
From what I can tell, listening to books read aloud is by far the most effective and efficient way to promote child language development. Listening comprehension is a foundational prerequisite for most kinds of intellectual work. In comparison watching videos, playing tablet games, etc. comes nowhere close. The differences are (1) the language in books read aloud is more often tailored to the child’s comprehension level, because parents can figure out whether books are too easy or too hard; (2) the range of grammar, vocabulary, styles, ideas, etc. is much wider in books than most kids get from other kinds of media; (3) the book is not a fixed medium but also has a live interpreter who can define or skip difficult words, repeat sentences rephrased a different way, answer questions, ask questions, go back to cross-reference earlier parts of the book, point specific things out in the illustrations, etc. Anecdotally, the preschool kids around me whose parents read to them for 1+ hours/day seem to end up advancing about twice as fast in their language skills as their peers. YMMV.
- bpizzi 7y ago
  Yes I heard this too. Frankly something doesn't click for me, I can't say what exactly. The brain is far, far more complex than that, we can't boil "child language development" down to "read them 1+ hour/day" and "limit screen time".
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    It’s not that reading is literally the only possible way to get the same kind of linguistic input to the child. I’m sure listening to an expert storyteller, watching a puppet show or play, listening to someone reciting poetry, having a thoughtful conversation with an adult while looking at some wordless artwork, singing songs together, etc. can be similarly stimulating. The thing is: it’s hard to find actors for a play in the child’s bedroom at night. It’s hard for parent to come up with 200 different well-plotted stories at the appropriate level with visual props. Etc. But after 2 years of daily practice I can read a picture book decently (including funny voices, etc.) while half-asleep and consciously thinking about something unrelated with half my attention. The kind of logical reasoning, grammatical variety, vocabulary, etc. used in books is not literally impossible to imitate with some other medium. It’s just a lot more work and in practice not really done.
    - bpizzi 7y ago
      Don't take it personally, you're fully entitled to have your own thought on this subject. But to me it looks like you are putting really too much importance on bedtime readings (or at least you are citing studies and trends that says so). Because, I don't know if you have children, I do (8 and 6): you can't read them a different book every evening for 1h. Even for more than 5 minutes. You just can't. Life is messy, there's no place for such idealistic hobbies. That's why I can't relate to those "advice" (too use kind words), I just don't think they are relayed by real parents.

Honest question: why don't you include books as a media?

by bpizzi 7y ago

Honest question: why don't you include books as a media?

umvi 7y ago

Same reason vegetables aren't grouped together with soda and candy and chips, despite all of them being "food"

jacobolus 7y ago

From what I can tell, listening to books read aloud is by far the most effective and efficient way to promote child language development. Listening comprehension is a foundational prerequisite for most kinds of intellectual work. In comparison watching videos, playing tablet games, etc. comes nowhere close. The differences are (1) the language in books read aloud is more often tailored to the child’s comprehension level, because parents can figure out whether books are too easy or too hard; (2) the range of grammar, vocabulary, styles, ideas, etc. is much wider in books than most kids get from other kinds of media; (3) the book is not a fixed medium but also has a live interpreter who can define or skip difficult words, repeat sentences rephrased a different way, answer questions, ask questions, go back to cross-reference earlier parts of the book, point specific things out in the illustrations, etc. Anecdotally, the preschool kids around me whose parents read to them for 1+ hours/day seem to end up advancing about twice as fast in their language skills as their peers. YMMV.

bpizzi 7y ago
Yes I heard this too. Frankly something doesn't click for me, I can't say what exactly. The brain is far, far more complex than that, we can't boil "child language development" down to "read them 1+ hour/day" and "limit screen time".
- jacobolus 7y ago
  It’s not that reading is literally the only possible way to get the same kind of linguistic input to the child. I’m sure listening to an expert storyteller, watching a puppet show or play, listening to someone reciting poetry, having a thoughtful conversation with an adult while looking at some wordless artwork, singing songs together, etc. can be similarly stimulating. The thing is: it’s hard to find actors for a play in the child’s bedroom at night. It’s hard for parent to come up with 200 different well-plotted stories at the appropriate level with visual props. Etc. But after 2 years of daily practice I can read a picture book decently (including funny voices, etc.) while half-asleep and consciously thinking about something unrelated with half my attention. The kind of logical reasoning, grammatical variety, vocabulary, etc. used in books is not literally impossible to imitate with some other medium. It’s just a lot more work and in practice not really done.
  - bpizzi 7y ago
    Don't take it personally, you're fully entitled to have your own thought on this subject. But to me it looks like you are putting really too much importance on bedtime readings (or at least you are citing studies and trends that says so). Because, I don't know if you have children, I do (8 and 6): you can't read them a different book every evening for 1h. Even for more than 5 minutes. You just can't. Life is messy, there's no place for such idealistic hobbies. That's why I can't relate to those "advice" (too use kind words), I just don't think they are relayed by real parents.