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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

o think if a 10 year old read 10 books at the weekend he / she has no life?

144 replies

Dorange · 19/06/2013 16:27

And if the parent say that the child has time to do other interesting things as well as reading those 10 books on the weekend, it is a lie? And also that the whole library has been read it is probably a lie?? Unless the child is called Matilda, but I don't believe that even Matilda could read 10 books in 2 days.

OP posts:
tanukiton · 19/06/2013 21:42

I remember begging my Mum to let me buy a Sweet Valley High book. I had finished by the time we got home in the car.

usualsuspect · 19/06/2013 21:44

MN book threads are always funny.

My DS read all weekend at 10, mostly pokeman cards though.

CoolaSchmoola · 19/06/2013 21:51

I am a very fast reader. At ten I was timed as part of a study, I was reading 120 words a minute.

I could read a standard 120 page age appropriate book in 20 minutes without consciously trying to read quickly, I just do.

I don't miss anything either and I don't skim.

At that age I could easily have read ten books in a weekend around my other activities (trampolining, skating, horse riding) and visited my dad.

I blame my mum, she gave me Nicholas Nickleby to read when I was seven to try to keep me in bed past five am. It backfired when I woke her up to ask her what ostentatious meant lol!

OxfordBags · 19/06/2013 21:58

Firstly, can I just say that I am crushing over BrianButterfield right now? Grin

Secondly, YY to everyone BB and so many others are saying here. I feel like I'm amongst my people right now. By 10, I was reading adults books - 1984, etc. - and could easily have read 10 books in a weekend. I am a very fast reader; have just finished the latest Maggie O'Farrell in about 90 mins, and it's just shy of 350 pages. This is not boasting, it's just stating facts. My mum is a v fast reader too, as was my Gran (must be something genetic). Being a fast reader was actually crap in school when you had to read stuff and you'd finish it aaaaages before everyone else and sit there, and the teacher would accuse you of not bothering to read or having not read it properly, and you'd be worrying that others would think were showing off or something.

I had lots of interests as a kid, but reading has been, is, and no doubt always will be my greatest pleasure in life. My poor DS is always saying "No, Mummy, book down!" to me in frustration. I would be upset if he wasn't a massive reader (luckily, he adores books right now as a toddler, and DH is a bookworm too, so fingers crossed).

I get where you are coming from, OP, but if your DD never is a big reader, there are far lovelier things about her than an interest in books.

quoteunquote · 19/06/2013 21:59

I had read all the books suitable in the library by about 11,

I read very fast learnt late, and made up for lost time, drove my parents mad trying to keep up with demand ,

I would easily do ten children books in a weekend at a young age, still had a life, very hyper child, tons of sport and music, but we didn't have a TV.

I still read a lot, I think of books that line my home as an extra layer of insulation.

BlackeyedSusan · 19/06/2013 22:05

my dd lloves reading. she reads more than 10 books in a whole weekend, though they are not always that long. some chapter books are quite short as type is double spaced and quite large. rainbow fairies could be read verry quickly, the railway children, much more slowly as it is longerr, thicker and closer type. i suspect that she is a faster reader than I am. I am just above average I think on one of those tests someone posted on mn.

Original poster
Dorange · 19/06/2013 22:10

I don't have a 10 year old, I don't remember what I was doing when I was 10.
That is why I thought that reading 10 books every weekend when you are 10, wouldn't leave much extra time for other activities (not necessarily TV or even worse video games which I hate and always did...there are interesting TV to kids out there though, but obviously too much screen time is no good either)

My daughter is very energetic and loves to exercise and do sports, although she can play and use her creativity for hours in her bedroom, with any kind of toys and she is very good at art and crafts, she still cant' seat or lie down for a long period of time reading a book after another (or have books read for her) unless it is bed time or she is sick.

Anyway, I totally agree the expression "no life" was unfortunate.

OP posts:
UniS · 19/06/2013 22:16

I could at 10, and still can now. So long as the books are not TOOOO long. I'd have been quite pleased to have had enough reading time in a weekend to do it, but would have enjoyed it. My parents kept trying to get me to shift my backside outside and DO things.

DS is reading books that are aimed at 8-12 yr old boys and I can read one of those in about 30 mins. My reading speed is approx a page a minute for adult novels. I was a fast reader at 10 and still am.

usualsuspect · 19/06/2013 22:17

Don't worry,Dorange.

it doesn't matter if your DD doesn't read all the time.

I read a lot as a child,stil do,but it's never been my greatest pleasure in life.

usualsuspect · 19/06/2013 22:18

I've always been a fast reader though.

HarumScarum · 19/06/2013 22:31

a bag of books from the library felt like being starving hungry and having somebody shove a tray full of fresh buns under your nose

Cory, were you fond of A Little Princess as a child at all?! I will never forget those fresh buns and the ones she gave away to the beggar child.

fuzzpig · 19/06/2013 22:35

Oh thanks Zukie I assumed HW stood for homework :o Blush

blameitontheboogies · 19/06/2013 22:38

Ds is obsessed with reading reads many a weekend and has about a zillion oops around the house to read in different rooms

Eilidhbelle · 19/06/2013 22:55

I could've done that at ten and could still do it at 27.

And I'm a children's librarian now. And in MY authority kids are allowed to take out 20 books and I don't fine them for bringing them back late.

TheEarlOf · 19/06/2013 22:57

YABU I went on holiday to Florida age 10 and joined the library because of the amount of books I got through! Yes we had the beach etc but I still wanted to read. Could definitely get throuhg that many (could still do now!)

Dawndonna · 19/06/2013 23:15

I'm a reader, usually got one by my bed, one in the kitchen, one in the study, one in the car. Yep, could easily have got through ten as a child. We didn't have a television, the only weekend breaks were Dr. Who at Abuela's on Saturday evening, and a Sunday morning walk, so I read the rest of the time. I would get to the library two, sometimes three times a week. Heaven though was across the road. We lived opposite a London University College. The Senior English Lecturer had the most beautiful flat, it was literally wall to wall floor to ceiling books, and piles of books too. I was allowed to help myself as she was a friend of my mother.

TheDoctrineOfAllan · 19/06/2013 23:33

Oh, the nostalgia on this thread for having that much time to read is lovely Smile

superlambanana · 19/06/2013 23:59

Yep it's possible so yabu... Sorry! I did it at that age (not every weekend!), and also did a variety of dance/music/sport/playing out with friends. Totally possible.

ilovesooty · 20/06/2013 00:20

At 10 I read everywhere and anywhere. I once concussed myself walking into a lamp post while reading on my way home from school. My mother was mortified as when invited to birthday parties I wouldn't join in and made a beeline straight for a bookshelf and buried myself in a book.

My Kindle has been worth every penny.

WhiteBirdBlueSky · 20/06/2013 00:45

OP has already said she's BU.

ilovesooty · 20/06/2013 01:25

I know she has. I think some of us are just sharing childhood reading stories now.

cory · 20/06/2013 08:51

Yes, I was, HarumScarum. And of the Secret Garden. Little Lord Fauntleroy was more of a joke, but my dad's old copy had beautiful illustrations.

cory · 20/06/2013 09:08

Dorange, don't worry about your dd being who she is: nobody can be all things or enjoy all good things in life, there is just too much to choose from.

Musical instruments, painting, sports, voracious reading, writing stories, acting, ballet, wildlife watching, archaeology, skiing, guiding, woodwork, silversmithery, sailing, swimming, rambling, photography, astronomy, tropical fish keeping, bike riding, ice skating, sewing, horse riding, rock climbing, singing- your dd is never going to fit all of these in but somewhere each one of them is going to make some youngster or other feel happy and fulfilled.

In my birth family, musical instruments were regarded as an absolute essential for any kind of fulfilled life, dh might be inclined to think of painting in the same way, for me it would have been books, for ds football and for dd acting.

Also, people can enjoy different things as they grow and change. The fact that you've read 10 books in one weekend doesn't mean you have to spend every weekend of your life reading 10 books and doing nothing else.

Out of the above list, I have spent serious time on reading, writing stories, sailing, swimming, rambling and archaeology: quite enough to fill a life with interest and provide healthy exercise, even though there is not a single sport on the list.

thegreylady · 20/06/2013 09:23

I did it regularly and so did my dc. You read while you eat, in bed, on the loo. You don't watch TV or play computer games. You don't do it every weekend just when it is raining and you do have a life a rich life in your imagination. Yes 10 is a lot but they were probably short. Better than being glued to a screen or a pair of headphones any day.

Gracelo · 20/06/2013 09:34

This would be dd's (8) idea of the perfect weekend. She would have to interrupt the reading for some writing though. She is as compulsive a writer as is she is a compulsive reader.