To cringe at this guardian article about children and books

[MyopiaUtopia]

Surely I can't be the only person to think this is one of the most humblebraggy self-congratulatory and smug articles ever?!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/01/how-to-raise-a-little-bookworm-in-the-age-of-smartphones-and-tablets

I’m a Guardian reader but it is sooo wanky at times. Just today with their “we may be leaving Europe but we’ll still report on Europe” smuggery. I mean, I get it. I’m a remainer. I’m reading the Guardian for chrissake, you don’t have to virtue signal all your worthiness at me.

Where the fuck does she live that children reading books are so rare and wondrous?

I see them all the time.

I don’t see the self congratulatory parents giving themselves gold stars. Because the people I know aren’t twats.

@MyopiaUtopia YANBU. This is one of the most cringeworthy articles I have ever had the misfortune to read. I am embarrassed for this woman 'Donna Ferguson,' and her poor daughter 'Flora' is going to be the subject of ridicule for this.

So she reads books? Big fucking deal. This may come as a surprise to Ms Ferguson, but her little poppet is not the only child who reads books! This child is no better than anyone else's child, no matter how much she tries to convince herself otherwise.

Ok I retract some of what I said above, just reread the sentence ‘ I did go as far as stopping any television, apart from Newsround’

It’s the new ‘kids don’t play outside anymore’. They generally do, when they live somewhere that they’re able to and their parents are able to take them out or supervise them if needed. Children also read if they’re interested enough and shock horror, there have always been children and adults that have had no love for books.

I don’t think there’s anything to be superior about just because you banned everything except books 🤷‍♀️

Poor child, probably uses books to escape from her smug overbearing hot-housing DM.

This article has also got me wondering about some of the book choices mentioned in the article

There are some pretty sexist themes in The Secret Garden and Heidi (not to mention the huge amount of ableism) so I find it funny the mother is so keen on Flora reading these old classics when they aren't exactly beacons of feminism by today's standards. Also I do find it virtue signalling to change the pronouns in the books - I went book shopping for a little niece recently and theres a huge amount of very feministy strong girl type of books available at the moment?

@Robuns my family is the same, all 3 of us raised the same, nothing different. All of us saw grandparents and parents reading all the time, books always around, library cards on the go, early readers but I’m the only one who was a real bookworm. My brother reads but not the same extent I’ve done for most of my life, and my sister reads only occasionally. Between my mum and her siblings, my mum always has a book on the go and her sister never reads, ever. There has to be the spark of interest and everyone has different interests.

The DC is 8 and the books she's oh-so obsessed with are for 3 yr olds.

@MyopiaUtopia My thoughts exactly. It’s quite snobby. The classics are okay because they’re well classics? Hmmmmm.

Good Lord - the utter smugness just leaps off the page

I was (am) a bookworm; it had absolutely nothing to do with my parents. Some children will find an entry into those worlds and some won't - it's not a bloody indication of your superior parenting.

Well all of you who claim your children can read you are clearly wrong because this woman’s child is the only child who can read.

Ordinary working class people like waiters and shop assistant line up to view the marvel that is Flora. They whisper in awed tones about the amazing sight while their own children grub in the dirt or watch TikTok on their ghastly mobile phones.

Of course she hasn’t mentioned Vitalite who is grade 8 on the piano or I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Butter who amazed his teachers by knowing his tables by 5.

Is she an only child by any chance? I've nothing against an only child but I do find it funny when someone thinks they are personally responsible for something someone else does based on an experience with one child. I've got 4 kids, a bookworm, an ex bookworm (says they don't have time anymore) one who reads a bit and one who is allergic to the written word. Obviously the bookworm is all credit to me, the others are cuckoos in my nest and I just don't know where they came from.

We did everything on her list and more. Ours were bookworms until they were 11.

When they got to secondary school, they pretty much gave up reading. Both got As at GCSE English despite not reading any of the books or plays .

And Flora darling, all those books are for toddlers, not 8 year olds.

The writer is the first person I have ever known to brag about her child reading Rainbow Fairies

Wow, I’ve read a lot of shite articles in the Guardian but that one takes the biscuit. What a load of pretentious, self-congratulatory and patronising bollux. How on earth can someone who is presumably intelligent be so unaware of how sanctimonious they sound. It’s nauseating. 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
Her top tips for getting your kids to read aren’t exactly ground breaking.

OP. YANBU

My second learnt to read early because she really concentrated on my finger pointing at the words when I read to her. Being a not-so-preciously-intense second born I didn’t realise she was almost deaf in one ear until she told me she couldn’t hear well so she had to pick out the words! Bad mother humble-brag.

LaurieMarlow I happen to know that she lives in central Cambridge

I was having a coffee with my grandaughter in Watersrtones, she was about 7 at the time and she asked me, from thin air, In words does a q always have a u after it? I felt so embarrassed, do I discuss and risk getting a dishonourable mention in MN or do I say Eat your ice cream?

Good grief. You should be utterly embarrassed. Most people's precious darlings know about the q and u rule at the age of 2. Your granddaughter is 7!

Yeah. Talk about labouring the point (that her daughter actually reads and everyone looks on in amazement) to death. Utterly cringeworthy. Does she not know that less is more? Give it a few years and her poor daughter will be utterly embarrassed over the article with the accompanying photo.

I happen to know that she lives in central Cambridge

Explains a lot. No one’s ever read a book there.

BTW. I’m not sure that article counts as a humblebrag. It’s just a brag. There is nothing subtle or humble about it.

Its a double brag. “Wow, listen to how amazing my daughter is and double wow, it’s all down to me”.

Funnily enough I just read that article tonight, before coming across this thread!

Very clingy. It would have been a good article if it didn’t have all that self congratulatory and made- up stuff,

The article is just awful - cringe from start to finish. Her points at the end as to how to foster a love of reading are reasonable - but you can do all of those things and still end up with a reluctant reader. It's luck of the draw whether you get a bookworm or not.