"You don't want a book; they're not very interesting"

[Hulababy]

That was the sad comment I overheard, among others, in ELC today.

I was in there today, looking at books for DD, as they were in the sale. DD is 3y 4m and she adores books. She literally has hundreds of books, of varying types. And she will sit and read to, or will read to herself/her dollies for ages at a time. Books have been a big part of DD's life since being weeny, and I hope it will stay like this.

However, there was a couple in there with their little boy, who was maybe 2 or 3. He was quite tall/big, but not talking much - so maybe the former. Anyway, he was onbviously being bought something for himself, and he had the choice of what he wanted. The little boy started to look at books, but his arents (both sadly appeared to agree with each other) made this sad comment.

"You don't want a book; they're not very interesting"

The little boy was originally quite determined to keep looking at the books, but his parents were having none of it. They rubbished his comments about the books And finally guided him off to look at toys.

Just felt sad about it. Books are really big in our house, and feel that the little boy is being asked to miss out by not being encouraged when he shows an interest.

[bundle]

but dilly, getting just one or two books into a home could be the start of a life-long love affair with reading...getting a non-booky parent into a library is even less likely than getting them to buy books if they're not in the habit.

[Marina]

Agree Dillydally - but it should be spent on BOOKS. Too much government funding has been diverted onto the People's Network IMO. It is a good thing but not at the expense of giving children access to the printed (and colourful) page.
I'm a librarian in higher education and it seems to me that all our students have good ICT skills via school or home. But FAR too many of them don't seem to understand the basics of contents pages, indexes, citations and bibliographies. Much less the sheer pleasure of a well-produced book as an artefact. Or even the thrill of a good plot unfurling. All this starts with Shirley Hughes, Quentin Blake, Lucy Cousins and many others.
Our students are at least all literate and I feel so for the little boy whose experiences started this thread...and when I think that there are many, many others like him out there beyond Mumsnetland.

[homemama]

Obviously if my literacy skills were better, that last sentence would have read,
Foster, in their children, a love of reading.

[homemama]

I agree that the government book scheme isn't the best use of resources. Instead of wasting money giving books to families like most of ours on this thread, target the money towards families that need the support.
We cannot expect parents with poor literacy skills themselves to foster a love of reading in their children.

[stitch]

i dont buy books.
but i love reading. life without books and access to my local library is a life not worth living.
if i was still buying books the way i used to, i would have no space to move, or breathe in my house, and no money to buy food, as all spent on buying books!

[Easy]

I agree dillydally.

Meant also to say that ds is becoming an obsessive reader. You know, the sort that reads the cereal packets at breakfast, just because they are there.

[dillydally]

I think the free book government idea is a bit crap - if parents like reading they will buy books , if they don't you get this kind of affair as described by Hula.
Put the money into libraries please.

[Easy]

Haven't read all this, so sorry if repeating.

Ds had books from being 2 or 3 weeks old, I would cuddle him and look at the pictures with him even at that age. By 9 months he had his own library card, and now (Very nearly 6) he reads by himself every day, and we read a bedtime story together most days.

This family are the type who will waste the opportunity of the free bag of books the govt. are planning to give away to all families.

I feel sorry for this little mite, and just hope that his parents haven't turned him off books before pre-school or reception manage to get hold of him.

[fisil]

Just to add: Drs waiting room yesterday. Ds1 wanted the same Maisy book reading through for a second, then 3rd time. So I did so, happily. Then another little boy got hold of it and took it over to his mum and asked her to read it, and she said "no, we've already heard it." Missing the point?

[mummyhill]

Fislil/Lunarsea - Add my collection and we probably support a large town or city. It is possible that the parents are illiterate, i would prefer to believe this than that they can't be bothered.

[Blu]

ahem, that would be 'non-literate' - just to show that I have a smidgeon of literacy

[Blu]

Possibly the deeper sadness in this story is that the parents themselves are non-litrate, and are frightened of having to read to their child, or confront theri own problems. Hopefully he will catch up at school.

[LunarSea]

I'd heard that stat too fisil - and we've also got enough books to mean that there's a small town somewhere with none.

[pixel]

This thread reminds me of a time I was in W H Smith and a little girl was asking her mum for a book. The reply was "You don't want that, you've got the video". I thought then that she was missing the point a bit!

[Lizita]

Can't believe it. Books are huge in our house too. DD would prefer to be read to than watch telly, too. And if i'm busy she'll sit herself down and read to herself! (She's only almost 2, she knows the stories by heart and will speak out the main words on each page!
That poor little boy.

[fisil]

Hula, that's sad .

This'll cheer you up - regularly ds1 (2 1/2) says "pleeeeease can we turn the telly off and you read me this book. ... Pleeeeeeeease?"

I heard once that the average number of books owned per household in the UK is 6. We have several thousand books here. Does that mean that dp and I are supporting a few hundred houses with no books at all?

[merglemergle]

On the up side, maybe in a few years he'll be like Matilda?

[Blackduck]

I have a bedside table which is actually a pile of books.....

[Catbert]

My MIL buys nothing BUT books for DDs!!! She was so proud when at only 18 months, DD1 shouted "BOOK!" at her when she had stepped through the door, and when presented with said item, DD1 took it and told MIL to sit down, and then did that toddler backward walk to sit on her lap so she could read it with her!

She is a member of a book club, and says she cannot resist buying a childs book whenever her catalogue comes!

She was always proud of her own DSs love of books, esp. my DH who was avidly reading Lord of the Rings at 7.

[motherinferior]

I always think I don't have that many books - and I admit, to my shame, that there are times when I'm just too knackered to read to the Inferiorettes even at bedtime [shame].

And then I look round our house and realise, well, that you can't actually see the walls for books.

[Blackduck]

I can't buy a book I have to buy books (plural...) - I had a friend who justify this behaviour by saying 'they get lonely in the bag on the way home'....

Ds loves his books too......thou' doing Dear Zoo EVERY morning can pall a little...

[lucy5]

when I moved to Spain I did have a cull of books but still managed to bring 16 boxes with me. The removal guys, kept moaning ," oh no not another box of books", poor blokes I did give them a big tip.

[mummyhill]

There is nothing better than rumaging through a second hand book shop you almost allways come away with a treasure. My problem is that i shoud really have a cull of my books as they are taking over the house but i cannot bear to part with any of them and read them from cover to cover time and time again.

[Pruni]

Message withdrawn

[lucy5]

The other thing that ps me off about living in this part of Spain is no access to a library, I used to love going with my mum andd loved g3oing with me even thou99gh she was little///. Sorry dd is helping me type, alot of my Spanish young students dont read at all when they are littleand are not read to but put in front of tv or given those awful disney books.

I miss
bookshops
Libraries
Second hand books.

Buying off the internet is just not the same, I need to browse touch, smell what i'm buying. Sorry rant over.