Audiobooks - Good thing or Bad thing???

[jobnockey]

12yo DS has asked me if I can join Audible for him so he can listen to a book before bed. Just wondering what opinions are on audiobooks vs 'real' books? I'd prefer him to actually read rather than listen but that may be because its my preference (didn't really get on with Audible...)

He has always read a fair amount (I get him a lot of books, perhaps too many!) but he's definitely been reading for pleasure less since starting secondary school, and will only pick a book up when made to really.

Are audiobooks a good way of keeping him hooked or will it put him off the effort of reading more?

What's the consensus?

For those with younger kids who don't want to give them access to an iPad or something similar, there's the Yoto player. It is a little box that you stick a card into the top of. You can buy story/music cards from Yoto or you can use make your own cards and put audiobooks you already have on those (anything in mp3 format) or record yourself/family reading their favourite stories.

We got one for our 4 year old's birthday and have been super impressed by it.

It can display a pixel image on the front to help young kids navigate between tracks but I wouldn't consider it screen time.

I have a referral link for 10% off that I am happy to share (we would get tokens to help buy more audiobooks!). prz.io/YQzQ9YxSE

Maybe I'll do what PP has said and just dip in and out of audible.

What I've found is that if you have been a member for a few months and then leave they often come back to you with a subscription offer at £3.99 instead for a few months.

So you can repeat this quite few times.

I got a yoto player for my little one to listen to stories and it's my BEST BUY yet! I have a £10 off referral code to anyone one who wants to use it:

prz.io/Log95doiN

I believe both are important as one will help with communication skills (Audiobook) and the other one will boost your writing skills. and if we can mix both of them at once that will be much better, the child can be able to correct his pronunciation as well as learn new expressions.

My bright dyslexic daughter loves them - she is still learning vocabulary as she listens and someone wise said to me to engage children in story and narrative however you can. To my daughter reading in bed is like me taking maths equations to bed to do - why would I do that to myself before sleep (I struggle with maths). Listening to audible transports her and teaches her narratives and about the world.

Bit of an Audible addict here I listen to maybe 4/5 books a month so the subscription fee is def worth it for me, and now my 9 year old has caught the bug and loves listening to her stories at night on her Alexa. She’s not a strong reader at all but loves stories & Audible gives her access to books she just doesn’t have the ability to access at the moment, especially after a long day at school. It means her vocabulary and comprehension skills are amazing, I trust the reading will come in time - I’ve made sure she has paperback copies of all the books she listens to in her bedroom so she can pick them up when she’s ready & she also takes them in for quiet reading at school. I love that she gets so much pleasure from stories like I do, I hope it continues as she gets older!

For my autistic child audio books are amazing as he has to focus on listening and processing what is being said. Audio books relax both my kids to help them sleep. We use a combo of audible (books can be exchanged back for credits) and library audio books. As long as he does some reading it's all fine, whatever their age, and dependent on age appropriate books of course.