iPrejudice

I have prejudices.  Everyone does, but I feel it's important to face our own biases and see if they are justified, and if they are holding us back.  For me, I have a Fox News/MSNBC level slant towards books.

This evening, we splurged and went our for dinner, a rare treat these days (yay gift cards!)  We had to sit and wait for a table, and Grace immediately asked to play on our phones.  Kim has downloaded some kid games apps, like puzzles, all for free (we don't really use our phones for much other than kid entertaining, shopping lists, and occasionally making phone calls.)  This was a bit annoying, because she had been happily working on a dinosaur workbook on the drive, and then suddenly didn't want to do it anymore; she wanted to play on the phone.

I told her no, because she was being rather petulant about the whole thing.  She pouted and said that she had nothing to do.  I pointed out that she had two parents who would love to talk to her about her day, or she could read one of the books we always keep in the diaper bag.

Of course she opted for a book (who wants to talk to parents?) and chose her Tiny Titans trade paperback, which had been a gift to me, and which she adores.  All was well, until they called us to our table.  Grace walked with the book in front of her, unable to tear herself from reading the story.  I helped guide her, since she could not see in front of her.

I found this adorable because I used to do the same thing, and I love the idea of her getting really into what she reads.

Once at the table, we practically had to pull the book out of her hands to ask her what she wanted, and again to divest her of it once the food arrived.

And I was fine with this for the most part (the not listening part is a behavior we are correcting, but we're getting there.)

But at the next table was a family celebrating grandpa's birthday (wait staff sang and everything, I hate that.)  And the adults (grandparents, parents, aunts & uncles) sat at one end, with four or five kids at the other.

Every kid was on a device, either an iPad or a smartphone.  They were not interacting with each other, not interacting with their parents, and pretty much uninvolved with the world around them.  It was disgusting.

But it occurred to me, that my kid was doing the same thing (not Arthur, he was stuffing bread into his face.)  If I saw a kid Grace's age (or any age, really,) walking with their smartphone, too engrossed with whatever it is they were doing to look up, I would have called that obnoxious, not adorable.

And Grace was oblivious to the world around her while she was reading her book, just like the kids on their iPads.  So was it any better because it was a book?

Yes.

I don't care if it IS a prejudice, I still think books are better.  When those iKids turn off their games, they are no more the richer for having played them (they could theoretically be educational games, but I'm playing the averages here, and it was probably Temple Run or some such.)

First off, reading for fun is how one develops the fluency necessary to do well in reading things that are not fun, but are important, like standardized tests (yuck,) college texts, and loan agreements.  I already know Grace is going to pass the FCAT, because she likes Fancy Nancy and her Classics Illustrated version of the Wizard of Oz.

But when you read a story, it stays with you.  You grow as a person, I believe, every time you interact with fictional people and develop connections by sharing experiences, vicarious though they may be.  It gives us perspective on life, both ours and others, real and imagined.

So yes, if you see my kid not on task because she is reading, feel free to remind her what she needs to be doing, but don't expect me to tell her she reads too much, because if you have the time for it, there's no such thing.

Or you could let your kid throw birds at pigs all day and claim they are learning physics.

It's your choice.