I need to try harder to write my rants rather than just vocalising them, mostly at poor John although he is quite a good ranter.


Today I got particularly cross at a TV news item about reading to children. The implication was that since children don’t (necessarily) learn to read as a result of being read to, then perhaps it’s not as necessary as once thought. What arrant nonsense.

That suggestion was followed by all the excuses:

Parents are very busy and haven’t got time to read to their children. Make time - it’s only a few minutes out of a day.

Screen time has increased (you don’t say). Remove the wretched devices.

To make another point - a few days ago a different expert suggested that even older children benefit from being read to. This is, in my experience, is a great idea.

I once met a lad whom I’d taught in Year 9 when he was in his 20s & he wanted to tell me how much he’d loved it that I’d read “Goodnight Mr Tom” to the class. His remark was that it was a ‘fat’ book that none of them would have tackled by themselves.

So keep reading to all children.



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