Reading To Children At Bedtime "Should be restricted"

[LogansWalk]

My how the world is changing, just reading this one made me shake my head and think this guy is reaching quite a bit:


“Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?” asks a story on the ABC’s website.

“Should parents snuggling up for one last story before lights out be even a little concerned about the advantage they might be conferring?”

The story was followed by a broadcast on the ABC’s Radio National that also tackled the apparently divisive issue of bedtime reading.

“Evidence shows that the difference between those who get bedtime stories and those who don’t — the difference in their life chances — is bigger than the difference between those who get elite private schooling and those that don’t,” British academic Adam Swift told ABC presenter Joe Gelonesi.

Gelonesi responded online: “This devilish twist of evidence surely leads to a further conclusion that perhaps — in the interests of levelling the playing field — bedtime stories should also be restricted.”


No Cookies | dailytelegraph.com.au (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/reading-to-children-at-bedtime-abc-questions-value-of-time-honoured-practice/story-fni0cx12-1227335151442)

[vangogh]

There is something wrong with that guy. Why would anyone look at this as reading to you children being an unfair advantage to other people's children> How could anyone not see the conclusion being everyone should read more bedtime stories to their children and that as a whole we should all be helping parents and children gain more access to reading material. The conclusion isn't that parents should maybe feel guilty reading to their kids because some other parents might not be reading to their kids. I think the guy is reaching far more than just a bit.

[Freelancier]

The internet hasn't made it easier to reduce the influence of snake oil salesmen. As we've seen, there's a huge segment of the population that is more than happy to swallow the snake oil and pay for more.

[Fulcrum]

Wait ............... What?:confused:

[billbenson]

I'm not even a parent and that one seems stupid. How can educating your kids be wrong.

[Harold Mansfield]

These days it's pretty easy to find someone to take any position, no matter how absurd. Whatever it is, there's a market that will buy into it.
Would I be correct in assuming this guy has a book for sale?

[billbenson]

These days it's pretty easy to find someone to take any position, no matter how absurd. Whatever it is, there's a market that will buy into it.
Would I be correct in assuming this guy has a book for sale?

Good point

[M.Ehrmantraut]

Yeah, this thinking is just nuts - with the adoption of this "common core" b.s. around the U.S. it is pretty evident they are trying to dumb the kids down as a whole. While watching a family member's home last summer, I flipped-through a copy of a magazine called Jakobin that came in the mail and there was an essay on common core and reading it blew my mind. Basically, the author was saying how things such as history will not be focused on and math will be geared towards teaching students how to apply it for basic tasks in the service industry, like making change from a register...it was actually scary to read this and think what the future will be like in the direction we are headed. To even say we shouldn't read to children to level the playing field is just absurd.

[Freelancier]

it was actually scary to read this and think what the futureAnd how do you know the author was right or even in the ballpark the rest of us know as "reality"? If you aren't questioning your sources of information and looking for information that doesn't confirm your biases, you're not trying hard enough.

[David Hunter]

Doesn't surprise me.

Look at how many people despise the wealthy. Why wouldn't they hate parents who take the time to read their kids bedtime stories.

[Freelancier]

The article quotes this one guy who's Wiki bio starts like this:
Adam Swift (born 1961) is a British political philosopher and sociologist who promotes liberal egalitarianism.It's amazing how many people are using this one guy's philosophical bent to posit on whole groups of people.

[Pita]

I heard this story too, and like all of you I it was utter BS.

But it started me thinking...apparently the story wants us to feel guilty and stop reading to our children and to nurture them because of some unfair advantage they might have other children who don't get the same amount of attention.

My thought was that if it provides children with that much of an advantage then why isn't it mandated that all parents read to their children? That would be a populist, feel-good law that some ambitious politician should promote. We could even start a new government agency that monitors the bedtime stories that our children are hearing. Providing the recommended number of reading minutes per night. Imposing stiff tax penalties on those families who do not read the necessary time amounts or read the required material. The states could also receive much needed federal funds based on the night-time reading statistics of their citizens. And on and on...

What's one more invasive government program from our leaders who brought us Obamacare, school lunch programs, and common core?

[LogansWalk]

I heard this story too, and like all of you I it was utter BS.

But it started me thinking...apparently the story wants us to feel guilty and stop reading to our children and to nurture them because of some unfair advantage they might have other children who don't get the same amount of attention.

My thought was that if it provides children with that much of an advantage then why isn't it mandated that all parents read to their children? That would be a populist, feel-good law that some ambitious politician should promote. We could even start a new government agency that monitors the bedtime stories that our children are hearing. Providing the recommended number of reading minutes per night. Imposing stiff tax penalties on those families who do not read the necessary time amounts or read the required material. The states could also receive much needed federal funds based on the night-time reading statistics of their citizens. And on and on...

What's one more invasive government program from our leaders who brought us Obamacare, school lunch programs, and common core?

Kind of like this from 2009:


The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes.

They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals...

Sin bins for worst families | UK | News | Daily Express (http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/115736/Sin-bins-for-worst-families)

[billbenson]

I heard this story too, and like all of you I it was utter BS.

But it started me thinking...apparently the story wants us to feel guilty and stop reading to our children and to nurture them because of some unfair advantage they might have other children who don't get the same amount of attention.

My thought was that if it provides children with that much of an advantage then why isn't it mandated that all parents read to their children? That would be a populist, feel-good law that some ambitious politician should promote. We could even start a new government agency that monitors the bedtime stories that our children are hearing. Providing the recommended number of reading minutes per night. Imposing stiff tax penalties on those families who do not read the necessary time amounts or read the required material. The states could also receive much needed federal funds based on the night-time reading statistics of their citizens. And on and on...

What's one more invasive government program from our leaders who brought us Obamacare, school lunch programs, and common core?

Ya right. Just what we need, another unenforcable law to take money and lawmakers time away from enforceable things like public education.

[nid01]

What a plane stupidity it is ! Even if i'm not a parent i still feel that bedtime story for children is good way of developing there brain and shaping there nature, also it creates lots of good memories that he or she will cherish when they become adult. I'm saying this by my own experience I still remember the good old days of my childhood when my mum use to read me stories before bedtime. If i had a child i would never take away this experience from him..no matter how stupid people feel about it.