If you can, stop for a moment and think about the Christmas presents you have bought for your children and those which have been asked of Santa. Ask yourself what these presents are going to do. Of course, they come with love and that is message enough in one way because we all want our children and friends to have fun and enjoy gifts they receive.
I must confess to being worried about the state of intellectual curiosity in our world. A growing number of people get their news from social media which is often unreliable or false. Serious journalists are worried and I have been asking how we got to the state where analysis and questioning is waning.
I always ask kids what they are reading. Most look at me surprised by the question and say that they do not read anything other than school books. The habit of reading is fundamental to developing imagination, language and the skill of asking critical questions.
Humanity
The great Jesuit philosopher Bernard Lonergan wrote powerfully about how asking questions helps define our humanity. This is why I ask you to consider your gifts for your children. Is there room for a book or two in there? If there isn’t, make room and if you do not know what to buy ask your book shop who will have great ideas for you.
Reading helps children of all abilities to make more of their intellect and mind. Curiosity is essential for problem solving and figuring things out. Problem solving is the skill that helps us remain calm in crisis and less dependent on others for a solution. All these skills are not inherited, they have to be developed by practice, experience and the encouragement of our parents.
Reading prevents boredom and stimulates imagination and creative thinking. These qualities stay with us all our lives. My Aunt Ursula told me that she lived her quiet moments remembering the books she enjoyed all her life. She retained a joy in reading until shortly before she died at age 92.
Reading can also help children with difficulties to put a framework on what is happening and this helps them to access stories which help provide a model for rebuilding from a problem.
Let me make it clear, I am not advocating an idea of just giving children and young people books and leaving it there. Depending on the subject matter and the age, parents need to do different things.
With young children, parents need to sit and read with them. Let the child read and help them if they are finding it hard. Share the story with them. Apart from the obvious bonding benefit, you help your child by asking them to tell you the story and wondering with them what would happen if a different choice was made. Extending the story helps the child to develop their comprehension skills. Story helps children to understand how they think. Story helps them develop emotional intelligence. Learning to read and ask questions with a loving parent or older family member is a great gift of relationship also.
If you have a child who has reading difficulties or who may have dyslexia, ask the teacher or school resource team to give you information on Paired Reading. This is a proven method for helping children read.
With older children, you need to be respectfully curious. Ask them what they are reading and what it is about. Generate discussion and help them to account for what sense they are making of the story.
Newspapers
Make sure your children are exposed to quality newspapers and magazines. Help them to learn that information is more than a tweet or spurious story on Facebook.
Teach them to question and wonder by letting them see that you question and wonder too. Holding different views in mind and not being overwhelmed by them is a hallmark of tolerance and openness but it is also a powerful antidote for any extremism that challenges fundamental human values.
Clearly, there are so many benefits from a habit of reading. I stress the early acquisitions of skills that lead to critical thinking and the social interaction that comes from sharing story and knowledge.
To conclude, I want to repeat some of the practical things that need to be repeated often. People read from a variety of media that include books, tablets, smartphones and computers. So it is no harm to repeat the advice often stated before. Too much screen time is not a good thing. I shudder to think how much time each day I spend looking at various screens so I have found it necessary to take serious note of what research tells us.
Smartphone
It is best to read from a book and it is quite alright to have more than one book on the go at the same time.
Reading from an e-book is fine when the device has no internal light source. If you have an e book and it is back lit like a tablet or smartphone, that counts as screen time and you have to be sensible and mind your eyes. Reading from front lit e-books is less disruptive.
However, all back lit devices like smartphones and tablets are very harmful to sleep cycles and it is essential that they are avoided completely for two hours before bed.
The light from these devices interferes with the production of the sleep hormone melatonin and we end up with that really tired but just can’t settle to sleep feeling. I have often commented that this is a serious problem for increasing numbers and it is a habit we change by practice alone.
I do hope among the presents there will be one or two good reads that will bring lovely memories. Happy Christmas.