We are having the "twaddle" problem

[melissel]

My DD (almost 7) has been reading since she was just over 4, and she read very well very early. She read everything--poetry books, nonfiction books, chapter books, etc. Because she read so well and such a great range, I allowed some "junk" books. However, now that's all she wants to read to herself: Magic Treehouse (she's WAY beyond those, she read them when she was 4), her Pokemon handbooks, Wishbone and Cyberchase chapter books, Rainbow Fairy books etc. She'll listen to me read just about anything, but there's only so much reading I can do each day, and I want her reading quality stuff for fun, not just "candy." Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against candy lit! But it's like regular candy: OK in small doses as treats.

 

How can I get her back to reading a range of styles and quality material again? Do I require it? Is this a common phase that she'll outgrow? I'd even be happy to see her reading Ramona books again at this point. Do I pack up all the twaddle and hide it away, leaving her only "good" options?

 

What do you think? TIA!

[Macrina]

I require it. She gets one fluff book for every GOOD book she reads at her reading level (aka Bedtime For Frances doesn't count as her good book if she wants to read Animal Ark as her fluff!)

[3lilreds in NC]

My dd8 likes to read the Rainbow Fairies and stuff like that, too. She recently got hooked on Spiderwick, which I thought was good - a jump in reading level, at least.

 

So far, I let them read what they want for their fun reading. This year is the first year I'm going to have them read some of their own history books. I am also going to assign them fiction books to read for school that are not twaddle. I'm hoping they will enjoy them as much as the others they read. The good news is, most of the time they choose to research horses when they have free reading time. They crack me up.

[Moni]

How can I get her back to reading a range of styles and quality material again?

 

She's 6 ;)

You control the in-flow of books into the home.

Be the filter. :)

 

:seeya:

[Karen in CO]

She refuses to read "poorly written" books. She prefers descriptive books to books that rely too heavily on dialogue - which plague most children's books at that level. She and I had a debate over whether I could donate some books that she thought were worthless - she thought it would be worse to let the book continue to be read. She would prefer to recycle bad books.

 

My suggestion to you is to read wonderfully well-written books to her to help raise her standards and to find some books that she loves that are at least a little bit better than what she is reading so that you can gradually move her up to better books. Is she perhaps having trouble with the print size in the "non-twaddle" books you are presenting to her? Does she have any vision problems? Has she just not found a style of book at the higher level that suits her tastes?

 

It would be insulting to me for someone to try to get rid of books that I found comforting, so I can never recommend forceful removal or bad literature. It may not be a matter of twaddle and taste, but a matter of reading level and skill. Of course there is always bribery :)

[tinkgumby]

My sons love comics - Calvin and Hobbes, Foxtrot, so on. Originally it was great to see them so immersed in books, but it got to the point that those were ALL they wanted to read, so I've lumped comics in with TV and video games for the school year - they don't get any until after 3:00 AND all their assigned work for the day is done.

 

I also assign reading to them every day (currently from the Sonlight readers, but will progress on to other things once they go through those).

 

That being said, I think I read a fair amount of "twaddle" myself as a kid, and got past it at some point. :001_smile:

[melissel]

She's 6 ;)

You control the in-flow of books into the home.

Be the filter. :)

 

:seeya:

 

Well, the problem is that the books already live here. Lots of them. We're book sale junkies. People have bought them as gifts. We love books :D But because she was on such a great path there for awhile, I didn't need to place any restrictions, and then didn't notice when the choices became all junk over 95% great stuff. If I wanted her to stop reading them, I'd have to take them all away. I would if I really, REALLY had to, but I'm hoping there's something between here and there, YK?

 

Karen, I love your DD's sensibilities. I struggle with that myself sometimes, when I Freecycle books! Everything I read is quality literature; it always has been. I don't think I've ever read anything I would consider junkie to her, because I wouldn't want to read it myself. We pull books from our book jar when we finish each readaloud, and there are only quality books in there.

 

It seems assigning is going the be the way, eh?

[PeterPan]

Yes, you take it away. Some stuff should go in the trash (anything really egregious), and some stuff goes to a storage room for another day. Then you pile her up with huge amounts of good reading at a variety of levels. You never know what will catch their eye. When my dd was that age I did a diversified reading page she had to fill in each week with books she read from each genre. You don't have to require specific books, but you can require genres, quantities, or the absence of stuff, absolutely.

 

My dd still goes back to light things like MTH or Boxcar. I think it sparks her imaginative side. I don't let her read anything truly despicable, and I try to keep those light (for her age) things in check with meatier stuff. On the meaty stuff, I use the pile method, throwing large quantities of books at her that match our history topic for the week. They'll vary in level. Beyond that we have book report books (one a week) and general reading. You want to make sure the overall level is moving upward, even as she still digresses into her potato chip reading. The WTM lists are an easy way to track that.

[PeterPan]

BTW, I've recently realized I had gotten out of the habit of reading her stuff above her level. I think that's another good way to push their reading level up. I'm reading her aloud right now some Thurber, just to stretch her. At that age she was reading the Lang Fairy Tale books for herself (something your dd might enjoy!), so they were no longer a stretch. Guerber was a good stretch read-aloud for that age.

[Karen in CO]

 

It seems assigning is going the be the way, eh?

There is still bribery. :D

[melissel]

...and some stuff goes to a storage room for another day.

 

Oh! That's brilliant! They can be tucked away so that she has to come to me to get one and I can approve it, and that way she has ready access to only good things. Just like we do with...THE ACTUAL CANDY! Where's the light bulb smiley?!

 

OhE, why is it that you can seem to distill all the disparate thoughts swirling around in my head into the exact, perfect combination of a solution? I swear, you've done that 5 or 6 times now. Thank you!

 

And thank you all for supporting me in my concerns. There's always that little voice in my head that says, "Well, at least she's reading!" But if we didn't want more than that for our kids, we wouldn't be HERE, right?

[Karen in CO]

Have you tried having her read Half Magic by Eager? Perhaps read it to her first then have her read it herself.

[melissel]

BTW, I've recently realized I had gotten out of the habit of reading her stuff above her level. I think that's another good way to push their reading level up. I'm reading her aloud right now some Thurber, just to stretch her. At that age she was reading the Lang Fairy Tale books for herself (something your dd might enjoy!), so they were no longer a stretch. Guerber was a good stretch read-aloud for that age.

 

Almost all our readalouds are at least slightly above where she reads now, so we're good there. When I put that list together, I used the Sonlight, VP, MP, etc. lists, and I didn't include anything that was below second-grade level. There are a few in there that are right at second-grade level, because they snuck in, or because the genre or topic was one I wanted to encourage. But for now, I've got the RAs covered, thank goodness. That book jar was one of the best (only!) ideas I ever had. It has worked beautifully!

 

There is still bribery. :D

 

ROFL! This kid generally cannot be bribed. Given a choice, she wants ONLY what she wants. However, she does want to please and excel, so assigning/requiring will work. And I think, as happens with our junk food, out of sight is out of mind with her. She'll clamor for something if she can see it, but once it's tucked away, she won't generally care to go back to it. (Yep, I'm looking at YOU, Junie B. Jones! :glare:) If I don't make a big deal out of moving the books, and I explain that she'll still have access to them if I can see that's she's reading quality books TOO, it should work just right.

 

Now, the youngest? SHE'S the one for whom I'm going to have eliminate all access. Better yet, when the books make their way from her sister's room to hers, some of them will quietly disappear. Many already have :D

[Chris in VA]

First of all, Wishbone is not twaddle. Just to be clear. :D

 

My dd will be reading the good stuff much more this year than last--she already has read so many classics, that I allowed her more twaddle than I really think is good. For example, we were tallying up the Boxcar Children and the Nancy Drews she's read--I think she's up to 20 or so on BC and 30 or so on ND! She's read every MTH, too.

 

I think you should leave some "comfort" books available, but go ahead and box up most of the twaddle. I love the idea of just making every available choice a good choice, just like people do with food--when you don't have chips around, they can't choose chips. You allow one serving of chips every once in a while--you get one book out of the library that's literary snack food about once a month or so. Gradually, they do lose their appeal.

 

We couldn't even get thru an Animal Ark book a while ago because of the poor writing--but one year of public school and dd got used to reading carp that was far below her level, and picked up Animal Ark at the library. It was now acceptable to her because she lost a lot of her taste for the better stuff. Time to make her remember.

[melissel]

Have you tried having her read Half Magic by Eager? Perhaps read it to her first then have her read it herself.

 

Er, no, because it's on our book list (we pick from a jar), and it's one I want to read with her. I've never read it :blush:

[kokotg]

I assign books for his "schooltime" reading (35 minutes during the day); he picks whatever he wants at bedtime (when he'll read anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on what the book is.)

[melissel]

First of all, Wishbone is not twaddle. Just to be clear. :D

 

It was now acceptable to her because she lost a lot of her taste for the better stuff. Time to make her remember.

 

:lol: I actually don't mind it as a TV show. In book form, I'm just not sure. Maybe I'll let the Wishbones stay ;)

 

And the above bolded statement is exactly what has happened. As I've been sitting here thinking this through, I've realized that her reading level has stalled out over the past year, and that does indeed coincide with the increase in the amount of twaddle I've allowed. Shame on me! How did I not see that happening? :(

[sagira]

Thank you for this thread. I'm at the level where I'm watching ds and seeing how he absorbs things, what books he picks up, and I'm the one who gets to decide what books he reads right now.

 

Reading aloud on ds' slightly above level -- that sounds great. This should be Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and Henry Huggins for us. Thanks for the tip!

 

Oh, and to the OP: don't worry, your dc is still young. With a little commitment and dedication, it should be fairly easy to turn back the tide ;)

[zaichiki]

I went through this with ds (now 10). He fell in love with Star Wars books... and I had had enough. It became the only thing he wanted to read -- over and over and over again. So... they quietly disappeared... one at a time.

 

What if you *slowly* take the books away. One a day? Start with the most offensive. (Can we say Junie?) Make sure to add an interesting new "non-twaddle" book for every few twaddle books you take away. That should distract her. She probably won't notice the twaddle disappearing for quite a while... and by then she won't care so much. She'll be hooked on the new books. Did you know Half Magic is the first book in a "series?" What about Beverly Cleary books? Some of those Ramona books are *hysterical*!

 

Good luck! :)

[Moni]

If I wanted her to stop reading them, I'd have to take them all away.

 

Oh, okay, if.

Gotcha

:)

:seeya:

[Mrs Mungo]

My kids have both "structured reading" and "free reading" time each day. I pick what they read during structured reading time. They can read all the twaddle they want during their free reading time. It's my experience that as they grow older and/or more confident in their vocabulary and reading ability, they choose good stuff as often as they choose twaddle for free reading.

[TwinMominTX]

I agree. :iagree: