DIY: How to Become A Remarkable Read Aloud Parent

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You have been reading to your kids for weeks or even months.

You are subscribed to a handful of blogs to receive the latest posts and book tips from other read-aloud aficionados.

You can't wait for the seventh edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease to come out on June 25th.

Crazy for reading aloud!

You adore those Top 10 and Top 100 children's book lists that pepper the Internet.

You can't live without your daily dose of:

Playing by the Book,

Jen Robinson's Book Page,

Pragmatic Mom,

Vintage Kid's Books My Kid Loves,

Happy Birthday Author,

Children's Book-A-Day Almanac and .... (please fill in your favorite blogs too, in the comments section below this post!)

You are a living read-aloud example to other parents.

Seventh edition of the read-aloud bible

The sheer volume of books that you read is certainly unquestionable.

You have clocked hours and days and weeks of reading.

Now, what is the problem?

Small doubts are lingering in your mind.

Sure, there is a lot of talk and some research about the significance of reading aloud and its benefits.

Talk and research.

But, there was a lot of talk and research about the benefits of aspirin for kids and then the medical profession one day said that aspirins could be harmful and that the research was flawed.

Many experts say it is of great importance to leave kids to play as much as possible.

Is reading aloud really a game changer or is it ... a modern-day craze?

Let me tell you about my greatest worry.

I've been thinking about the effect of reading aloud.

More is better right?

But, does clocking hours matter really matter?

I know, I'm the one who first mentioned the importance of the 10,000 hours rule when reading aloud.

So what is the ideal amount of reading?

It's a question that has been plaguing me.

And then it hit me.


Why Reading Aloud Does Not Matter

          Be a yardstick of quality. 
          Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
          Steve Jobs

It really does not matter.

Reading aloud is just a technique.

It is an activity.

Why is reading aloud of no importance?

Instead of explaining, let me share the names of the first five books that I can see when I glanceover my shoulder at my own personal (adult) bookshelf:

The Family Nutrition Book

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers

Getting More

Schott's Original Miscellany

The Prophet: Trotsky: 1879-1940

If I chose any of these randomly selected fine books to read aloud to my kids, they might enjoy the first sentence or two - but not the rest.

Standing Out by Bryon Thompson

If they listened to the books, they might build their passive vocabulary a bit, but then they might be able to block everything out.

As much as it pains me to say it: reading aloud is not the solution.

We talk so much about reading aloud these days.

But what really matters is reading the right stuff.

It's not the hours. It's the quality.

It's not the clarity of enunciation that truly matters. It's the shared emotion.

It's not the statistics. It's the human experience.

If you want to capture the hearts and minds, it's not the reading aloud that truly matters.

It's the choice of books.