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SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2020
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Parenting
Karen MacPherson
THE WASHINGTON POST - Many
parents naturally worry about
getting their teenagers to read
during the summer, but the stakes
may feel especially high this year,
after months of "distance learning."
When it comes to teens and reading,
deinitions count.
Yes, surveys show that teens are
reading less, a slump that begins in
middle school. But many experts
think the deinition survey makers
use is too narrow, and relects
the way we often instinctively
deine "reading" as reading iction
in general, and literary iction in
particular. And reading it in print,
not digitally.
Today's teens are reading,
both in print and online, according
to education experts, librarians
and teachers. But what they are
reading - horror and dystopian
novels, magazine proiles of sports
igures, online news articles, etc. -
frequently isn't counted in surveys
as "reading."
Although reading a news article
is not the same as reading a novel
or a narrative noniction book,
experts say it isn't helpful for adults
to dismiss the reading that many
teens are doing.
In their book
Reading Unbound:
Why Kids Need to Read What They
Want - and Why We Should Let
Them
, adolescent literacy experts
Michael W Smith and Jeffrey D
Wilhelm spotlight the fact that
the kids they studied had a
"surprisingly rich engagement with
texts that we didn't much value."
According to Smith, a secondary
education professor at Temple
University, "Many were avid readers
of marginalised texts."
That's particularly true of teen
boys. As recounted in their earlier
book,
Reading Don't Fix No Chevys
,
Smith and Wilhelm's studies found
that many teen boys are interested
in reading books and other
materials through which they learn
something, such as the history of a
favorite sport or even car manuals.
They ind pleasure in becoming an
expert on something. (Of course,
this also is true for many girls.)
"But that's just the kind of
reading that parents and teachers
want kids to 'get beyond,’” said
Wilhelm, a professor at Boise State
University.
Because the adults in their
lives undervalue what they enjoy
reading, many teens - especially
boys - don't consider themselves
readers, a self-image that begins
in elementary school and worsens
with age.
"I teach children's literature in an
education school, so my audience
is teachers," said Laura Jimenez,
a literacy education professor
at Boston University Wheelock
College of Education and Human
Development. "It's rare when I have
a guy in class, and when I do, the
guy will say, 'I'm not really a reader.'
But they are not considering what
they DO read."
As true digital natives, teens
are reading ever more online,
especially news, sports and
entertainment articles, as well as
social media. One teen, who is a
passionate reader, recently told me
that "it's much more of an effort to
read a book than look on a screen."
Although reading on a screen also
carries the temptation "to lip over
to a video game or check your
social media," he said. "It's almost
impossible to avoid."
So what's the role of parents
when it comes to teens and
reading? Here are some tips and
strategies from experts:
CHECK OUT AND VALUE WHAT
YOUR TEENS ENJOY READING
As an adult, you may view romance
novels as trash and online articles
about popular entertainers as a
waste of time. But try to avoid
criticising the kind of reading your
teen is doing. It's crucial to let teens,
who usually have heavy homework
loads, choose what to read in their
spare time. Jimenez, for example,
has a son who loves to read news,
so her family has subscriptions to
several news outlets.
VIEW THE KIND OF READING
YOUR TEEN ENJOYS AS A BRIDGE
TO OTHER KINDS OF READING
Onewayparents canencourage their
teens to diversify their reading is to
explore different kinds of reading
Turning teens into readers
about the topics that interest them.
And don't count out online reading.
Smith cites his own experience as a
football fan who reads everything he
can: statistics, brief player proiles,
long-form pieces about players and
books. "I do think we make a mistake
when we draw hard lines between
book reading and other kinds of
reading," he said. "I read more on-
line, and I'm a reader."
Wilhelm offers another twist
on this "focus on topics" idea that
parents and teachers can use. Say
your teen has to read
Romeo &Juliet
for school and is reluctant to do so.
Why not frame Shakespeare's play
as a story about "what makes and
breaks relationships"? "What ninth-
grader isn't interested in that?"
Wilhelm asked.
READALOUDTOYOURTEEN, OR
LISTENTOAUDIOBOOKSTOGETHER
Yes, your teen can read. But there's
a distinct pleasure in having
someone read aloud to you. It also
builds a "communal experience,"
said Abigail Foss, an AP English
teacher at Northwood High School
in Silver Spring, Maryland, who says
her students "love to be read to."
A twist on this idea is listening
to audiobooks together, something
that is ideal for car trips but also
can be carried over to an indoor
picnic or even a "reading dinner."
For parents and teens, listening to
audiobooks and reading a book
aloud are great activities to do as a
family, even if it's for a short period
each day. It also provides a topic for
family discussions.
CREATE FAMILY TIME TO READ
Adults don't always model the
kind of reading behaviour they
want to see in their teens. So try
to decrease the time you spend
on your phone with email or social
media, and carve out even 20
minutes a day to read a book or
magazine article while the rest of
your family members also read
something of their choice. Even if
your teen demurs, you'll still have
given yourself a chunk of pleasure
reading time.
Rachel Rosenblit
THE WASHINGTON POST - In a time
when we could all use some inspi-
rational uplift - not the saccharine
variety where celebrities sing John
Lennon with mist in their eyes, but
something truly connective and
comforting - Tom Papa's got your
back ... plus some tips for your
sourdough starter. With a voice like
a cartoon forest ranger, the come-
dian, radio host (of Sirius's
Come
to Papa
), head writer (for NPR's
Live
from Here
) and avid bread baker (of
Food Network's
Baked
) has become
a fount of happy distractions and
avuncular wisdom, at the ready via
Instagram with calming shots of
fresh-baked loaves and videos of
dancing healthcare workers.
Like many comedians, Papa's
outlook is plenty cynical. "These
global tragedies where the party
seems to be humming along, and
then something big happens?
Those aren't a surprise to me," he
tells
The Washington Post
. "When
we were all of a sudden locked in
the house, my wife said, 'Why do I
get the feeling you thought this was
gonna happen all along?' "
Still, he's determined to ham-
mer home some optimism: "You're
Doing Great!" is his unironic catch-
phrase, the name of his latest Net-
lix special and the title of his new
book of autobiographical essays
(subtitled
And Other Reasons to
Stay Alive
). "As rough as things can
get, it still is your life," he says. "You
should be grateful for this. You're
doing great."
This interview has been edited
for length and clarity.
Q:
In your book, you write:
"Because of social media we think
we're lacking. ... Calm down. No
one has a great life. No one." You've
met a lot of successful people.
Really, no one?
A:
On the surface they do.
It's not that they're not enjoying
themselves, but nobody escapes
all the other stuff. Everybody still
has worries about their kids and
sickness in their family and death
to deal with. It doesn't matter how
many cleaning people you have - all
that stuff does not provide enough
bubble wrap to create a truly
great, carefree life. But it's about
recalibrating: What is a great life? A
lot of bad stuff happens; that is a
great life. It's not the avoidance of
all that stuff that makes it great.
Q:
In today's context, parts of
your book feel uncanny - like riffs
about germs that "dance on hand-
rails and ly right up your nose." You
call cruise ships "giant white toilets"
from which there's no escape. Do
you think it'll be awhile before any-
one inds them appealing again?
A:
I'll never go on another cruise.
But so many people love them and
don't care and will jump if you gave
them a ticket tomorrow. I do have
a feeling that all of these things,
whether you enjoy them or not,
are going to be scaled back a bit.
Maybe a cruise only needs 1,000
people; do you really need 4,000
people on a boat? Things were a
little too freewheeling. I saw they
canceled the running of the bulls,
and I was like, "Well, there's some
good news."
Q:
You write a lot about your
obsession with baking bread. The
quarantine has inspired a surge
of at-home baking and grocery
shortages of lour and yeast. What
makes it such a source of solace?
A:
There's something about
the smell of home-baked bread
that's just the ultimate comfort. The
process of making it is satisfying,
yes; having something to work
on and take your mind off of stuff
when you're home all these hours,
sure, that's a beneit. But it really
comes down to this: When you
smell that somebody took the time
to bake something for you, it's an
expression of love, of nourishment.
It's part of our DNA.
Q:
It also seems to have a
seductive element of low-stakes
risk - even a perfect recipe can fail.
A: Yeah, and you know, that's life.
That's what comedy is. That's what
writing is. That's what relationships
are. There's very few things where
you get it locked in and it's golden
all the time.
Q:
Your comedy isn't all sunny, but
you go out of your way to be hopeful;
you genuinely want people to feel like
they're "doing great." Why?
A:
I could tell when I was tour-
ing over the last couple years, peo-
ple got tired of negativity, of every-
body attacking each other. My life
is pretty optimistic. When I started
just being more myself in that way
on stage, the reaction, and the peo-
ple who started showing up to my
shows, kind of changed everything.
It was just a nicer place to be. I used
to look at my Twitter and Instagram
and wince - like, what are they say-
ing now? I don't do that anymore.
The only people attracted now are
people who want bread tips.
Q:
You suggest the trappings
of wealth don't make for a fuller
life. You write, "the people you're
surrounded by when you pay for
Tom Papa is a fount of happy distractions - and baking tips
a hotel room that costs USD2,000
a night ... [are] a lot of rich duds.
They're no fun. No one plays music.
No one has real conversations.
They just walk around with labels on
their goofy shirts ... and talk about
interest rates and taxes." Is the one
per cent really having less fun?
A:
Yes. It's a trap. I've been
around some very wealthy people
and they seem to worry about
money more than other people.
The more they have, the more they
spend, the more they become ob-
sessed. But I wouldn't mind seeing
if my theory holds true by getting a
private jet. How fun do I really need
to be?
In a time when we could all use some inspirational uplift, the Netlix star and author's unironic
catchphrase is: You're doing great!