Are our kids reading too quickly and too early?

I know this sound silly or even outrageous but my answer to the above question is an uncomfortable ‘yes’. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I am a big advocate of early reading and I am always looking out for interesting books, new genres / authors to introduce to my daughters. Some of these suggestions go down well (many don’t and I have learnt to not push) but what works best is what the rest of the class is reading or the teacher is talking about.  But, I am also witness to instances where the child picks a book the whole class ‘says’ has read and recommended, and diligently attempts to read it.  And confesses at a candid moment that it is not to her liking!  I also sense a slight disappointment in the child at these times of not being ‘a part of the crowd’ by not liking or not completing the book.  My own reaction during these times is to discourage the child from trying too hard, put the book aside and go back to what she is comfortable for the moment.

Times like this, I am concerned that some peer pressure and even parents (unconsciously) are depriving a child the pleasure of discovering a book and pushing her towards the ‘trendy / trending at the moment’ choice!  

This process of discovering a book (which is more than just reading!)  is a magical process - one reads a book first time, unravels the plot, goes back to certain chapters to read between the lines, thinks of possibilities the author missed, goes back to the back and so on and so forth. Some of the pleasures of my growing up days were the times I have curled up in our verandah with either a stupendous tamil book like ‘Ponniyin selvan’; or ‘The adventures of Tam Sawyer’ – being an obedient child, I was awestruck at the ingenuity and the audacity of the characters!  A recent déjà vu experience was when I read Janaki Lenin’s ‘’My husband and other animals’’ where she describes about his pet python! Many a days I have spent day dreaming of things I read in books which I would probably never do in real life.  And as I grow, I find myself attempting some of them or even secretly hoping my child would pull off something like that!!

So, I worry if the fast paced life discourages this process of slow discovery and ‘’growing into a book and author’’ not just in kids but adults also?  And are we subconsciously encouraging a ‘skimming habit’ by taking the habit of reading books to another level, almost to the level of a social snob!  And I worry that many classics go into an ‘also read’ list for youngsters without so much an impact, without a chance to plunge into the musical comedy that Wodehouse talks about! 

Such is the joy of getting lost in this world that makes me want to tell the kids to go slow at times and take their time in living the lives of those characters that they read about. In imagining possibilities. In doing things in their minds even if the world will never get to see them. In giving a chance to the book / author to impress the reader and not ‘help the reader to impress the world’!