Joe Wheeler on the Legacy of Reading to Kids
Discover how to capture the hearts and minds of children through the old-fashioned tradition of reading out loud.
Articles within this series
“Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a beautiful princess . . .”
Reading together. You and I can recall a time when parents routinely read to their children. But for too many of today’s over-scheduled families, the notion of everyone gathered around the hearth for an evening of storytelling is almost beyond comprehension. And yet, there was a time when family story hour served as the “must-see TV” of previous generations.
According to Dr. Joe Wheeler, popular magazines were the family’s primary source of entertainment from the late 1880’s to the early 1950’s – what Wheeler now describes as the “golden age” of print. (Wheeler should know: Dubbed “Keeper of the Story” by Dr. James Dobson, he has edited more than 49 classic story collections, including 28 for Focus on the Family and Tyndale House Publishing.)
A Plethora of Periodicals
Mom and Dad would gather their brood around the kitchen stove – or where ever it was warmest – and read serialized stories from periodicals like McCall’s, St. Nicholas for Children or The Women’s Home Companion. Many of these stories were dubbed “roller coaster” tales, because they featured cliff-hanger plot twists that cut off just as the story shifted into high gear: Will Lulu be able to paddle to shore before her disintegrating raft floats over the deadly waterfall? Don’t miss the next installment of our story in the next issue of Youth’s Companion!
Sadly, the era of these periodicals is long past, replaced by new, less relationship-enhancing entertainment. Wheeler bemoans what he terms “the TV effect” – television’s gradual whittling down of kids’ attention spans. He's noted a vast difference between kids who are home-schooled versus those who attend public school, where he says there’s simply too much sensory overload. He says home-school parents tend to control television viewing, which perhaps preserves a child’s ability to concentrate.
Wheeler relates a case in point from his own experience. “I was asked to read a Christmas story to a group of children at church. Generally speaking, the kids were fidgety. But one little girl was fascinated by the story I was reading and listened with a sense of wonder.”
Wheeler later learned that the little girl was being raised in a household where no television was present.
Turning Kids On To Stories
As a generation that grew up with reading as entertainment as well as for education, you and I know how a well-told story can ignite the imagination and transport us to new worlds and other dimensions. But with today’s kids being raised on video games and television (with literally hundreds of channels to choose from), parents and grandparents face stiff competition for their attention.
Still, there’s one thing a storytelling parent can do that a GameBoy can’t: provide a sense of physical closeness and personal attention that every child craves.
When introducing children to storytelling time, you should begin when they're small, according to Wheeler. “You don’t want to ‘inflict’ the idea on someone who is just not receptive," he says. "A child must fall in love with reading.”
“It’s not important if you start out as a bad reader. All children care about is that you care enough to read to them.”
There are things you can do to keep children interested and clamoring for more. Wheeler suggests the following:
Take a trip to the library
Ask the librarian for the most-checked-out titles in children's books. Knowing what kids are excited about reading will give you a leg up when it comes time to sit them down for the "read-me-a-story" ritual.
Be a performer
“The act of reading out loud should be a three-dimensional experience,” Wheeler says. It should invoke all the senses. That means you as the reader should be as interested in the story as you want your audience to be. Choose books that sound good. Test them out by reading your story choices out loud to yourself. Give yourself permission to be a ham. Use different voices or cadences to delineate between characters. Don’t worry about critics — the kids are going to love you, whatever you do!
Assess your children's hobbies and interests
Come up with a creative profile for each child. Is your youngest interested in bugs? Look for stories that feature insects. Is your 10-year-old fascinated by science fiction? Look for novels written for that age group. Focus on the Family has some great faith-based children’s novels that are also fun to read out loud.
The Special Bond Between Grandparents and Grandkids
Grandparents often have the time that parents lack — time to spend in storytelling and reading to their grandchildren.
“And though distance may separate,” Wheeler says, “the impact a grandparent can have on a child is seismic.”
Wheeler reminds grandparents that they are the carriers of oral traditions passed down through the generations. When grandparents are able to spend time with their grandkids, they have an opportunity to impart the history and values of the family clan – and to establish connections with the next generation.
“Don’t cop out . . . by plopping them in front of the TV," Wheeler urges. "Make them a part of your life.”