You’re Kidding Me!
Future generations and the challenge of reading
Visual prompt 6 for the weekend challenge #25 by Jason Edmunds in A Taste for Life publication.
This image made me smile immediately.
It gave me a hint of hope in the new generations.
It also made me think about the bigger responsibility adults have nowadays in leading this Man-To-Be growth.
Children learn early to read. The photo of the child laughing while having a big written book in his hands seems to suggest he’s comfortable with it.
The point is: what will he read on his way to adulthood?
Adults have to be present to help him select and build his analysis ability. What content will he be able to access? Is it safe? Supervision is necessary.
Apart from all the different and increasing problems with attention and language diagnosed in students, learning to read provides a key to the knowledge of the universe in which the children will live.
Reading should always be accompanied by adults from the early stages, to support the development of critical thinking. That is the only way through which any reader will be safe while becoming an adult.
Parents, grandparents, educators, teachers, and instructors, all have a share of responsibility in the growing of a little reader.
As an educator myself, I’ve seen very few children able to apply critical thinking to their reads by themselves. The majority needed support from the teacher and at home, to fully understand the written texts.
As a mother, I had a hard time helping my son with his homework a decade ago.
Reality changes, didactical books change, and technology influences the immediate access to many pieces of information.
What is in need today, more than ever, is the possibility to dissect all the information and learn how to select the most important ones.
Are we, as adults, able to provide such support?
