Many teenagers forget about books … but this does not necessarily interfere with their self-education, says teacher and writer Marina Aromshtam. After all, they have other types of art at their disposal, such as cinema or music, which also teach to think.
“For the summer, teachers gave schoolchildren a list of compulsory literature: Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky … The lists are long, program works. And just now, when there is so much to read, something “wrong” is happening to a teenager. He has friends, a laptop, music and the final of the European Football Championship. And also – a feeling of heady freedom and a feeling that the school no longer exists. And books too. But he grew up as a child who reads! Parents in despair: what to do?
First of all, to separate one problem from another – your desire to see your child reading a book from the task of preparing for the new school year. Remember: reading is communication. If a child cannot overcome War and Peace, this does not mean that he is stupid and unpromising. It’s just that at the moment Leo Tolstoy is not among the important interlocutors for him. In this matter, the parental resource of influence is limited. From some point on, it becomes more and more difficult for us to say: (not) be friends with this boy (or girl), communicate this way, and not that way! The same thing happens with books. If a teenager is interested in what we read and appreciates our opinion, this is not a rule, but a gift of fate. We can console ourselves with the fact that we read a lot to him in childhood. What they read became the cultural reserve of our child. And how to increase or transform it, he will decide for himself. And he will choose the forms of communication. If it’s not a criminal company, but Facebook, movies or music that are crowding out books, then the best strategy is to be patient and remain a book reader yourself. Our strong cultural preferences command respect. And this is also a tactic that can work, however, against the backdrop of a trusting relationship with the child.
About it
“Native speech. Lessons of belles-lettres” Petr Weil, Alexander Genis
A paradoxical alternative to the summer literature list, a thin and witty “textbook of belles lettres” is quite capable of awakening in a teenager an interest in the works of Pushkin, Gogol and Tolstoy (KoLibri, 2011).
As for the must-have list, review it together and find out what your teen might be interested in. Let his “obligations” extend to three or four books. Together, determine the time frame in which the son (daughter) undertakes to read them. The fulfillment of the promise will have to be monitored. But this is a contract. And at the heart of his personal choice. Don’t forget cinema and theatre. There are also audio books. You can listen to them not only on the road, in line, but also … in the bathroom. And if your teenager takes a bath a little more often than usual, that’s not bad at all.
Marina Aromshtam, author of the books “When the Angels Rest” and “The Furry Child” (Compass Guide, 2011), editor-in-chief of the online magazine papmambook.ru for those who read to children.
Read also: “TEENS Territory: A guide for parents of teenagers.”