My kids and I were clearing up my daughter's book shelf this evening when I came across this broken CD. This one had come with a picture book a long time back and I had no recollection of it having ever gotten played back in my house. That is not to say that book never got read. On the contrary, we have spent many a glorious snuggling time with it in bed!
We found it badly bent and on the verge of splitting into two. My son was only too happy to do the needful, of course! But it struck me then that audio story books have never been popular in my household. I remember playing back the Oliver Jeffers' Lost And Found audioCD to my (then) five year old daughter, but midway through the narration, she lost interest, picked up the book (she was sitting with it next to the CD player), walked up to me, plonked herself in my lap and said, 'You read!'
I think that's the biggest reason why we never took to audiobooks - the lack of a snug, intimate warmth when you cuddle up with a book in your hand which gets shared between the two or three of us. For my kids, it could also be the comfort they get in listening to a parent's voice, one moment looking at me (I've seen my daughter do that) and the next moment, taking her eyes right back onto the page being read out.
And the joy that a child experiences repeating the words at her own pace, or reading aloud along with the adult gets lost when you have a CD playing which will ALWAYS play at the same pace, same way, same intonation and the same pauses. The CD player doesn't smile or wink back, doesn't indulge the little one by letting her linger over her favourite page (s) for as long as she would want.
And the CD never has answers to the several hundred WHY's!
Oh, it can never ever be the same.
And I am glad it's this way in my house! No one's missing that one CD less on the shelf :)
Feel like digging into loads and loads of picture books? Stop by at Snuggle With Picture Books :)
We found it badly bent and on the verge of splitting into two. My son was only too happy to do the needful, of course! But it struck me then that audio story books have never been popular in my household. I remember playing back the Oliver Jeffers' Lost And Found audioCD to my (then) five year old daughter, but midway through the narration, she lost interest, picked up the book (she was sitting with it next to the CD player), walked up to me, plonked herself in my lap and said, 'You read!'
I think that's the biggest reason why we never took to audiobooks - the lack of a snug, intimate warmth when you cuddle up with a book in your hand which gets shared between the two or three of us. For my kids, it could also be the comfort they get in listening to a parent's voice, one moment looking at me (I've seen my daughter do that) and the next moment, taking her eyes right back onto the page being read out.
And the joy that a child experiences repeating the words at her own pace, or reading aloud along with the adult gets lost when you have a CD playing which will ALWAYS play at the same pace, same way, same intonation and the same pauses. The CD player doesn't smile or wink back, doesn't indulge the little one by letting her linger over her favourite page (s) for as long as she would want.
And the CD never has answers to the several hundred WHY's!
Oh, it can never ever be the same.
And I am glad it's this way in my house! No one's missing that one CD less on the shelf :)
Feel like digging into loads and loads of picture books? Stop by at Snuggle With Picture Books :)
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