Find Out Together

It bothers the operator.

      Another enjoyable way to encourage reading is to find things out together. Children, if encouraged and treated understandingly, will bombard adults with questions. At two, these questions, "Why, Mommy?" "Why, Daddy?" may not mean more than, "Here I am. Talk to me." But let's be aware of the moments when a child's questions are real questions. "What makes that noise in the cleaner?" "Why don't you want any. It bothers the operator bread today?" and "Where did Aunt Sally go?" may take time and thought, but answers are essential to keep this important asking-to-learn activity growing. We can often discover how important the answer is if we have an opportunity to listen to the child's subsequent conversation. A little girl of three, when told not to play with the telephone, asked, "Why?" and her mother explained. Later that afternoon she approached a neighbor and offered this, "When you come to our house you can't use our telephone-it bothers the operator." Children ask questions seriously, and they accept sincere answers with equal seriousness. 

       Children's questions can get adults into some hot pursuits of information. When Jean, aged nine, asked, "How big is the largest whale alive in the sea today?" her father at first replied, "I don't know." Her brother, aged thirteen, said, "I didn't see the size mentioned anywhere." Now the subject could have been dropped at that point, but the father, who truly enjoyed finding answers for such questions, suggested a careful search be made in magazines and newspapers to see if this bit of information could be found. The hunt, which became a family project, began with scanning the tables of contents of magazines, reading headlines of newspapers, and all references to whales that live in the ocean. The answer was not immediately found, so the family agreed to keep on the lookout in future reading. This is an excellent example of an attitude toward the use of reading in living which adds so much to the zest and fun of life. As long as there is enthusiasm in finding out, life has sparkle and learning takes place. Sharing children's interests.

Young artist.

      Another prerequisite for establishing a suitable atmosphere in the home is nurturing worth-while interests. Children are always interested in doing things. Very often, we adults, tired after our daily duties, are faced with youngsters who are filled with vitality and eager for new fields to conquer. "Dad, you ought to go over to Corey's with me and see the cool toboggan slide they have built there," said Rick to his father who, having trudged homeward through heavy snow, hated the idea of even walking from his comfortable chair to the supper table. But, when the father realized how important this was to his son, and remembered that he hadn't responded to any of his young son's invitations for a whole week, he said thoughtfully, "Right after supper I'll go with you and take a look." Going exploring together and sharing in fun and discovery with youngsters of all ages are excellent ways to develop worthy interests and keep within the "interest-range" of children. Those of us who are considered "old fogies" by children may not be old, but somewhere along the line we lost contact with their budding interests, and we seem out of touch with things important, their live interests. 

       This wholesome interest given to children's activities not only will be an important incentive to children, but also will help in understanding in a concrete way their tremendous capacity for learning. For example, a teacher listening to a boy describe a picture he had drawn of a sailboat discovered the youngster had sketched a sloop with correct rigging, and that he knew a great deal about sloops, dinghies, and schooners, far more than the teacher did. Giving a child an opportunity to talk about his knowledge and accomplishments helps him feel added success and satisfaction and it encourages more and even greater efforts. 

       Interest in what a child writes is important too. A boy of twelve began writing a serial of the Peck's Bad Boy type, titled The Adventures of Teddy the Terrible. Each episode was full of slapstick humor and harrowing "death-defying" escapades. At frequent intervals, the whole family was asked to listen to a new serial-plot from the writer's pen. This writing later entered the classroom, where it had a larger audience. It undoubtedly had real value in sending this boy along to satisfying reading as well as writing pursuits. 

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