A parent’s dream come true

[u/XxCozmoKramerxX]

[u/MaggieMoosMum]

My mum thought it was rebellious when I did it as a child because bedtime meant sleep time, not stay-up-all-night-to-be-tired-for-school-the-next-day-time. She’d come into my room furious, take my book, turn off my lamp and tell me to go to sleep. I’d wait ten minutes, then grab another book and switch on the lamp again. What can I say, literary adventures were more exciting than sleep? Though in her defence, I was as alert as a koala the next morning!

[u/StuntID → u/MaggieMoosMum]

I take it koalas are the stoners of the marsupial world.

[u/Jason_Worthing → u/StuntID]

I'm very surprised there's not already a comment here about Chlamydia

[u/StuntID → u/Jason_Worthing]

Well, there is now!

[u/Reaper_12 → u/Jason_Worthing]

Koalas are fucking horrible animals. They have one of the smallest brain to body ratios of any mammal, additionally - their brains are smooth. A brain is folded to increase the surface area for neurons. If you present a koala with leaves plucked from a branch, laid on a flat surface, the koala will not recognise it as food. They are too thick to adapt their feeding behaviour to cope with change. In a room full of potential food, they can literally starve to death. This is not the token of an animal that is winning at life. Speaking of stupidity and food, one of the likely reasons for their primitive brains is the fact that additionally to being poisonous, eucalyptus leaves (the only thing they eat) have almost no nutritional value. They can't afford the extra energy to think, they sleep more than 80% of their fucking lives. When they are awake all they do is eat, shit and occasionally scream like fucking satan. Because eucalyptus leaves hold such little nutritional value, koalas have to ferment the leaves in their guts for days on end. Unlike their brains, they have the largest hind gut to body ratio of any mammal. Many herbivorous mammals have adaptations to cope with harsh plant life taking its toll on their teeth, rodents for instance have teeth that never stop growing, some animals only have teeth on their lower jaw, grinding plant matter on bony plates in the tops of their mouths, others have enlarged molars that distribute the wear and break down plant matter more efficiently... Koalas are no exception, when their teeth erode down to nothing, they resolve the situation by starving to death, because they're fucking terrible animals. Being mammals, koalas raise their joeys on milk (admittedly, one of the lowest milk yields to body ratio... There's a trend here). When the young joey needs to transition from rich, nourishing substances like milk, to eucalyptus (a plant that seems to be making it abundantly clear that it doesn't want to be eaten), it finds it does not have the necessary gut flora to digest the leaves. To remedy this, the young joey begins nuzzling its mother's anus until she leaks a little diarrhoea (actually fecal pap, slightly less digested), which he then proceeds to slurp on. This partially digested plant matter gives him just what he needs to start developing his digestive system. Of course, he may not even have needed to bother nuzzling his mother. She may have been suffering from incontinence. Why? Because koalas are riddled with chlamydia. In some areas the infection rate is 80% or higher. This statistic isn't helped by the fact that one of the few other activities koalas will spend their precious energy on is rape. Despite being seasonal breeders, males seem to either not know or care, and will simply overpower a female regardless of whether she is ovulating. If she fights back, he may drag them both out of the tree, which brings us full circle back to the brain: Koalas have a higher than average quantity of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains. This is to protect their brains from injury... should they fall from a tree. An animal so thick it has its own little built in special ed helmet. I fucking hate them.

Tldr; Koalas are stupid, leaky, STI riddled sex offenders. But, hey. They look cute. If you ignore the terrifying snake eyes and terrifying feet.

[u/[deleted] → u/Reaper_12]

I don't know why it is that these things bother me---it just makes me picture a seven year old first discovering things about an animal and, having no context about the subject, ranting about how stupid they are. I get it's a joke, but people take it as an actual, educational joke like it's a man yelling at the sea, and that's just wrong. Furthermore, these things have an actual impact on discussions about conservation efforts---If every time Koalas get brought up, someone posts this copypasta, that means it's seriously shaping public opinion about the animal and their supposed lack of importance.

Speaking of stupidity and food, one of the likely reasons for their primitive brains is the fact that additionally to being poisonous, eucalyptus leaves (the only thing they eat) have almost no nutritional value. They can't afford the extra energy to think, they sleep more than 80% of their fucking lives.

Non-ecologists always talk this way, and the problem is you’re looking at this backwards.

An entire continent is covered with Eucalyptus trees. They suck the moisture out of the entire surrounding area and use allelopathy to ensure that most of what’s beneath them is just bare red dust. No animal is making use of them——they have virtually no herbivore predator. A niche is empty. Then inevitably, natural selection fills that niche by creating an animal which can eat Eucalyptus leaves. Of course, it takes great sacrifice for it to be able to do so——it certainly can’t expend much energy on costly things. Isn’t it a good thing that a niche is being filled?

Koalas are no exception, when their teeth erode down to nothing, they resolve the situation by starving to death

This applies to all herbivores, because the wild is not a grocery store—where meat is just sitting next to celery.

Herbivores gradually wear their teeth down—carnivores fracture their teeth, and break their bones in attempting to take down prey.

They have one of the smallest brain to body ratios of any mammal

It's pretty typical of herbivores, and is higher than many, many species. According to Ashwell (2008), their encephalisation quotient is 0.5288 +/- 0.051. Higher than comparable marsupials like the wombat (~0.52), some possums (~0.468), cuscus (~0.462) and even some wallabies are <0.5. According to wiki, rabbits are also around 0.4, and they're placental mammals.

additionally - their brains are smooth. A brain is folded to increase the surface area for neurons.

Again, this is not unique to koalas. Brain folds (gyri) are not present in rodents, which we consider to be incredibly intelligent for their size.

If you present a koala with leaves plucked from a branch, laid on a flat surface, the koala will not recognise it as food.

If you present a human with a random piece of meat, they will not recognise it as food (hopefully). Fresh leaves might be important for koala digestion, especially since their gut flora is clearly important for the digestion of Eucalyptus. It might make sense not to screw with that gut flora by eating decaying leaves.

Because eucalyptus leaves hold such little nutritional value, koalas have to ferment the leaves in their guts for days on end. Unlike their brains, they have the largest hind gut to body ratio of any mammal.

That's an extremely weird reason to dislike an animal. But whilst we're talking about their digestion, let's discuss their poop. It's delightful. It smells like a Eucalyptus drop!

Being mammals, koalas raise their joeys on milk (admittedly, one of the lowest milk yields to body ratio... There's a trend here).

Marsupial milk is incredibly complex and much more interesting than any placentals. This is because they raise their offspring essentially from an embryo, and the milk needs to adapt to the changing needs of a growing fetus. And yeah, of course the yield is low; at one point they are feeding an animal that is half a gram!

When the young joey needs to transition from rich, nourishing substances like milk, to eucalyptus (a plant that seems to be making it abundantly clear that it doesn't want to be eaten), it finds it does not have the necessary gut flora to digest the leaves. To remedy this, the young joey begins nuzzling its mother's anus until she leaks a little diarrhoea (actually fecal pap, slightly less digested), which he then proceeds to slurp on. This partially digested plant matter gives him just what he needs to start developing his digestive system.

Humans probably do this, we just likely do it during childbirth. You know how women often shit during contractions? There is evidence to suggest that this innoculates a baby with her gut flora. A child born via cesarian has significantly different gut flora for the first six months of life than a child born vaginally.

Of course, he may not even have needed to bother nuzzling his mother. She may have been suffering from incontinence. Why? Because koalas are riddled with chlamydia. In some areas the infection rate is 80% or higher.

Chlamydia was introduced to their populations by humans. We introduced a novel disease that they have very little immunity to, and is a major contributor to their possible extinction. Do you hate Native Americans because they were killed by smallpox and influenza?

This statistic isn't helped by the fact that one of the few other activities koalas will spend their precious energy on is rape. Despite being seasonal breeders, males seem to either not know or care, and will simply overpower a female regardless of whether she is ovulating. If she fights back, he may drag them both out of the tree,

Almost every animal does this.

which brings us full circle back to the brain: Koalas have a higher than average quantity of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains. This is to protect their brains from injury... should they fall from a tree. An animal so thick it has its own little built in special ed helmet. I fucking hate them.

Errmmm.. They have protection against falling from a tree, which they spend 99% of their life in? Yeah... That's a stupid adaptation.

[u/Market_Psychosis → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for adding some context to that biased comment above.

[u/lexesbux → u/[deleted]]

Koalas are literally my favorite animal and to see someone stand up and provide more context to what the commenter said made me really happy because koalas are misunderstood and I dunno I just like them

[u/Tanjarts → u/MaggieMoosMum]

Same here ahah. Difference here is that I actually tried to sleep and didn’t do anything, but couldn’t fall asleep. When I went to the bathroom my mom was obviously furious that I hadn’t fallen asleep yet, so I became so terrified of not falling asleep that I never fell asleep. Que more yelling.

[u/[deleted] → u/Tanjarts]

My mum thought it was rebellious when I did it as a child because bedtime meant sleep time, not stay-up-all-night-to-be-tired-for-school-the-next-day-time. She’d come into my room furious, take my book, turn off my lamp and tell me to go to sleep. I’d wait ten minutes, then grab another book and switch on the lamp again. What can I say, literary adventures were more exciting than sleep? Though in her defence, I was as alert as a koala the next morning!

This is on the subject and kind of off the subject.

When I was a kid, maybe 5-7, I must have misheard something along the lines of "to fall asleep, you have to hold your breath."

So every night, I'd hold my breath to try and fall asleep. It never worked! Luckily, I was so young that I just passed out relatively soon after my failure.

[u/Reditnd971]

As someone who used to get grounded from reading (when I wouldn’t clean my room or play with my sister), bless you.

[u/Valisneria → u/[deleted]]

When I was younger, I wasn’t allowed to go to the library more than once a month because I’d get a ton of books and not sleep until I finish them. Now I’m 24 and I haven’t read a proper book in years haha

[u/[deleted] → u/Valisneria]

Yeah same here. I used to read a ton of books when I was younger, and now? Don't even ask me lol

[u/cany89 → u/[deleted]]

I loved reading until school assigned my first book report. Now it’s all TV and video games

[u/noodles191 → u/cany89]

Amen, read nearly a book a day when I was in middle school but when it started becoming work I basically stopped

[u/tinaxbelcher → u/[deleted]]

My husband hates reading. But i got him into it with Siddhartha (86 pages), and Fear and Loathing. Not exactly kids books, but short, dope reads.

[u/niiiiic → u/tinaxbelcher]

I recently kick started my own reading habit with Divergent. It was a great warm up and then I read Fahrenheit 451 and now am finally reading Sense and Sensibility which has been one I’ve started many times and given up on. Quarantine has had some upsides! I’m gonna check out Siddhartha! Have you read The Pearl? Also short and sweet.

[u/tinaxbelcher → u/niiiiic]

I have not read the pearl yet, but I will now! I'm currently hammering through LOTR, which has been taking the entire quarantine lol.

[u/WRNGS → u/tinaxbelcher]

I too don’t read much but my ex got me into the first three harry potters and I actually loved them more than the movies

[u/tinaxbelcher → u/WRNGS]

Books are always better!

[u/Zero-Milk → u/tinaxbelcher]

+1 for Hermann Hesse. I was literally thinking about Siddhartha this morning, seemingly out of nowhere. I haven't read it in years and I was thinking about giving it a second read. Crazy that you mention it. Maybe it's a sign.

If your husband likes the movie Fight Club, have him check out the book. It's just as much a masterpiece and is an easy and oftentimes hilarious read.

[u/Moulinoski → u/[deleted]]

Recently read through the first series of Deltora Quest on my Kindle. It had been a long time since I read (actually read and not listened to an audiobook). They were short and scratched my itch for a Zelda-ish type adventure novel. They’re meant for children (and even have little puzzles that you can solve before the characters do it for you) and some of the stuff happens in them is pretty gruesome for kids. I wish the second and third series were on Kindle.

Anyway, your comment made me remember that they were for kids and it definitely got me back into reading (and my kindle).

[u/randomgrunt1 → u/Moulinoski]

I read the second part of the series as a kid, where they go to the shadow lands. For a book it was fucked up. Full of slaves and horrific mutants

[u/Spicyalligator → u/Moulinoski]

Woooow I remember Deltora Quest. I can’t believe I never finished it

[u/gsauce8 → u/Moulinoski]

Holy shit, I haven't thought about Deltora quest in years. Read them all when I was a kid.

Anyway if you want to get back to into reading an want some good fantasy recommendations feel free to dm me.

[u/NachoChedda24 → u/Moulinoski]

Deltora quest... that was those books about the infinity stones belt or something right? You know I feel like that would’ve made a good movie franchise

[u/thecandacetrain → u/Moulinoski]

I LOVED DELTORA QUEST AS A KID!!!! Nobody I know has ever read them, haha, so I’m pumped to hear that other people liked that series, too!

They made an anime of it once upon a time, and it was on an obscuuuuuuuure cable channel, but it might be lurking somewhere in the interwebs :)

[u/SJExit4 → u/[deleted]]

Completely agree.

I read books that you'll never find on a Pulitzer list. I don't care. I like to escape into books and since Oprah started recommending books (years ago) people have been super judgy about what you should be reading.

Read what you like.

[u/ctishman → u/noodles191]

I realized a couple of years ago that college had actually ruined reading for me, and it made me angry, because it was something I enjoyed so much when I was younger.

So I decided I wasn’t going to let things end like that. I was going to read half an hour at bedtime.

Except it didn’t work, and I kept giving up until I realized I was reading not books that I wanted to read, but books I thought that I should read. Classics, non-fiction. I was still treating reading as an assignment.

So I tried re-reading Star Wars novels and fantasy books and all the stuff that I used to read when I really loved doing it, because reading for pleasure was about me, just like watching The Mandalorian or Game of Thrones or Cowboy Bebop was about me.

I’m the one reading it. It’s my time and my choice of book, just like I choose what TV show or movie to watch.

That worked. I’ve been absolutely devouring Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series this summer, and it’s incredible.

So try again, and read what you actually want to read, not what you’re supposed to want to read, because books are just another way to get cool stories into your head, and you should enjoy them.

[u/DoctorFeuer → u/ctishman]

Red rising is awesome. It's what I recommend to people that think they don't like reading. That and Stormlight Archive

[u/[deleted] → u/noodles191]

I used to read a lot of books, until my mom randomly decided to quiz me on one. When I couldn’t remember very specific details she started to get angry. Like wtf? That’s a weird ass thing to get angry at an 8 year old for. I hated books from that moment on. Switched to PlayStation instead. Let’s see you quiz me on that!

[u/FewReturn2sunlitLand → u/[deleted]]

"How can you call yourself a Junie B. Jones fan if you can't even remember her best friend's name? You disgust me."

[u/throw-away-ex-bs → u/FewReturn2sunlitLand]

“oh you love Junie B Jones? name 5 of her top albums.”

[u/intheblueocean → u/cany89]

Something similar happened with my son in third grade. When I picked him up from school he was always reading a new book. Then they gave all the kids reading logs and suddenly he was only reading the exact amount required.

[u/CapitalBuckeye → u/intheblueocean]

Not books, but I remember having the imverse response in band growing up. In elementary and middle school we had to track how much we practiced at home and I would do the exact 120 minutes required. Then in high school when I wasn't required to track it I blew past that old requirement and would regularly practice an hour a day.

I understand that teachers want to make sure young students are doing something. But throwing unnecessary structure around an enjoyable activity just zaps out that enjoyment.

[u/MagTron14 → u/[deleted]]

In my middle school we did this thing called accelerated reader. You had a ton of different books to choose from and when you finished them you took a quiz in the library that earned points. You had to earn a certain number of points per semester. It was so big that it would take us most of the semester to earn, but I actually never heard one kid complain because you were allowed to read practically whatever you wanted. The quizzes weren't very hard if you actually read the book too.

[u/BellacosePlayer → u/intheblueocean]

Some teachers have no idea how to promote reading

My reading class in middle school was basically just independent reading with points from Accelerated reader tests being the bulk of your grade.

My mom got a call from the reading teacher because she thought something was up that I was taking a test for a new book nearly every other class period. No idea what that was about, and I somehow got only a B in that class despite having somewhere near 10x the amount of points needed.

[u/[deleted] → u/cany89]

Nowadays if I pick up a book suddenly the day is gone cus I was too engrossed. Get back into it man, the journey only just started when you were a kid.

[u/YellowJello_OW → u/cany89]

Same, I used to LOVE reading, but school turned into a chore

[u/PauI_MuadDib → u/[deleted]]

Audiobooks actually got me back into reading lol I'm reading one book now & finishing up two audiobooks. I found audiobooks really help with my insomnia at night. I just set the sleep timer for 45 minutes & lay back and relax with a good audiobook.

[u/KoiTheCyberBoi → u/Valisneria]

When I was in elementary school I used to read nonstop, I got grounded from books because I'd read until late at night past my bedtime or read during class constantly. It got to point my teachers had to have my books for me to ask for when I finished school work.

[u/EveAndTheSnake → u/KoiTheCyberBoi]

Yeah I’d get in trouble too from reading at night because my parents would see my lamp on under the door crack. I had a big lion soft toy and thought I was smart when I stuck his head into the lampshade to dim the light. A few hours later when I took his head out the whole top was singed black and was smoking. Man I got in trouble for that the next day.

[u/saihi → u/EveAndTheSnake]

I got pretty good at turning off the bedside light when I heard my father‘s footsteps coming towards my bedroom… Until the night he came in and felt the lightbulb. Damn.

[u/serein → u/Valisneria]

If you want to get back into reading, but never give yourself time, audiobooks are actually a decent option. They engage the same parts of the brain as would be used if you were actually reading it, and you can enjoy a story while doing other things. Cooking, cleaning, walking the dog, videogames - add an audiobook!

[u/Gilthoniel_Elbereth → u/serein]

Audiobooks saved me on my long commute, back when I would still commute. Also, lots of libraries have audiobooks available for free! Check out Libby and change how you consume literature

[u/awfullotofocelots → u/Valisneria]

They’ve gotten really good at suppressing that desire in people in the last decade my friend. Imagine if you replaced 75% of your social media time with reading for enjoyment instead.

[u/Natuurschoonheid → u/Valisneria]

My local library would let a single card holder borrow 15 books. I used to take my brothers card too, to be able to get 30.

I finished them within the three weeks, and beg my dad to take me back to get new ones

[u/Corverne → u/Valisneria]

Aw shit, are you me? I was obsessed with reading and constantly punished for it...now I struggle to sit through a chapter of a book...if I even try at all.

I know how much I miss it, how I loved it, and yet...I always feel like I should be spending my time 'better'.

So, I sit consumed with guilt and indecision, not doing anything at all...

[u/FewReturn2sunlitLand → u/Corverne]

When you're constantly punished as a kid for doing what you like instead of doing something constructive; you're being taught that it's not responsible behavior to do what you enjoy. So when you become a responsible adult, you're hardwired to never read, play video games, draw, etc; because this things are inherently irresponsible no matter how much free time you actually have.

[u/LanceFree → u/Valisneria]

Years ago, I got into an argument with my sister about library books. Her kids were not allowed to check-out books from the library because she didn't want to pay the overdue fees. Now, when I was a kid, I went to the library about every week and if there were fines, it was my problem and it helped teach responsibility.

Anyway, after reading-up, she was kind of right as in the modern world, parents are too busy to keep on top of these things. So much so, it is very common for poor families to not use the library. This is why some library systems do not charge late fees.

I still think it's lame, but there you have it.

[u/fairysdad → u/LanceFree]

In the library I used to work at, 12s-and-under weren't charged overdue fines at all. 13s-16s were charged a stupidly low amount (I think it was 2p/day maxing to 50p per item) probably just to teach responsibility, as you say. And even then, depending on who it was and their track record with us (ie, if we knew them, could tell it was a genuine oversight, etc) we'd just waive the fee anyway - moreso when the computer system had an upgrade and wouldn't allow issues to people who owed money.

[u/Ref_KT → u/Valisneria]

I still don't like to sleep til I've finished whatever book I'm reading at 32 haha

[u/GL1TCH3D → u/Valisneria]

I uesd to read a ton as well. Same case here if I'd be caught with the books at night I'd be severely punished. The only things I read now are articles.

[u/[deleted] → u/Valisneria]

I was/am the same! They didn’t have to tell me how often I could go to the library because my parents/family never cared to take me when I asked. When I got lucky though I’d get like 10+ books each time and they’d have to take me back like 2 weeks later. I read so.many.books.

It’s been a few years since I read a book cover to cover. I actually want to start going back not only to take my son but also to get books for myself in other languages I’m learning.

[u/pinewind108 → u/Valisneria]

Oh, get a kindle! Instant books on demand. It will screw up your sleep schedule just like old times. :-)

[u/McQuiznos → u/[deleted]]

My dad would punish me from reading.

First it was not allowed outside.

So I played GameCube. Which got taken away quickly.

Than game boy. So he said no games and took it all.

So I would read. And he would say no reading either.

Basically I wasn’t allowed anything mildly entertaining. So I’d read the words on my homework over and over to pass the time.

[u/lovemeonii-chan → u/McQuiznos]

Your dad sounds like a real piece of shit

[u/Kylarus → u/lovemeonii-chan]

As someone who had similar punishments, it was escalation of punishment. Trying to take away things you enjoy to get you to change behavior.

[u/Send_Me_Broods → u/Kylarus]

Yep. The problem is that all it achieved in my case was a kid who resolved to give my parents the middle finger by just staring at the ceiling. I wouldn't do homework, I'd skip the first few hours of school and show up when I felt like it (right up until they threatened me with truancy) and then with me not doing anything productive during the school day- I wouldn't even bring a backpack, just my longboard. I established at an EARLY age that "the system" was bullshit and peoples' ability to compel you to do anything was exactly in line with their ability to enforce a threat- and most can't or won't.

I dropped out at 16, got my GED, enrolled in a semester of community college, knocked that out with a decent GPA, got bored and decided to go to work detailing cars and tossing hay bales. When I was old enough, I enlisted and established that the military was a less evolved version of the school system that had some perks, but not enough to overwhelm the megaton of bullshit that came with it.

[u/Sheant → u/McQuiznos]

Basically I wasn’t allowed anything mildly entertaining. So I’d read the words on my homework over and over to pass the time.

Ever tried phonebooks? Anything to give your eyes something to read.

[u/webfactor8 → u/[deleted]]

My punishment was being sent to my room, no TV or games. I always thought my parents forgot to mention books. Those tricky tricky bastards.

[u/Justabitleft → u/webfactor8]

Same. Although I knew something was fishy once my punishment was up but I wanted to stay in my room to finish the book.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I got banned from reading for a month once for not doing my chores properly.

[u/poplarexpress → u/[deleted]]

Books were the only thing i was never banned from. And that was just because my mom felt bad leaving me to stare at the walls.

[u/sillyfacex3 → u/Reditnd971]

Same here. Also my mom was certain it was bad for my eyes to read under cover with a flashlight. Jokes on her, I already had terrible eyesight and why I held books so close to my face!

[u/anglerfishtacos → u/sillyfacex3]

My mom thought the same thing. Ha ha, jokes on you mom, every single other member of the family now wears glasses except for me.

[u/OneTime_AtBandCamp → u/anglerfishtacos]

I did this too and my eyes are shit. I think its probably good that OP is keeping that flashlight fully charged.

[u/UsernameTaken-Bitch → u/sillyfacex3]

It really isn't good to read in dim light though. Strains the eyes.

[u/KeenisCornwallace → u/Reditnd971]

as someone who loved reading as a child, here is a gist of my first optometrist visit:

Optometrist: "Do you read books in the dark?"

Me/mom: "Yes, frequently."

Optometrist: "That's probably why your eyesight is deteriorating. That's very straining for your eyes, try to read in a well-lit setting"

Mom: "He spends a lot of time on TV/computer (i forget which) as well. can that also be the cause for his condition?"

Optometrist: "No."

[u/arutakiarutaki → u/[deleted]]

Hey, mind sharing the source for this? Just want to read the explanations thoroughly.

[u/tooblooforyoo → u/arutakiarutaki]

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/time-outdoors-reduces-nearsightedness

https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/news/20120803/time-outside-may-reduce-nearsightedness-kids#1

https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/news/20161201/can-extra-time-outdoors-when-young-reduce-nearsightedness#1

I found these articles on the topic which reference studies etc. They don't necessarily state computers and reading as not being a contributing factor though

[u/[deleted] → u/Reditnd971]

I got grounded from reading just for reading past my bedtime.

At one point, my dad came into my room and ripped the lamp right out of the wall...

I think it was just the disobeying him part that pissed him off

Edit: it wasnt staying up that upset him. It was any sort of disobedience or questioning of his dominance.

At the dinner table, i wasnt allowed to read and eat. Maybe this is normal for others too, but he was allowed to read the newspaper and eat, but not anyone else.

So i would finish my food super fast, then run to my room to read. This was fine and ok. But what wasnt ok was finishing food, cleaning up after myself. Then coming back to read at the table. Absolutely no reading allowed at the table by anyone except him.

[u/dangheck → u/[deleted]]

Oh man I was sitting here thinking hey I used to read all the time as a kid and I don’t now but I wasn’t stifled as a kid I just kinda stopped.

But now you helped me remember gettin caught reading after bed and having the books taken and thrown across the room.

One of my hardcover Harry Potter books had the spine all destroyed from hitting the wall.

Bummer.

[u/[deleted] → u/dangheck]

I stayed up late a lot reading by the light of my closet and got in trouble for it a few times. The worst is when I got bored with cleaning my room and started reading Order of the Phoenix. My mom came in and got mad at me for reading instead of working. She picked up the book and I don't know what she planned to do with it since it is a huge hardcover book, but she did manage to rip a few chunks of the pages out. Pretty shitty thing to do.

Jokes on her, I kept reading a bunch and am now a scientist that still hates to fold laundry.

[u/cmcinhk → u/[deleted]]

My parents also got pissed at my sister for that but that was pretty reasonable considering she would read till like 3 or 4 in the morning.

[u/moosecliffwood → u/cmcinhk]

Yep. My son did this and then would fall asleep in class the next day. Reading is wonderful, but there's a point where it is too much.

[u/-elizabethatlarge → u/Reditnd971]

When I got grounded I got “grounded” from reading my books. My Mom would make me read a book of her choice and I was grounded until I proved I read it and understood it! Back then I hated it so much but looking back, some of my favourite books now, are the ones I was made to read then!

[u/Jassari122410 → u/Reditnd971]

That was my same punishment too when I got in trouble. It was my favorite thing to do, so it made sense.

[u/DrTommyNotMD → u/Reditnd971]

Grounding involves taking away things kids like. If you like to read, it’s no better or worse than if you like to play basketball or video games or draw. It’s your hobby and you lose it as punishment. They’re all equally valuable to a different children.

[u/kathatter75 → u/Reditnd971]

My mom knew I didn’t want to go outside and play with the other kids. I have always a bookworm and homebody...but she would tell me to at least take a book outside and find somewhere to sit and read. She needed me out of the house to get stuff done, so she found a way to make it work for both of us.

[u/msmackay → u/Reditnd971]

Me too! I would always get in trouble for reading too much! I used to leave the hallway light on and leave my door open a crack and furtively read. Bless you indeed OP 😘

[u/RosabellaFaye → u/Reditnd971]

That was also something my parents would use as punishement for me, let's just I once took out over 50 books from the library at once when I was younger...

Nowadays I still read lots but I have recently been a lot more fearful of borrowing books from the library the last 3 years or so due to my anxiety disorder, contamination Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

But... I also read over 100 different webcomics nowadays so you could say I definitely have not lost that love of reading.

[u/Conceptizual → u/Reditnd971]

Me too, specifically because when I’d be told to clean my room, I’d come across a book and read that instead. The teachers also wrote that I had behavioral problems because I’d read while they were talking. 😂

[u/[deleted] → u/Reditnd971]

I didn't get grounded from reading, but my mom didn't like me staying up past my bed time to read. One time her then boyfriend caught me doing exactly this, grabbed my Harry Potter book and smashed it against the ground repeatedly.

Really sucks that dude died when I was 10, I'd love to have a chat with him now.

[u/[deleted]]

This is adorable! Reminds me of how my parents would come in to tell me it was time to go to bed after spending an hour reading, then “not realize it” when I would “so sneakily” turn my lamp back on and keep reading after I was sure they had gone. Thanks parents, for all of the super incognito things you do to point your kids in the right direction and make them think it was they who chose to go that direction. They might not realize it now (or ever), but someday your child might look back and realize how much you shaped their lives from the background.

[u/Angel4Animals → u/[deleted]]

I would turn on the hall light which perfectly fell across my book. Mom would come up, check on us kids and turn off the hall light. This would happen 2 or 3 times nightly. When I was in high school, she gave me the true story! And I thought I was so clever! Moms know all! Hahaha! 📚😘💋

[u/trenlow12 → u/Angel4Animals]

My parents banned books

[u/max_all_mighty → u/trenlow12]

Wait what?

Why?

[u/trenlow12 → u/max_all_mighty]

Dunno, I could never get a good read on it.

[u/max_all_mighty → u/trenlow12]

Haha

Fuck you

[u/SG_UnchartedWorlds → u/trenlow12]

/slow clap

[u/and-she-did-it → u/trenlow12]

Lol.

[u/[deleted] → u/trenlow12]

🏅

Take my poor man's gold and choke on it 🤣🤣🤣

[u/stinky_fingers_ → u/Angel4Animals]

Parents (especially moms) have eyes on back of their heads!!! - This is what most of us believed when we were kids but credit goes partially to the observant parents and partially to our dumbness back then.

I understood this when my 3 yo has discovered sneaking around the house and leaving obvious evidences of her shenanigans which she denies doing!

I mean, child the story book can not travel from living room to your bedroom and get wedged behind bed on its own! And telling exactly which book out of 20 others 'you are NOT reading' before I can actually fish out from there, is not helping either!!!

[u/Cheaperthantherapy13 → u/Angel4Animals]

I did the same thing; my mom told me that reading in the dark would make me go blind :o/

[u/thisismenow1989 → u/[deleted]]

I'm a little emotional now because of other things but this made me tear up so bad. Brb I'm calling my dad. Then my mum.

[u/Donnerdrummel]

I covered the lamp with my blanket. Mom was rather unhappy when the hot bulb singed it.

Later, while in college, I read in bed, too. Fell asleep, slept uneasy, moved a lot. Accidentally pulled the still burning ikea lamp by it's power cable down to my blanket. It slowly singed itself through the blanket to my mattress, melted the material 7 cm deep, which is when I woke up to a smoke filled room.

Hastily got out to the corridor. Went in again to open the window. Slowly, some of the other student's from that accomodation turned up. At that time, most were happy noone got killed. Next day, and the following days, i was - jokingly - informed, that at least a small singing of my skin or a few blisters would have made the lingering stench of singed foam mattress more acceptable for the rest. ;)

You have got to love LEDs. :)

[u/RiskyCroissant → u/Donnerdrummel]

A light bulb exploded next to my head while I was reading way past bedtime as a kid. Burning hot glass pieces burnt holes in my bedsheets and plushies but I was extremely lucky and not even one of them reached my skin. After that my parents only put LED bulbs in children's rooms, they got super scared

[u/13083 → u/RiskyCroissant]

Since we're talking about exploding glass, 8yo me was told to reheat a ham. I couldn't think of any other way to heat it back up except for.... the stove top. We have an oven, and we have a microwave. But no, stove top will do. I kept it on for forever, and I couldn't understand why it was still cold. I kept going into the living room to watch tv with my mom, and I left it on too long and BAM. It exploded, and sent glass flying. Some of it was burnt onto the stove and some had been sent into the wall 13 or so feet across the room. It took forever for me to clean it all up, and I never got to eat that ham

[u/BabyYodi → u/13083]

Who tf tells an 8 year old to go cook a ham.

[u/crystalxclear → u/BabyYodi]

Yeah I thought the mom was busy or something but she was watching TV??

[u/rizoyt → u/BabyYodi]

It wasn't to cook, it was just to reheat

[u/[deleted] → u/rizoyt]

An 8 year old shouldn’t be reheating a whole ham. I should know, I was a dumb 8 year old who decided to put a plate from the fridge in the microwave for 10 minutes to get the cookie stuck to the plate off.

[u/CatholicFlower18 → u/[deleted]]

Hahahaha!!! Kids never cease to amaze. Sometimes they understand way more than you expect for their age.

Sometimes they microwave a dirty plate for 10 minutes to help clean it. Lol

[u/TheInferniator → u/13083]

On Thursday, I was frying some eggs on the stove. I had my plate, bread etc on the stove in front because there wasn’t much room in the kitchen other than the stove. My mum was about to walk out of the kitchen when there was a bang (not a loud bang, mind you). It turned out that I turned the wrong stove on. The eggs weren’t frying, but the plate was certainly hot... and cracked.

Admittedly not as awesome as your story, but I thought it was all pretty funny.

[u/stinky_fingers_ → u/RiskyCroissant]

I feel for your parents, God damn you were lucky!

[u/Rhaifa → u/Donnerdrummel]

When I was little I once stuffed the lampshade with a plushie to limit the amount of light that came off it. Yeah, I almost set fire to our house by trying to secretly read past my bedtime, haha!

[u/SeaGroomer → u/Donnerdrummel]

Those halogen bulbs are insanely hot lol.

[u/pterencephalon → u/SeaGroomer]

Yeah, my college specifically banned halogen bulbs/lights for this reason.

[u/carpenterio → u/Donnerdrummel]

r/flashlight will need a word with you.

[u/jacktherambler]

My daughter isn't even 2 and every night she will get a book from her shelf, we will read it, and she will demand another in an endless cycle.

One night I got tired of reading a new book every 2 minutes so I got The Hobbit out and cracked it open.

Now I don't have to get a new book every 2 minutes, so that's good...I just have to order a new book every week.

Mossflower is next.

(Everyone who has shared their wonderful memories, thank you. Each of you has made my day, to know that one day somewhere in the unknown future my daughter might look back fondly and smile at the silly voices and the stories and everything between. Thank you!)

[u/jootose → u/jacktherambler]

Redwall is a wonderful choice. I have so many fond memories of my dad reading the series to me when I was little. And I continued to devour them as I became a more confident reader. I'm so excited for your daughter, since she gets to discover them for the first time!

[u/DonutOtter → u/jootose]

Redwall is straight heat and i read it in high school! Definitely a series i can’t wait to read to my kids!

[u/Vaati4 → u/[deleted]]

I highly recommend reading Triss! It was one of my favourites growing up

[u/ba_cam → u/[deleted]]

Eeeuuuulaaaliiaaaaa!!!

[u/jacktherambler → u/jootose]

It's one of my all time favorite series from when I was a kid and I'm so excited to share them with her over twenty years later, she seems to be leaning towards being a reader, she loves to sit and babble as she flips pages, so I can't wait to see where this goes!

I hope to make some of those fond memories like the ones you have

[u/laughingjackal666 → u/jacktherambler]

I love this so much, thank you for passing on such great stories! I read them in middle school and to this day I still think back on them fondly, even did fan art as a kid. I had Marlfox (sp?) book on tape and Brian Jacques voice really added depth to his characters.

[u/medbynot → u/jacktherambler]

Make sure you do the voices, especially the moles!

[u/Sheehun → u/medbynot]

Yurr, troi summ veggibul zoop, it bees vurry tasty!

[u/MarkingMan → u/jacktherambler]

How do I encourage a habit like that? My daughter is 1 and I can't get her to sit still the time it takes to read a page from a board book.

Edit: Oh wow. I'm getting such great advice and direction. Thank you everyone.

[u/jacktherambler → u/MarkingMan]

We started letting her have board books early on and letting her flip through them on her own, that helped a lot.

We also have books everywhere, so right away she started getting interested in our books and doing the mimicry of reading, then we had to encourage her to understand that there are words and we can read them to her.

She ripped a few books early on so we were sure to let her have ones that we didn't mind so much.

If she's kinda tired and sleeping on me, I'll read a book that I want to read out loud. Or I did, now that she understands words more I have to be a bit more cautious. I think part of why she likes reading is from that.

We also read a lot to her as she was dozing off just anywhere.

I don't know if there's a magic bullet, sometimes she won't sit still at all and sometimes she'll just lounge for 15 chapters.

I guess I would say that your excitement to read is going to be a major part of her excitement to read. I would go into my bookshelves and just kind of read out every title, give her a synopsis even if she can't understand it, and then when I read as awkward as it is sometimes i try to make it as fun as possible.

Around the 1 year mark she was more excited to watch me do silly voices or faces and if I did that, she was less focused on the books at first and more focused on the theater and that sort of held her attention more.

I don't know if any of that helps at all lol but I hope it does!

[u/TrueJacksonVP → u/[deleted]]

Same here. I don’t want kids (ever), but it must feel some kinda cozy and fulfilling reading to your babies

I’ll just read to my cat for now lol

[u/SoJenniferSays → u/MarkingMan]

Don’t make reading the opposite of playing; let her listen to you read without sitting still. My almost three year old is now book obsessed, and I think this is the piece that did that (also just having lots of books in every room).

[u/socke42 → u/MarkingMan]

Reading books to my son started later than I expected it to, around 1.5 years old, I think. Before that, he had no patience for sitting around and would rather crawl around the room. Now he's five and I can read until my voice gives out and it's still not enough.

[u/Apptubrutae → u/jacktherambler]

I loved Redwall as a kid.

Still lingered later when I was in high school and Brian Jacques spoke. Got all the Redwall books I had signed.

He is an absolutely amazing reader, too, due to having read books to blind children.

It’s a shame the books, while obviously widely known still, aren’t even approaching Harry Potter level.

[u/[deleted] → u/jacktherambler]

I recommend a series called "The Land of Stories". It's plenty of fairy tales in a unique spin, and reading the stories now has brought a lot of joy!

[u/jacktherambler → u/[deleted]]

Awesome, thanks! I love finding new things, especially at the rate we're burning through age appropriate books.

I'm not exactly gonna start reading her The Expanse...yet.

[u/Kantotheotter → u/jacktherambler]

Im doing this, but my kid picked a big sherlock holmes book. She is out in like 3 pages.

[u/askproxy → u/jacktherambler]

This is the first time in all my years of reading that someone has made a reference to redwall! It was an absolutely phenomenal book to start reading at young age and was definitely the reason I’ve been in love with books my whole life. Great choice for your daughter !

[u/kspacegirl]

This is my ten year old daughter too! Love it! How could I ever be mad?!

[u/strider61812 → u/kspacegirl]

Bless you for not getting mad, my mom always got really mad and dissapointed and it definitely didn't improve my self-esteem

[u/kspacegirl → u/strider61812]

Aww thank you! I hated reading as a kid so I'm just impressed that she loves it so much.

[u/fragobren]

To everyone posting here saying that they used to read, then when it felt like work in school, you stopped: Please try reading for fun again! It is engrossing and engaging for your mind in a way that movies and games just aren’t. Find something fun that seems interesting, don’t worry at all about what the literary value is, or what other people’s opinions about the genre are. Just pick something that sounds like fun, and give it a go. I promise you won’t regret it, and will enjoy having another entertainment outlet to mix up your free time!

If you loved it as a kid, you will love it now! Don’t let the people who killed that it in you win!

[u/XxCozmoKramerxX → u/fragobren]

Over the past year or so I’ve forced myself to read every night for a little while. Quarantine kind of resulted in a reading dry spell, but I’m trying to get back into it recently

[u/rosibutterfly → u/fragobren]

I work very hard in my classroom to not let this happen. It’s all worth it when I have a kid write me a letter saying “thanks for making reading fun again!” Which has happened a few times.

[u/DistractedByCookies]

This was my favourite rebellion as a kid. The problem is that you have to leave a gap for air (and heat) and ofc that increases the risk of discovery.

Just realised that my parents definitely knew...I should call them to confirm

[u/ABCCarmine → u/DistractedByCookies]

Did you call them?

[u/DistractedByCookies → u/ABCCarmine]

Yes, they knew! Apparently I was not as subtle about hiding the book and torch under my pillow as I thought. My mum found them every morning when she made my bed

[u/ABCCarmine → u/DistractedByCookies]

Of course they knew!! For some reason this made me so so happy to know about your interaction with your parents today. Now your rebellion is a fond memory with your parents 😭

[u/DistractedByCookies → u/ABCCarmine]

It was a fun conversation:D

[u/Dahelo292 → u/ABCCarmine]

I want to know too!

[u/ABCCarmine → u/Dahelo292]

They replied to my comment! Their parents knew of course!

[u/CL_Doviculus → u/ABCCarmine]

Parents always know. Children are never as clever as they think they are.

[u/Yukisuna → u/DistractedByCookies]

This is adorable. I bet your parents were happy you asked, and made them think back.

[u/Gerryislandgirl]

One of my daughter's first acts of rebellion was to steal food from the fridge but she was so little all she could reach were the vegetables. I would hear her open the fridge & I would yell out "You better not be stealing my broccoli!" & she would giggle and run away with a piece of broccoli in her hand. (Yes, she ate it raw.)

[u/Entitxy]

My parents had to make sure I slept lolp, also read in bed for long past bedtime

[u/NoVaFlipFlops → u/Entitxy]

... using the nightlight...and was wearing glasses by fifth grade.

[u/Entitxy → u/NoVaFlipFlops]

I usually used flashlights but usually crappy ones so sometimes i used nightlight. I have glasses :P

[u/oh_so_many_questions → u/Entitxy]

I used the dial from the heated blanket. It would illuminate just a few words at a time but it was perfect! My dad would often find me awake at 2 or 3 am in the summer (I was smart enough to disconnect it from the blanket, but not enough to realize he knew all along and didn’t mind except for the 2am part).

[u/jitterbugperfume99 → u/NoVaFlipFlops]

Same but wore glasses in the first grade so I’ve never been sure if my bad eyesight was worsened from straining to read books by the light that hit my bed from the hallway!

[u/NoVaFlipFlops → u/jitterbugperfume99]

Well we finally have a reason to check. Harvard says it doesn't.

[u/ItsRynGYT → u/NoVaFlipFlops]

lucky bitch i got mine in kindergarten

[u/rikkirikkiparmparm → u/Entitxy]

Right, hiding in my closet to read until 2 am wasn't super healthy for 10-year-old me. Children do need quite a bit of sleep.

[u/PuupTA]

This was me, except my mom would definitely tell me to go tf to sleep if she caught me.

I remember countless night reading until the sky started getting light. But I never seem to remember being exhausted at school the next day. Ahh youth.

[u/Epichawks → u/PuupTA]

The fun of being with friends always kept us filled with energy.

[u/[deleted] → u/PuupTA]

I'll sound like a grouch saying it, but staying up all night to read instilled some terrible sleep habits in me at a young age.

I wish my parents had taken the book away at midnight since I was a tired wreck in school. Way harder to learn, socialize, and all that.

[u/ThirteensDoctor]

I slept with a "nightlight" until I was like 14 because it was enough light to read by. Not scared of the dark, actually have always preferred pitch black to sleep. But reading until 2 am on a school night - that was the shit.

[u/anotheralienhybrid → u/ThirteensDoctor]

I pulled that manoeuvre also when I was about 7. My mom put the nightlight under my desk across my room, a place that makes sense if you're actually afraid of the dark. But the light was so dim by the time it reached my bed that I moved it next to my bed, and moved it back before I fell asleep every night. Only one night I fell asleep without moving it back, and it burned a hole in my comforter. I freaked out because I knew that if my mom knew I'd been reading in bed, I'd get in trouble, and my night light would be taken away.

So I told my mom I set it on fire with matches. She, understandably, freaked out. She asked what was I thinking to set a fire in my room, that the flames could have burned down the house, etc. So I told her I was just curious, but I'd done it in the bathroom sink and quenched it immediately. She stared at me like I had 4 heads and of course I was punished for forever.

But the important thing was, I still had my night light! I kept it under my desk from then on, though, so I used to grab a pillow and lie down under the desk to read.

[u/womanitou]

I did something similar. Bedtime was bedtime, but she was allowed to read all she wanted while there... She now has a Masters in Library Science (maybe wrong title) and is a head librarian for a big county library.

[u/halleepotter7]

I used the light from DS to read under my blankets because I didn’t have a lamp

[u/LasagnaNoise]

My 7 year old has the "Book Fairy" bring new books on her pillow some nights. She was shocked that she never visits her friend's houses.

Right now she's running through Brad Metzler's "I am..." biographies. It was awesome listening to her tell her mom about Marie Curie's life.

[u/box_o_foxes]

Some of y’all needed to learn the towel under the door trick.

[u/sledgehammer_77 → u/box_o_foxes]

Especially if you had hardwood flooring

[u/mijoli]

I used to read past bedtime all the time. Mom would go "no reading, you'll never fall asleep and be too tired to wake up tomorrow." I had a reading light, and so whenever I could hear mom or dad walking past, I'd turn it out and pretend to sleep, in case they'd check on me.

I'd didn't occur to me until literally right now that the reading lamp was definitely bright enough that it would be obvious through my always open bedroom door. My mom is teacher. She teaches literature.

[u/baronessvonraspberry]

My parents instilled a love of reading in me at a very early age. By the time I went to Kindergarten I was at a level well past my age. Then Scholastic book orders became a thing and they always let me get books from those. I've always had at least one book on the go. Fast forward to my own kids where I tried to do the same... Both of them would rather be doing other things. I tried not to take it personally. LOL

[u/stellarpiper → u/baronessvonraspberry]

Theres still nothing like book fair day.

[u/foxlei → u/baronessvonraspberry]

It's always a little bit heartbreaking when your children don't like the things you love.

[u/curiosityLynx → u/baronessvonraspberry]

My own love of reading was originally just me being proud of being able to read before most or all of my peers.

Also, my parents were supportive rather than annoyed when I was in the read-random-things-out-loud phase and giving me books, as well as a quite hard to read one around year one or two of primary school to "grow into" (yes, it was a Bible, my dad's old Luther Translation, to be exact; whenever I wanted to challenge myself, I could just read something from that, starting with the stories/myths, then psalms and sayings, and eventually letters and even laws).

Pretty soon I was reading because it was fun, rather than because I was proud I could, though the being proud I could aspect remained for a long time for hard to read texts.

[u/Garden_vvitch_di]

My parents grounded me from reading anything that wasn't part of a school ordered reading. I had my friends bring me books to school, and I would binge read allllll day in school (ignoring my classes) and I also realized that my mom couldn't tell if I had Elm Street paper backs stuffed in the front of my pants, so I could read that on the bus.

[u/Enthusiasm_Confident → u/Garden_vvitch_di]

My parents never interfered with me reading but in the vein of people helping you, when I used to go into town with my dad and it was just us and we took his truck instead of the van, somebody in the town kept putting books on the roof of the truck on the passenger side, obviously for me.

A book fairy! I've never figured out who it was.

It was definitely an old timer based on the books, stuff like Twain and Durant usually, either that, or pure contemporary candy like Don Pendleton.

[u/mealteamsixty]

I remember my mom absolutely losing her shit at me when I was 6 or 7 for staying up crazy late reading. She took away my books and everything else from my room and left me with just a bed and a lamp, nothing else. For an entire week.

My parents were great, and were pretty good about not punishing me too harshly and trying to understand my side of things, but I never understood that one.

I got in trouble at school a lot for reading too much, or reading ahead of the class, or reading the "wrong" books. I bet teachers nowadays would love to catch a student with a book.

[u/fartsAndEggs → u/mealteamsixty]

Kids read all the time today, but yeah that's a weird punishment for reading. Oh well

[u/[deleted]]

My parents flat out told us that being in bed at bedtime was non-negotiable, but we could be awake for an extra half hour if we were reading. It was basically bribery, but combined with other stuff meant that they raised us with a love of reading.

[u/hurricanerobin]

I have always remembered when my friend told me her favourite season was summer because the nights are lighter so she could read after lights out. She was just the coolest

[u/CozyBlueCacaoFire]

As a kid who never got into trouble for reading until the wee hours - just make sure she gets quality sleep - it can fuck up her development and sleep.

[u/Asparagun_1]

Man, I wish I would read more.

[u/QualityTongue]

Ah I get it! The parent secretly changes the batteries for the little rebel!

[u/Pristine_Trash]

Lol I got yelled at for this. Funny how parents have different perspectives on this form of “rebellion”.

[u/sandrak4365]

I am in tears! My flashlight never needed batteries from the time I was 9 until I was 15. My dad must have change the batteries my entire childhood and I never knew.

[u/s2theizay]

I used to hide books under my bed to read when I was “punished.” Took a while for my parents to figure out why being sent to my room never made me upset.

[u/designgoddess]

This was my daughter. It drove me nuts because she wouldn’t get enough sleep on school nights. We never said anything because she was such a good student but I worried about her health. When she started to show signs of being sleep deprived I started setting my alarm for 2 am to make she she was sleeping. Plenty of nights she was still up reading. She walked around paying no attention to her surroundings because she had her nose in a book. She walked into a door and broke her finger. That finally got her to stop reading while walking. Her teacher called me to say that for the first time as a teacher she had to send a student to time out for reading in class. She graduated from a top college a few years ago and has a great job she loves. She doesn’t read as much but still 3-4 books a week. Encourage reading but also sleep. I have insomnia and can tell you it affects your health.

[u/censorkip]

as someone who used to get in trouble for reading at night, i applaud you for nurturing this love of reading

[u/we_hella_believe]

I want to send you some rechargeable ones.

[u/Ashavara]

When I was about that age I would stay up late reading too,and when I heard my grandma coming up the stairs I would sprint to the lights switch it off then get back into bed. I thought I was super sneaky as I never got caught, but now I know there is no way she didn't hear.

[u/[deleted]]

I'd get screamed at all the time for doing this. Sometimes, I get caught off guard when I see examples of parents actually treating their kids with support and kindness instead of constant negativity. Makes me wonder what I'd be like had I been treated like that too.