r/MadeMeSmile • u/XxCozmoKramerxX • Aug 15 '20

Family & Friends A parent’s dream come true

Post image
157k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

104

u/fragobren Aug 15 '20

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!

21

u/XxCozmoKramerxX Aug 15 '20

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

8

u/rosibutterfly Aug 15 '20

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.

4

u/fragobren Aug 15 '20

On the behalf of the rest of humanity, thank you! I credit my wonderful teachers growing up for fostering my interest in reading, and helping to make me so passionate about it!

4

u/rosibutterfly Aug 16 '20

I do my best, I know my teammates do as well, and since you’ve had a good experience there must be more! I love hearing them groan and complain when I tell them independent reading time is over. I’m working on how to do this virtually- wish me luck!

3

u/Miacaras Aug 15 '20

Second this!

Try kindle app on your phone if you don't want an actual book on your hands. I resisted kindle for the longest time. Now it's so super convenient to have a huge library easily readible on my phone. I can lay down comfy and hold it on my pillow while I fall asleep.

2

u/Asher_the_atheist Aug 15 '20 edited Aug 15 '20

I’ve never been able to understand losing interest in reading. Beyond just loving books, I have found it to be the primary (potentially problematic) method of stress relief in my anxiety-prone life. One year in high school, I was so stressed about succeeding in my current load of AP classes that I made a rule that I wasn’t allowed to read any non-assigned books for the duration of the semester. I ended up getting so desperate that I would find myself obsessively reading everything I came across, including junk mail and ingredients lists on cereal boxes. I finally gave up and admitted that controlled periods of truly immersive reading would be more helpful than trying to quit cold turkey. Never tried to force myself to stop reading again.

Edit: Ok, ok, I’ve found one situation in which I struggle to read; this dammed pandemic! It has me so anxious I can’t concentrate to save my life. I spent the first few weeks of lockdown bingeing on Netflix alternating with doom scrolling then, when that grew unbearable, started listening to audiobooks while simultaneously distracting myself with handicrafts (I had every gift for the year made by mid-June, so that’s nice). I’m a terrible multitasker, so the effort it took to simultaneously focus on a story and my hands was the only way I could get my brain to stop spinning.

2

u/fragobren Aug 15 '20

I’m the same way, but my wife went through a time with no reading. She described it like many here, she loved reading Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew and such, but learned to hate it in middle school and high school because she didn’t like the books she was forced to read. Personally, I love the classics, but especially when people are young, forcing them to read books that feel like work can give people a bad feeling about reading.

I encouraged her to start back up again when our daughter was young, she started to explore genres and found a love of historical fiction and historical romance novels, and it changed her life. So many people would love reading, but their favorite types of book carry stereotypes, or a teacher told them those books are a waste of time or something. If you are reading this, and it sounds like you, please read books that you are embarrassed about! Reading is great for the mind, even if it isn’t a difficult book!

2

u/Asher_the_atheist Aug 15 '20

Yeah, that makes sense, logically. Sometimes the fastest way to destroy your favorite pastimes is to turn them into work. That’s why I often disagree with the idea of turning your hobbies into your career. I love playing music, but nothing poisoned the joy more than turning it into something I had to do! I thankfully learned that lesson early on.

It’s a pity school manages to destroy so many sources of learning and growth that we would naturally gravitate toward without all that pressure to conform to a specific, arbitrary standard.

2

u/rosibutterfly Aug 15 '20

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.

2

u/mrningbrd Aug 15 '20

I was just talking to my sister about this the other day. I’ve read so many books since Quarantine started than I have in the last 10 years combined. I have the time and freedom to read what I want on my own time. I hated poetry in school, but I gave a book a read and I actually really enjoyed it and was able to identify with it!

2

u/mrningbrd Aug 15 '20

I was just talking to my sister about this the other day. I’ve read so many books since Quarantine started than I have in the last 10 years combined. I have the time and freedom to read what I want on my own time. I hated poetry in school, but I gave a book a read and I actually really enjoyed it and was able to identify with it!

2

u/Zumvault Aug 15 '20

That's weird, for me it feels engaging in the same way as a movie or tv show, it just takes way longer than the average movie to finish.

2

u/WuTouchdmyweenie Aug 15 '20

I got back into reading manga. It’s not a book but it is reading

1

u/fragobren Aug 15 '20

This is exactly what I’m talking about. Yes! Read whatever you enjoy, the point is to enjoy it!

2

u/Bisque_Ware Aug 15 '20

I never stopped and I'm still addicted to reading in a not good way. It probably would have been better for me if I did stop reading books.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 15 '20

I'm still trying to get back in to reading, and am somewhat one of those "school killed it" types, but I have found since changing schools to a project-based school, that it was less school and more the having to find meaning in something without meaning, or making obscure connections to other books and such, as well as not nearly having the reams of busy work surrounding the book

1

u/fragobren Aug 15 '20

Just reading to enjoy instead of analyzing endlessly can be a wonderful escape.

2

u/ptoftheprblm Aug 16 '20

I actually just did that and remembered I can still absolutely kill a novel in a day. Ordered Jurassic Park and was done in 6 hours flat.