No need for apps, it's a book
IN TODAY’S world, we often have to fight against technology to preserve some of the traditions that are not only important for family time, but for education too.
It can sometimes seem like we’re swimming against a flow of electronic devices in the battle to keep reading an important daily activity.
As we celebrate World Book Day today – and when a book comes along that manages to capture the essence of this struggle and encapsulate the feelings that I think this generation of parents often feels – then I think that’s something really special.
From the first time I read this book I loved everything about it. The way in which the author Lane Smith has managed to sum up the dilemmas often facing moms and dads of today, the funny way in which that has been achieved, the way my daughter laughs at the story and somehow even at the tender age of four seems to grasp the meaning of it.
But what I love most is the way I hear her reading it to herself and know the message and gentle warning is sinking into my precious child. That books are fun, that books are special, that reading is important.
This new generation of children are incredible. Even from a young age they know how to scroll on a cellphone, they can navigate through a gallery of pictures by deftly flicking, and they can even drive a car in a videogame.
Yes, technology is great, and we can’t keep them completely isolated from it because it is so intrinsically embedded into so many areas of our lives that we need to teach our children how to use it if they are to succeed – and yet we must also do our best to not allow it to completely remove the past, those things that don’t need technology to drive them … great things such as books and reading.
It’s a Book is a statement of the times that we live in and it’s so simply and clearly portrayed that even a young child will understand it. It makes me think that it would make the perfect item to include in a time capsule should I choose to bury one in my back garden – a reminder that our world is so hooked on social media and updating our status, so plugged in that we need WiFi wherever we go, so addicted we get nervous when we can’t charge our devices, so connected 24/7. It’s a reminder we need to unplug, to recharge our commitment to read with our children. No distractions, no excuses. Just to read.
It’s a Book. We should all be worried about the day when we don’t know what that is anymore. So, teach it to your children, share a book together and start with this one, so you remember why you’re doing it. It’s a Book. It’s a Book. It doesn’t text, blog, scroll, need WiFi, tweet, or need a password. It’s a Book. And what a wonderful thing that is.