He Reads!

I have on various occasions written of JP’s taste for both videogame playing and the use of e-readers, and described my at best ambivalent feelings about said pursuits.

Now, from the Demise of the Childhood Mind chronicles comes a story with a (relatively and likely temporary) happy ending: JP has become so engrossed with learning to read (on paper) that he has utterly forgotten about videogames and the Nook!

It’s kind of amazing, really: my child has forsaken Angry Birds in order to spend time reading the Biscuit book series. I didn’t expect this. I tended to think that the road into the world of electronic temptations ran but one way–down, my friends, down. Apparently not.

So, now, of an afternoon, instead of JP bitching that I don’t let him play his Nintendo DS enough, he’s bitching that I’m not reading enough books with him (and not playing enough chess, another obsession of late). This is good! My child still bitches–incessantly–but about things I believe are benevolent! Who knows how long it will last, but for the time being, I am pleased.

I will abstain for complaining for at least the next 24 hours.

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About Theodore

Theodore Ross is an editor of Harper’s Magazine. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, Saveur, Tin House, the Mississippi Review, and (of course), the Vietnam News. He grew up in New York City by way of Gulfport, MS, and as a teen played the evil Nazi, Toht, in Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. He lives with his son, J.P. in Brooklyn, and is currently working on a book about Crypto-Jews.

3 thoughts on “He Reads!

  1. I should have told you this would happen. It always does, sooner or later. Videogames don’t detract from reading skills: they add to them.

  2. Theodore,

    I know what you mean. My oldest daughter (she’s 6) is such a fan of the nook: she reads, she plays chess and even finishes an episode of angry birds every now and then. But, she actually uses it for what it essentially is, an e-reader. Weird, huh?

    -Mitchell

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