Too busy to read to children? You're missing out on one of life's greatest joys

The Age

2 days ago

Have you heard the voice I do for the mouse in The Gruffalo children's book? I've based it on that of Kenneth Horne from Round the Horne, who I realise is not so well known these days. But the voice is just perfect for the character of that brave little mouse.
Oh my God, I love reading aloud. My dreams of being an actor may have ended in tears at age 16, but with a children's book in hand, I have a renewed chance to perform. The criticism my acting always received in school productions – 'far too big, can't you tone it down a little?' – appears no impediment to applause from this particular audience.
Who doesn't like reading books to kids? Lots of people, according to a new survey which also found 30 per cent of NSW parents and 22 per cent of Victorian parents say they're too busy to read daily to their children.
It fits with a recent UK study finding that reading aloud to children is at an all-time low. Fewer than half of 0-to-4-year-olds are read to frequently, and fewer than half of parents of children under 13 said reading aloud to children was 'fun for me'.
'Fun for me' is precisely the phrase I'd use, whether it's the memories of reading to my own children decades ago or reading to those children's children. Often the same books, the pages all torn and tatty.
What's so good about reading aloud? The child, for once, is sitting still. Not tearing up and down the hallway on a tricycle, not painting bunny rabbits on the wall with Texta, not using the drawer handles as a ladder to clamber onto the stove-top, searching for the ignition.
Instead, they are sitting calmly, head leaning on your shoulder, entranced. What's not to love?
Repetition, to be fair, can be an issue. Jemima and Big Ted's mission to the moon has an engaging plot based on the International Space Station running out of honey, which apparently is a real problem. It's a favourite with the current lot and, if you'll forgive a moment of vanity, I think my Big Ted voice is quite compelling. On the other hand, is it worth reading 4371 times, when I've only read Anna Karenina twice?
The Big Ted story is new to our collection, but other books are like a time machine. You sit there with a child on your knee, reading Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, or CJ Dennis' A Book for Kids, or Margaret Wild's Toby – same copy, same knee, same time-tested accents. It may be life's only way to make 30 years disappear.