Children, Reading, & Screen Time: A Modest Proposal

(With apologies to Dr. Seuss and other tortured rhymers)

The most important thing we’ve learned, so far as children are concerned, is rarely let your children near a TV set, a computer, a smartphone, or any tablet.

At the very least, just don’t install them in their bedrooms at all, at all!

In almost every house we’ve seen, we’ve found children gaping at a screen.

They loll around, lounge about, and stare until their eyes pop out.

They sit and stare.... and stare and sit until they’re hypnotized by it,

until they’re almost drunk with all that simply mindless junk!

Oh yes, I know, it keeps kids still, they don’t climb out the window sill.

They never fight, or kick, or punch, they leave you free to cook the lunch, and wash the dishes in the sink.

But did you ever stop to think, to wonder just exactly what this does?

It clogs and clutters up their minds! It leaves many children sleep-deprived.

Their brains become as soft as cheese! They no longer think -- they only see!

“All right,” you’ll say, but if we take TV away, what shall we do to keep them entertained?

Please do explain?”

We’ll answer this by asking you, What did kids in the past once do?

How did they keep themselves contented before all this was invented?

The answer from so long ago, that many today may not know, is..

They...used ...to ...read!

They’d read and read, and then proceed to read some more.

Original author unknown, retold by Tim Seldin