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DeborahJeanne1 t1_j0viyny wrote

Reply to comment by anfotero in Has your reading habit helped your career? by theelegantprof

Here’s how it was for me….I’m the oldest of 4. My parents did not have a bookcase full of books (I have 4). My father spent his evenings watching TV, although he did read the newspaper from one end to the other. My mother was a typical 1950s homemaker - always cleaning, cooking, canning, baking, etc - I never saw her read BUT she read to me and my brother (2yrs younger) every night.

I used the library as a very young person, and remember signing out 5-6 books at a time. I’ve loved reading my whole life. My brother is not a reader even though we were identically exposed. Interestingly, the first (me) and third are avid readers - the second and fourth are not. And the second and fourth did not do well in school, but first and third did. My brother- the one 10 years younger- can quote the Bible and cite chapters and verses. He didn’t go to college but he’s extremely knowledgeable about so many different things.

My sister (#4) is clueless about everything. I’ve always attributed my love for reading to my mother reading to us nightly, but that doesn’t explain why 2 of 4 children raised identically in the same house with the same parents love to read and the other 2 don’t!

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anfotero t1_j0vpfcd wrote

Because the process is not deterministic! It's the same for me and my sister: I'm an avid reader since I can remember, she rarely pick ups a book or a comic. Still we both were good at school and she graduated university with full marks, I got a PhD and taught for a while.

Many factors contribute to steer and nudge the developing minds of children in discovering what they like, but your mileage may vary because we're all different and our context can vary even in the same family. The same stimulus may elicit different responses. It's a reasonably well studied field and the correlation between parental reading habits+attitude and children's love for reading is there. I think I have a few papers on this saved somewhere, will edit if I find them.

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DeborahJeanne1 t1_j0wuf3j wrote

And I’m sure there’s a little bit of genetics at work somewhere. It’s just so interesting to see four kids raised in the same fashion, all being read to every night - and I really looked forward to it - and to grow so differently. Reading is such a big part of my life. I daydream about a screen tent in my backyard with a hammock, a little table, and a camp light - so I can read outside at night without getting eaten by bugs! To go out there early in the morning with a big carafe of fresh coffee, a good book, a gorgeous sunny but slightly cool day, and nowhere to go and not a thing to do but read all day. 📖📚🍹☀️

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