Everybody says that it’s a good idea to read to a baby, but I’m finding it hard to figure out what to read. I looked at books for infants at the bookstore and felt that even just browsing was making me stupid. Neither can I read the book I’m on right now to Klara. It’s by a young Peruvian writer, and every other word is a profanity in Spanish. And I don’t think that now is a good time for either profanity or Spanish.
The best idea I could come up with is to read my newspaper out loud to the baby. It worked out well because I barely have time to read my paper any more, and Klara seemed to like it. She stared at me very attentively the whole time, trying to figure out what I was doing.
The only problem with this strategy is that every other word in the newspaper is “Trump” but that’s unavoidable these days. This will be a very politicized child because the whole pregnancy took place to the sounds of endless televised debates, and now she gets to listen to the newspaper.
Clarissa's Blog 
When I had Eldest, I was working on my dissertation, so the things I read him when he was a baby were all articles for my research. He got an earful about Shakespeare. I mean, AN EARFUL. He didn’t really care what I was reading. Just holding him, or sitting him in the bouncy seat, doing tummy time, or whatever, and talking to him was pretty great to him. It was later on that I started reading toddler-style books to him. He liked them, too.
Reading the news is a great idea. It’s a multi-tasking win! You get your news; she gets her reading!
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My father would read drafts of the book he was working on and the quotations he was using from the author it was on. I found this entertaining and engaging because he was interested, so sounded energized. Apparently it helped him write, too, just saying things out loud to a presence.
This meant not having to read super-inane baby books.
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Reading your newspaper to the baby sounds a great idea, you both benefit. Baby books can certainly be inane and full of repetition, tiny children are said to like it. The thing to do with those may be to read them to her a couple of times, then give them to her. She will get involved in physical way and learn that books are for her, even if she can only chew them right now!
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During the Cold War, the first pages in the Swedish phone books were devoted to instructions for the citizens in case of war. And in a frame these words: “Every message saying the resistance shall cease is false.”
Do you have any list or links to lists over antisemitic and Nazi sites, blogs, and so on? It seems to me that they are increasing in numbers and getting more and more outspoken. The worst I’ve seen yet is “The Ugly Truth”
[ https://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/top-20-modern-doublespeak-terms-to-be-aware-of/ ]
About: “Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories Crop Up In Wake Of Paris Attacks”
http://blog.adl.org/tags/the-ugly-truth
“The rising tide of anti-Semitism now convulsing Europe is forcing political leaders to address the matter of Jews in society and their place in countries that for generations have provided a safe haven for the Jewish diaspora.”
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/01/27/anti-semitism-staining-europe-as-political-leaders-forced-to-face-some-ugly-truths/
Hitler is resurrected from his grave and walking on Earth like a zombie, leaning on jihadists and the left which is in a “neo-Ribbentropp-Molotov pact” with the antisemites.
“Inside the Twisted Anti-Semitic Mind of Oberlin Professor Joy Karega”
http://forward.com/opinion/335007/inside-the-twisted-anti-semitic-mind-of-oberlin-professor-joy-karega/
“Oberlin College professor’s anti-Semitic Facebook posts are protected by the First Amendment, but vile: Abraham H. Miller (Opinion)”
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/03/oberlin_college_professors_ant_1.html
“The Real Scandal at Oberlin Is Much Bigger Than One Professor’s Anti-Semitism
What does it say about Oberlin’s hiring processes that it picked a bigot–who claims Israel did 9/11 and created ISIS–to teach social justice writing courses to undergraduates?”
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/198260/the-real-scandal-at-oberlin-is-much-bigger-than-one-professors-anti-semitism
“Oberlin Professor’s anti-Semitic Posts Are ‘Personal Views,’ Says College
Ohio college will not punish professor Joy Karega for Facebook posts disparaging Rothschild family, claiming Israel downed Malaysian plane over Ukraine.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.705812”
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.705812
“Professor says Jews are behind 9/11 attacks and she’s keeping her job”
http://nypost.com/2016/03/02/oberlin-college-president-stands-by-anti-semitic-professor/
“Professor slammed for ‘anti-Semitic and abhorrent’ posts on social media”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/03/06/professor-slammed-for-anti-semitic-and-abhorrent-posts-on-social-media/
“Oberlin Leaders Denounce Professor’s Remarks as ‘Anti-Semitic’”
A rather slow reaction…
And still at it –
https://www.facebook.com/jakare01
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You said that now is not the time for Spanish. Do you and N. have plans to raise her as a bi- or trilingual?
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I was told that I didn’t speak until well past my 2nd birthday, not even babbling or using single words, but that I did begin speaking in complete sentences when I broke my silence.
Your child won’t have the ability to process oral information for at least a year or so. You might as well read to her from a Spanish translation of the Bible or Nova Express by William Burroughs. As for profanities, she’ll learn them from her classmates soon enough when she begins her schooling. :-). I would suggest the symphonies of Beethoven for your mutual listening pleasure as well.
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If only we had a sizable population of Hispanics here to introduce her to Spanish profanities. But no such luck. We are demographically challenged in that way.
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Apparently I spoke at eight months because I was in fear of my life.
“Mum, why is that aeroplane flying so low?”
Because of this, I tend to regard “expert” opinions about when children “should” be doing things as absolute bollocks. 🙂
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“Your child won’t have the ability to process oral information for at least a year or so.”
That isn’t an accurate way of putting it. There’s a lot of interesting research on how babies are processing language before they can speak in meaningful words. In terms of starting to comprehend or at least recognize some words often before their first birthday (though yeah, probably not when they’re as young as Klara), picking up on prosody, and starting to prefer and respond specifically to phonemic distinctions in their native language.
Anyway, reading from newspapers is a great solution for what to read to her. When she’s an older baby, reading from baby/toddler books will probably be more interesting to you, Clarissa, simply because she’ll be interacting with the books more (and with you more, through them). Especially when she starts pointing at things, clapping, laughing in response to things you do, etc.
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By processing, I was referring specifically to the infant understanding what is read to them. I apologize if that was somewhat unclear in the context of this discussion.
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I know she doesn’t understand the words. But I do and feel bad if I introduce something inappropriate.
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Use the comic pages of
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your local great metropolitan newspaper.
How about Grimms’ fairytales? They only have abandonment, cannibalism, wicked stepmothers and the like.
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Or the most horrible thing of all: Andersen’s fairy tales. I still have nightmares about the little Mermaid and the girl with the matches.
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There’s always Hilaire Belloc’s “Cautionary Tales for Children” …
🙂
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It’s good to know there’s a perversion I’ve not been exposed to.
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I had quite a bit of Rudyard Kipling read to me when I was little, in addition to some of the books written by some of the extended family …
When I say “some of the books”, I mean the books that weren’t full of such things as convenient accidents involving gruesome death in the Cotswolds, for instance.
I suppose it could have been worse … I could have been born in Teesside and grown up with having Andy Capp read to me. 🙂
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Kipling was hugely popular with Soviet kids, too.
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It’s not WHAT you read, it’s THAT you read. Teach your child by example that books are interesting and reading is normal. Then, in a few years, your biggest problems will be finding all of the books she got from the library, paying the overdue fines and fighting over lights-out and GIVE ME THAT BOOK!
sigh
Good times!
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It might not matter as much what to read when she is that young, but as she gets a bit older, she might enjoy poetry or kids rhymes. She might also enjoy hearing you sing to her. Anything rhythmical was a hit with my child.
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Nobody on this planet can enjoy my singing because it’s so horrible.
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