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Martha in VA
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| Posted: July 22 2009 at 9:22am | IP Logged
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Our teen dd has no interest in family read aloud time. Since she has most likely already read the book we're in, she sees no value in hearing it again and almost seems to find it offensive to be read to. This grieves me so much because I SO want to have sweet family time when we're all snuggled up and listening together. Has anyone else experienced this with their teen? What do I do? Just let it go? Is it normal??
Thanks.
Martha in VA
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: July 22 2009 at 9:46am | IP Logged
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I feel your pain! This has happened with our family, too, and it has made me very sad. I would guess it's a developmental stage, a need for a bit more *alone time*, a sense that keeping up with being read to is kind of babyish. Of course I think that is a misinterpretation of family reading time, but teens don't always think the same way as moms. 
Peace,
Nancy
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: July 22 2009 at 10:06am | IP Logged
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My dd13 usually sits at the table doing her own thing, maybe Sudoku, or reading the paper, but is still listening and commenting while we read. I don't push her, but always invite her to listen. Sometimes, I can get her to read because she likes to pick on my inability to do accents in books like Narnia.  Would your daughter read aloud to you all? Or does she like to do a handicraft that she can do while you are reading?
I think a key is to pick really good books that she wants to hear again. We read Just David recently, which she has read several times, but she stuck around for it because she so enjoys the story, same with Narnia. Maybe by letting her do her own thing when you read other books will entice her to stay for the "good" ones.
I would emphasize the goal of being together rather than just that you want to read to her. Does that make sense?
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Erin
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| Posted: July 22 2009 at 9:17pm | IP Logged
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My dd15 long ago stopped listening to our read- alouds  because she can read far faster than I can aloud, and because she had already read the books anyway.
Even now I'm finding with the age spread that many times not everyone is listening in together anymore but I LOVED the sweet times when they all did.
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Mary G
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| Posted: July 23 2009 at 12:27pm | IP Logged
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But ... I think this is ok. Of course she doesn't want to sit thru it again ... but what if you asked HER to do the reading, so you could sit and knit or color or build legos with the younger kids?
Or ask her to pick the next read-aloud.
Our older ones would balk at hearing it and then pretty soon they'd be in there trying hard NOT to listen!
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Faithr
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| Posted: July 24 2009 at 9:15am | IP Logged
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For my oldest two I had a separate read aloud for them once they got too old for a family read aloud. Once a year I'd try to read a good book out loud to them. This goal was only partially met. I read The Count of Monte Cristo one year; Silas Marner another year, but only got halfway through Sophie's World the third year, and this past year (when my oldest was in 12th) I gave it up altogether. It wasn't that they didn't still enjoy being read to (as long as it was age appropriate and something they hadn't heard before) but our schedules got really wacky once my oldest started driving, attending the community college and working at a job.
My now rising 14 yo doesn't want me to read aloud to him which bums me out to no end!!!! He is a really fast reader and gets impatient with read alouds. However, I am crafty and design my own lit/history for high school which I study right alongside them (as much as possible)so that we frequently meet and talk about books and read excerpts aloud to each other from what we are reading. So that's a way of getting around it.
But it is tricky working out family read alouds with teens in the house!
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ekbell
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| Posted: July 28 2009 at 6:52pm | IP Logged
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I was one of those teens who found read alouds annoying as I could read faster.
Another reason that I wasn't fully aware of then but have since realized is that I don't retain information as well when I hear it. I was bored partly because I was having difficultly following the plot of the more advanced readalouds.
Being the one reading the books to my younger siblings was fine, having tantalizing snippets read aloud worked, reading over my parent's (now my husband's) shoulder, these work for me. Trying to follow an entire book's plot over several sessions just isn't something I can do.
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Topic: Teens and read alouds?
