Reading Less … In Different Seasons of Life

Is someone at Redeemed Reader telling you to read LESS?

Well, perhaps.

In our small niche of websites-that-promote-reading, we love to celebrate all things reading, all things book-related, all things wordy.

Read more to your kids! Read aloud every day! Encourage your kids to always be reading! Books are awesome! Your child doesn’t love to read? Well, we can fix that!

But, sometimes, those messages start to sound like heavy burdens, don’t they? Sometimes, we need to be reminded to read LESS.

I’m in a season where my family is reading less.

We’re all technically reading a lot; it’s the fiction and leisure reading that’s suffering. Let’s look at our car-time: Previously, we always had an audiobook going in the car. When my three children were toddlers/preschoolers, this was my sanity saver. As they grew older, they too looked forward to the stories we’d share around town.

Now, I have new drivers who tell me, “Mom, I really need to concentrate. I can’t also listen to a story.” So, we listen to music when a new driver is concentrating on the road ahead.

And when I’m driving these days, and my new drivers are passengers, we listen to music or we talk just as often as we play an audiobook. Our conversations this summer ranged from the death penalty, wills and guardianship if something happens to mom and dad, college costs, what people are good at and might want to pursue in the future, the psychology of a serial killer, various acting tips and techniques (all three acted in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), current events, what music people like, and more. Truly, there is never a dull moment with three teenagers!

There’s a lot of noise in the world these days.

It’s okay to put the book down and to just be: to be with your family, to be in Creation, or to take a nap. It’s wonderful to be in a season full of read aloud time, enjoying lots of stories with your family and students. But reading is not the ultimate goal and should always be in service to our greater calling to glorify the Lord and enjoy him forever. Perhaps you, like me, needs the reminder that there are seasons where that service to God simply doesn’t include as much reading time as previous seasons. In fact, if I didn’t have a vision therapy requirement to read aloud for 10 minutes most days, it might not even happen (*gasp*).

If you, like me, are in one of those “less reading” seasons, know that a “more reading” season will come again. For me, that “more reading” season will likely dovetail with less people present in my home as my teens fly the nest. And that will be bittersweet indeed. So for now, I cherish the books we are sharing together,* but I cherish even more the relationships we are building in the non-reading moments as well.

*For the curious, the current (and only) read aloud for us is The Playmaker by J. B. Cheaney (yes! OUR Janie Cheaney). Our mom and kids car-time audio is The Drowned Vault by N. D. Wilson (which 3 of the 4 of us have read, so it still works for those “have to concentrate” new drivers and for the many starts and stops as we pause to have conversation). And the car-time audio for the whole family is The Mummy Case (Amelia Peabody #3) by Elizabeth Peters.

Are you in a “Reading Less” season?