I agree that reading is much better for the mind than watching TV/videos but there are still many children who love reading. I'm a volunteer in a local primary school, giving slow readers extra practice but one time I was hearing 10 - 11 year olds reading from their own books and Brian Jacques and JK Rowling were prominant. Both writers are not easy reads.
We have in the family a boy aged 10.5 years who became a compulsive reader a month or two after his seventh birthday. I have enjoyed giving him books which I enjoyed and hearing that he loves them, too. I did the same with his mother and his sister and so the tradition continues. By the way, he really looked forward to seeing the first Harry Potter film but came out of it saying the book is better. On the other hand he saw the "Lord of the Ring" films first and has just read the book(s). And similarly the screening on BBC TV of a serialisation of a classic novel always stimulates sales of the book. So the visual media is not always a bad influence. In Britain, learning multiplication tables by rote went out of educational fashion till it was discovered arithmetic/maths suffered. Now they are back in the curriculum. Patricia in Wales [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]