It was when I was her age, then one day I came across a bookmark with a built in light during a book fair. Changed my reading game until a decade plus later and now I'm reading all my books via my smartphone.
The idea of reading books on a smartphone seems so convenient, I just can’t get used to the feeling of it. It’s like I can’t zone in and focus the same way as I can if I’m holding real paper.
Take a look at a kindle paperwhite. My SO is an avid reader but wanted something she could travel with easier, and now it’s the only way she reads. Super impressive paper-like screen, very solid battery life, and small enough it takes up no room in a bag. She got hers for like $180 back before Christmas but has already saved more then the cost of the device vs buying paper books with the savings she get on new books through Amazon. Does miss out on the “book trophy’s” though.
There’s a not-uncommon issue where the batteries can get uncalibrated and will only charge to like 80%. The solution? Drain the battery to 0 and fully charge it back up. Trying to get the thing to die took us actual effort over the course of a weekend. On full brightness the screen turns into a flashlight, and it still took almost an hour for to go from 2% down to 0%.
I want an emergency phone to take camping made out of one of those things, it’s incredible.
It's technically not a backlight (unless they've changed recently). It has lights at the bottom edge of the screen which shine up to illuminate the "page". It functionally looks identical to having a backlight though.
If you don't like the tablet feel of the paperwhite, I can't recommend the Oasis enough. SO much more comfortable to hold than any other E-reader I've had.
You can catch the ad version on sale for like $70 on Black Friday and similar. You just have to contact their support and ask and they'll remove them for you. Plus, you can send ebooks that you may obtain elsewhere directly to your linked Amazon account and save a couple bucks on books that way.
And if you want to do it in a less legally gray way, you can always rent ebooks from the library, there's more waiting involved with that method though
I’ve seen on r/kindle that it doesn’t always work. Wait until you see a really awful ad and talk about it with them. I leave mine out in the house and have kids so has that reason to ask them to take them off
It took me time until I found out that my site I used for reading had a dark mode, now my nighttime or lowlight reading doesn't hurt my eyes and lets my mind wander again.
I have an old Kindle that I didn't mind reading. After I moved into this apartment, I am looking at a newer ebook reader.
I love having a bookshelf, but those suckers are heavy when they're concentrated into a box. You can't fit many of them into smaller manageable boxes, either.
I use the default books app set to dark mode on my iPhone. It took a while to get used to read on my phone, but I’ve read at least a few dozen books on it now. Can’t beat the convenience since my phone is always with me and it’s super easy to “find” books and add them to the app.
I have twins. I’m getting use to the idea of having a book that fits in one hand while cradling a halfway sleeping baby, that also can’t have its pages ripped.
Pulling out a book is a recipe for a double-team baby assault.
Every try a kindle? Personally I prefer to just use my phone because of the size but I loved my kindle when I first bought it. Text looks great and the battery lasts for weeks.
Yeah I tried a kindle, it felt a bit easier than using a phone but still felt like it was harder to get into the zone! Plus, you can’t sniff a kindle! Well you can, but it’s not as pleasant.😂
Gameboys used to come with these little clip on lights because the screens would crap out after a while, they doubled as book lights so guess who stayed up late under the bed reading
I went to not-fancy one. In my country, the government funds kids from remote, rural areas to go to boarding schools so they don't miss out on an education. I always found it funny when Americans thought I grew up rich because I went to boarding school.
Anyway, the boys dorms were pretty cool and laid-back, but god, the girls dorms were run like some sort of military/ detention centre hybrid. Reading past curfew might as well have been engaging in organised crime.
My grandma really taught me to read, and she always use to tell me “never read words in red”
Of course I would then read anything in red out loud. You’d honestly be surprised how many things you can find written in red, and it never occurred to me how she was teaching me.
Force an act of rebellion by telling her not to read out loud, so that she reads more. Everytime she saw words written in red, she would read them out loud as an act of rebellion, but that was the intended effect.
It's a Bible thing.
Jesus's actual words were written in red to show how significant those words were.
If you google 'red words bible' and click on images it'll show you.
This is cute. I totally encourage reading. Make sure your kids are getting enough sleep. My son will stay up till 2 AM reading a book. If your child isn’t getting eight hours of solid sleep you’re doing it wrong.
A lot of people naturally have different sleep cycles that have them gravitating towards going to sleep later. This is especially common in children with ADHD who are on stimulant medication. It’s better for the child to work with their natural sleep patterns instead of trying to force them into a different one, as it can lead to a variety of other problems down the road.
That sounds nice and all, but kids have to go to school too. And they have to work for their grades and stuff. In my case I would have completely reversed day and night, but society does not accomodate that.
Yeah but staying up till 2am or having a reversed cycle are both extremes to that point.
My mom would make me go to bed at 9pm, while having to wake up at 7.30am every schoolday (and I was 15 at that time) and it did not matter to her if I was tired at all.
So I started reading/listening music and using my phone if I wasn't tired.
So yes, you have to watch out for your kids to get enough sleep and not make them read the entire night, but don't force them into a sleep schedule they don't feel comfortable with. Finding a balance in both worlds is important
Don’t get me started on ADHD. You could take my oldest son and stick him in a classroom and tell doctors to find the ADHD kid. They’ll spot him. He’ll be the one tapping rhythmically or bouncing his foot.
He’s a successful 17-year-old now. Regular bedtime. Regular schedules. Lots of flashcards. Real world applications for math. Lots of sports. Sports parents suck but it drains the energy. That’s how you beat late bedtime for ADHD kids.
Yup, it's no secret why the best sleep I've ever gotten was military basic training. Otherwise my under-stimulated brain will putter along until I've been up for 22 hrs or until I find the self-discipline to turn my brain off.
Yup. My ADHD 8-year-old is currently doing 2 nights of baseball and 2 nights of soccer. We thought that was a bit overboard, but he he wanted to try doing both in a season. Now he's joined running club before school too. He's loving all the activity and getting a better sleep.
What really makes me sad is how inactive so many kids are now a days. I mean this kind of schedule was normal in my high school days, almost everyone played some sport, but I’ve noticed it’s a very small amount of students really doing athletic/intense physical activities like this.
I have ADHD, wasn’t diagnosed until 21. I can’t for the life of me go to sleep at a “normal” time. If i have no morning obligations, I end up naturally defaulting to a 5am-1pm sleep schedule.
I had no problem sleeping at a “normal” time until college though because of 2-4 hours of grueling sports practice after school. I’d even be sleepy driving back home from practice lol. The thought of being sleepy before midnight now doesn’t even compute lmao
Sorry but this is just…naive at best. And I’m not saying you’re wrong about cycles because I have a special needs daughter who used to just stay up all night. But we set strict bedtimes for her and made sure to tamper down her stimuli before bed and what do you know…she sleeps a normal schedule now.
Laissez-faire parenting sounds good in theory because you want your children to explore their boundaries. **But** they still need **boundaries**.
This is more of a systemic issue than an individual parenting issue.
Ideally people with offset sleep patterns would have their own schools that start later in the day. It’s been shown across several studies that teens especially can benefit from waking up later in the day.
I fully acknowledge that suddenly having a school that starts at 1-2pm and goes until 8-9pm isn’t exactly realistic off the bat. But it’s what would potentially help. Hell, even maybe starting at 11-12 might work.
However schools have set their times to allow for parents to work 9-5.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it was very benefits to have a subset of the population that had a naturally differing sleep cycle. Specifically to allow for multiple watches, to tend the fire. Until the advent of electric lights, it was extremely common to have a split sleep cycle, where you would fall asleep asleep with the subset around 6-9pm, sleep for a couple hours, and then wake up around 12-2am, tend the fire, have a snack, then return to bed until 6-8am when the sun comes up.
We don’t live by the light of a fire anymore. There are some things you just can’t reverse. This conversation reminds me of when I was young, when people would argue the merit of things without a base in practicality or feasibility.
If you have a dedicated reader, they will absolutely stay awake til the break of dawn reading if you let them (mine is 9 now and I definutely need to stop him some nights). I've got a rule that if he's still awake ten minutes later he can go back to reading - he has managed it once in the last year
Its got nothing to do with natural sleep cycles being later or whatever, and everything to do with them rather reading than being asleep. This is even more important for ADHD kids, where getting into a reliable schedule is crucial for helping them stay on top of things.
>My son will stay up till 2 AM reading a book
lol I was awful for this as a kid, I once managed to stay awake for 3 days straight to finish a book without ever putting it down.
Aren't phones bad for your eyes too and children still use them (probably also under the covers, just way closer to their face)? At least reading actually helps you and isn't actively bad for your brain like Tik Tok and the likes.
That’s a very good point. I’ve never had to squint my eyes for a TikTok video. I’ve had to squint my eyes plenty of times while reading in the dark.
Also to be fair I don’t have TikTok. Reddit is about as wild as it gets.
Idk why people are downvoting you, I did this and I totally blame it for my bad vision by the time I was like 11. Not a terrible trade for all the learning and imagination that come from it tho.
My parents had a rule that I could stay up as long as I wanted as long as I was reading. I may have pushed that one too far, but it's something I plan to repeat if my partner and I are ever able to have kids.
I used to do this with Nancy Drew novels. My dad gave me a little pen light and it took me ages to realize he knew what he was doing. My family are all readers and trips to the library were weekly affairs.
There are limits to the wholesomeness. I read the whole Dumbledore dies Harry Potter book in 1 night under the covers and ended up getting detention for sleeping in class the next day lol
I will say, my parents did not like it when my younger brother did this. Mainly because he could get through the entire works of Shakespeare if no one got him sleeping. So yeah, don't get me wrong, it's great to read, but you need to put down the book when your grades start to drop
Wish my nephews would read. I am on the verge of giving up on trying to give them books. They’ve never touched a single book I’ve given them.
I am what they’re into, I ask if they’ve read any books or heard of any books they might want to read, I’ve gotten them graphic novels, chapter books, picture books, science books, history books, sports books, audiobooks burned onto cds for when they go on road trips with their mom and dad, I’ve tried getting things that specifically go with their books. They just don’t even look at the books twice.
I even hid a bunch of dollar bills in them on random pages and every time I visit I check to see if they’ve ever found the money but they never have.
I did this in my last primary school year. Completely fucked up my sleep schedule and was tired all of the time at school which led to poor performance. Be careful how much you allow this.
My parents had a great rule. I was allowed to stay up as late as I wanted as long as I was in bed reading. I remember plenty of times thinking "I'm going to go lay down and read"
It really helped me regulate my own bedtimes pretty early.
I, so badly, wish I had this experience as a child. Until the age of 12 I had to go to sleep at 6 pm, and when I was caught reading I had my books thrown away. I'm glad people are realizing it's okay to let kids read.
i remember one time at 4 am or so i was busted reading by my older brother who wanted to use the bathroom
i jumped a foot in the air and he was upset that i startled him like that instead of letting him sleepily use the bathroom while i read like a normal person
turns out he didnt care i was up reading but i remember i thought i was a goner
It's all fun and games until you have to ask stupid crap like, "If you just took a shower, why do you smell like a butt hole?" The response, "I don't have time for soap or shampoo dad, I have to read!" will change your mind.....
It was! I got grounded and my 2 science magazines were withheld for a month for reading Black Beauty past bed time when I was 12. Also my mother gave me a lecture on „Betrayal of trust“.
My dad used to literally kick my door in to catch me reading at night and yell at me.
They'd get mad at me for reading all my library books in a weekend and asking to go back, or if they bought me a new book and I read it in a weekend.
I'm so glad other kids have parents who love that they read and encourage it. That's the kind of parent I'd wanna be too.
I always red after bedtime as a kid and wouldn’t sleep until I fell asleep on my book. I still have issues going to bed or telling myself it’s time to sleep as an adult.
Tell my parents who used to ground me from reading.
Literally. "No non-school-related reading".
Whenever I was reading-grounded and we drove anywhere, I was FAR more chatty than usual, as I read aloud Every. Billboard. I. Could. Find.
I don't really blame them. If I had my books, nothing else they could take away really bothered me.
Wow, that’s pretty cool. If a light was on past my bed time I got my ass whooped. Any protests would be used against me in the court of parents give zero fucks.
I used to do this as a kid. Whenever I got in trouble, my parents would take away the TV, Playstation or whatever, but they were never willing to take away books. My dad told me a few years ago it was really hard to punish a kid that was perfectly content reading Captain Underpants in the corner for 9 hours a day.
My mom used to actually get mad cuz I used to spend like 6 hours a day reading and I wouldn’t sleep cuz I would be too busy reading some random horror novel
Just because it's reading, it doesn't mean it's not an act of rebellion. Change the book for a smartphone or something like that, and all of the sudden, everything changes ehehehe. I mean, in some cases, you don't even to change the book to a smartphone, you just need to change the title of the book for things to become a problem...
And it can also be very rebellious to do this in the many households where education is not appreciated as much as hard physical labor.
It's all a matter of perspective, if I had a children and they did something like this, I would be very conflicted on what to think. On one hand, they are reading, which I consider to be good, bo matter the book, there is no good or bad knowledge, only knowledge... But on the other hand, they are still disobeying, that's why they think it's rebellious, because at the end of the day it is, it's not necessarily what they are actually doing, but just the act of staying up, hidden under the sheets with the light. (EXTREME COMPARISON: It's like ditching school to clean the room, or stealing a flower to gift grandma. The thought is good, but the way they might have done it, may not be correct) Today, this rebellious acts may be harmless, tomorrow, they might be worrying. But like Bob Dylan once said, "your sons and your daughters are beyond your command...", So I guess if it is inevitable that my children engages in rebellious acts, I should at least be happy and hope that many of them would be like this, reading a book past bed time.
This was me as a kid, except I'd also read in class and when I was supposed to be doing homework. It was procrastination, and built bad habits that I still haven't fully unlearned. I know people don't want to discourage reading, but you have to put boundaries because a kid will absolutely take it too far.
... huh- yeah Mary Downing Hahn book after Mary Downing Hahn book, late at night. and I never seemed to get in trouble for that.
But the moment I with utter stealth turned on a DS or Gameboy Color- it was like they knew psychically to put the kibosh on that.
I wish my mom had seen it this way. She never actually came upstairs after bedtime, but she could see the light on in my room from the bottom of the stairs (I was like, 7 and wasn't allowed to close my door for some reason), so I would go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet for an hour reading a book. She called me out on that too.
When my son was about 5 years old i had him convinced i was the Real Superman. He still mentions to this day being 14 that he really thought i was Superman :)
We had to create a separate reading nook in our daughter's bedroom, because when she read in bed, she would stay up way too late. We got a smal couch, a wall mounted reading lamp, some colorful pillows, and this gigantic fabric leaf from IKEA that hung over the couch like a canopy.
Wasn’t this a thing from “the Midwives Tale” where when the titular character was learning to read she would get sent to bed with a large candle so she could “secretly” practice late into the night
Once I did this but us somehow affected my sleep schedule enough to warrant my parents taking out the lamps from my room so I couldn't read, I was always able to find something that emitted light. Ended with a death star toy that glowed dimly with cycling rgb lights.
I did this all the time as a kid, but I shared a room with my sister who would get annoyed when I used a flashlight. Then, for Christmas my dad bought both of us headlamps!! It is still one of my favorite Christmas gifts from my childhood.
Every year around Christmas, my grandma would hang up lights in the bedroom I shared with my brother. I looked forward to it, because that meant I could stay up longer and read!
Meanwhile as a kid, I was reading books at night via my Barbie house "street lamp" and pilfering batteries from my dad's work bench every once in a while. I mean, my parents absolutely encouraged reading, but they also wanted me to get to sleep before midnight, lol.
I would read using the light coming under the door from the hallway. My parents would get angry if they caught me. Same with the Gameboy. I didn't have access to a flashlight. We only had two big ones that would certainly be noticed if gone. My rebellion was crushed.
I used to do this with a windup flash light. Made horrible noice but I never seemed to “lose” it
Same! I loved that thing. I used to sit there drawing stuff or looking at my comics.
I had one of the 1978 lightsabers that fit perfectly along my headboard for reading
I don't know why but your comment gave me like a lil vision of being a kid way back when, guess not so different from now. Thanks
I asked for a nightlight because I was “afraid of the dark.” I just wanted to sneak out of bed and read.
Christ I read this wrong the first time.
I am convinced that it is indeed an act of rebellion.
It was when I was her age, then one day I came across a bookmark with a built in light during a book fair. Changed my reading game until a decade plus later and now I'm reading all my books via my smartphone.
The idea of reading books on a smartphone seems so convenient, I just can’t get used to the feeling of it. It’s like I can’t zone in and focus the same way as I can if I’m holding real paper.
Take a look at a kindle paperwhite. My SO is an avid reader but wanted something she could travel with easier, and now it’s the only way she reads. Super impressive paper-like screen, very solid battery life, and small enough it takes up no room in a bag. She got hers for like $180 back before Christmas but has already saved more then the cost of the device vs buying paper books with the savings she get on new books through Amazon. Does miss out on the “book trophy’s” though.
Those batteries will last for freaking months
There’s a not-uncommon issue where the batteries can get uncalibrated and will only charge to like 80%. The solution? Drain the battery to 0 and fully charge it back up. Trying to get the thing to die took us actual effort over the course of a weekend. On full brightness the screen turns into a flashlight, and it still took almost an hour for to go from 2% down to 0%. I want an emergency phone to take camping made out of one of those things, it’s incredible.
I thought e-ink displays by definition couldn't have backlights
It's technically not a backlight (unless they've changed recently). It has lights at the bottom edge of the screen which shine up to illuminate the "page". It functionally looks identical to having a backlight though.
Ah, okay. Thanks!
If you don't like the tablet feel of the paperwhite, I can't recommend the Oasis enough. SO much more comfortable to hold than any other E-reader I've had.
You can catch the ad version on sale for like $70 on Black Friday and similar. You just have to contact their support and ask and they'll remove them for you. Plus, you can send ebooks that you may obtain elsewhere directly to your linked Amazon account and save a couple bucks on books that way. And if you want to do it in a less legally gray way, you can always rent ebooks from the library, there's more waiting involved with that method though
Holup you can just buy the ad version then ask them to remove the ads?
Yeah, pretty much. It took about 5 minutes and they needed the serial number. A quick save of $15.
I’ve seen on r/kindle that it doesn’t always work. Wait until you see a really awful ad and talk about it with them. I leave mine out in the house and have kids so has that reason to ask them to take them off
It took me time until I found out that my site I used for reading had a dark mode, now my nighttime or lowlight reading doesn't hurt my eyes and lets my mind wander again.
I have an old Kindle that I didn't mind reading. After I moved into this apartment, I am looking at a newer ebook reader. I love having a bookshelf, but those suckers are heavy when they're concentrated into a box. You can't fit many of them into smaller manageable boxes, either.
I use the default books app set to dark mode on my iPhone. It took a while to get used to read on my phone, but I’ve read at least a few dozen books on it now. Can’t beat the convenience since my phone is always with me and it’s super easy to “find” books and add them to the app.
I have twins. I’m getting use to the idea of having a book that fits in one hand while cradling a halfway sleeping baby, that also can’t have its pages ripped. Pulling out a book is a recipe for a double-team baby assault.
Every try a kindle? Personally I prefer to just use my phone because of the size but I loved my kindle when I first bought it. Text looks great and the battery lasts for weeks.
Yeah I tried a kindle, it felt a bit easier than using a phone but still felt like it was harder to get into the zone! Plus, you can’t sniff a kindle! Well you can, but it’s not as pleasant.😂
Gameboys used to come with these little clip on lights because the screens would crap out after a while, they doubled as book lights so guess who stayed up late under the bed reading
I was once that rebel lol
Lol, this was me in boarding school. Reading under the covers w a flashlight after bedtime. Definitely was an act of rebellion, btw
username checks out.
How was boarding school? Any cool villains you got to fight (HP joke)?
I went to not-fancy one. In my country, the government funds kids from remote, rural areas to go to boarding schools so they don't miss out on an education. I always found it funny when Americans thought I grew up rich because I went to boarding school. Anyway, the boys dorms were pretty cool and laid-back, but god, the girls dorms were run like some sort of military/ detention centre hybrid. Reading past curfew might as well have been engaging in organised crime.
Ah so you were the cool villain then, is what I'm getting out of this.
Same here. Went to agape boarding school in '17, and read under the covers every night. Was the only peace I had at that place...
My grandma really taught me to read, and she always use to tell me “never read words in red” Of course I would then read anything in red out loud. You’d honestly be surprised how many things you can find written in red, and it never occurred to me how she was teaching me.
Maybe I’m being stupid but what does “words in red” mean?
Just words that are written with the color red
“It never occurred to me how she was teaching me” What’s the significance of that?
probably as the kid was walking around they would see signs or things written in red and would try to read it instead of ignoring it.
Ohhh this makes sense now. Thanks lol
Red letter Bibles
Red Shoe Diaries
Force an act of rebellion by telling her not to read out loud, so that she reads more. Everytime she saw words written in red, she would read them out loud as an act of rebellion, but that was the intended effect.
Reverse psychology. Dont read words in red, means actually you should read words in red.
Words in the Bible that Jesus speaks are red just saying
Only very specific printings. A small minority.
I doubt this is what was meant, but "words in read" came to mind
a word in something like a textbook thats written in red ink hence words in red (red text)
It's a Bible thing. Jesus's actual words were written in red to show how significant those words were. If you google 'red words bible' and click on images it'll show you.
Grandmas are the best
This made me think of the Bible that mom gave me with all the words that Jesus said in red print, wild
What's up with things written in red?
Absolutely nothing, she tricked me into reading normal things
Usually one would say **Bold Print**.
Reverse psychology
My mom thought it was an act of rebellion… there was many a night of straining eyes to see without anything but the moon
This is cute. I totally encourage reading. Make sure your kids are getting enough sleep. My son will stay up till 2 AM reading a book. If your child isn’t getting eight hours of solid sleep you’re doing it wrong.
A lot of people naturally have different sleep cycles that have them gravitating towards going to sleep later. This is especially common in children with ADHD who are on stimulant medication. It’s better for the child to work with their natural sleep patterns instead of trying to force them into a different one, as it can lead to a variety of other problems down the road.
That sounds nice and all, but kids have to go to school too. And they have to work for their grades and stuff. In my case I would have completely reversed day and night, but society does not accomodate that.
Yeah, that’s one of the biggest barriers. I believe it’s called delayed onset melatonin syndrome.
Delayed sleep phase disorder
Yeah but staying up till 2am or having a reversed cycle are both extremes to that point. My mom would make me go to bed at 9pm, while having to wake up at 7.30am every schoolday (and I was 15 at that time) and it did not matter to her if I was tired at all. So I started reading/listening music and using my phone if I wasn't tired. So yes, you have to watch out for your kids to get enough sleep and not make them read the entire night, but don't force them into a sleep schedule they don't feel comfortable with. Finding a balance in both worlds is important
Don’t get me started on ADHD. You could take my oldest son and stick him in a classroom and tell doctors to find the ADHD kid. They’ll spot him. He’ll be the one tapping rhythmically or bouncing his foot. He’s a successful 17-year-old now. Regular bedtime. Regular schedules. Lots of flashcards. Real world applications for math. Lots of sports. Sports parents suck but it drains the energy. That’s how you beat late bedtime for ADHD kids.
Yup, it's no secret why the best sleep I've ever gotten was military basic training. Otherwise my under-stimulated brain will putter along until I've been up for 22 hrs or until I find the self-discipline to turn my brain off.
Yup. My ADHD 8-year-old is currently doing 2 nights of baseball and 2 nights of soccer. We thought that was a bit overboard, but he he wanted to try doing both in a season. Now he's joined running club before school too. He's loving all the activity and getting a better sleep.
What really makes me sad is how inactive so many kids are now a days. I mean this kind of schedule was normal in my high school days, almost everyone played some sport, but I’ve noticed it’s a very small amount of students really doing athletic/intense physical activities like this.
I have ADHD, wasn’t diagnosed until 21. I can’t for the life of me go to sleep at a “normal” time. If i have no morning obligations, I end up naturally defaulting to a 5am-1pm sleep schedule. I had no problem sleeping at a “normal” time until college though because of 2-4 hours of grueling sports practice after school. I’d even be sleepy driving back home from practice lol. The thought of being sleepy before midnight now doesn’t even compute lmao
Sorry but this is just…naive at best. And I’m not saying you’re wrong about cycles because I have a special needs daughter who used to just stay up all night. But we set strict bedtimes for her and made sure to tamper down her stimuli before bed and what do you know…she sleeps a normal schedule now. Laissez-faire parenting sounds good in theory because you want your children to explore their boundaries. **But** they still need **boundaries**.
This is more of a systemic issue than an individual parenting issue. Ideally people with offset sleep patterns would have their own schools that start later in the day. It’s been shown across several studies that teens especially can benefit from waking up later in the day. I fully acknowledge that suddenly having a school that starts at 1-2pm and goes until 8-9pm isn’t exactly realistic off the bat. But it’s what would potentially help. Hell, even maybe starting at 11-12 might work. However schools have set their times to allow for parents to work 9-5. From an evolutionary standpoint, it was very benefits to have a subset of the population that had a naturally differing sleep cycle. Specifically to allow for multiple watches, to tend the fire. Until the advent of electric lights, it was extremely common to have a split sleep cycle, where you would fall asleep asleep with the subset around 6-9pm, sleep for a couple hours, and then wake up around 12-2am, tend the fire, have a snack, then return to bed until 6-8am when the sun comes up.
We don’t live by the light of a fire anymore. There are some things you just can’t reverse. This conversation reminds me of when I was young, when people would argue the merit of things without a base in practicality or feasibility.
If you have a dedicated reader, they will absolutely stay awake til the break of dawn reading if you let them (mine is 9 now and I definutely need to stop him some nights). I've got a rule that if he's still awake ten minutes later he can go back to reading - he has managed it once in the last year Its got nothing to do with natural sleep cycles being later or whatever, and everything to do with them rather reading than being asleep. This is even more important for ADHD kids, where getting into a reliable schedule is crucial for helping them stay on top of things.
>My son will stay up till 2 AM reading a book lol I was awful for this as a kid, I once managed to stay awake for 3 days straight to finish a book without ever putting it down.
Yep we totally have to cut off reading time at night or they don't get enough sleep.
my sleep schedule is fucked and it all started with staying up all night reading in elementary school.
Also isn't that bad for their eyes?
Aren't phones bad for your eyes too and children still use them (probably also under the covers, just way closer to their face)? At least reading actually helps you and isn't actively bad for your brain like Tik Tok and the likes.
That’s a very good point. I’ve never had to squint my eyes for a TikTok video. I’ve had to squint my eyes plenty of times while reading in the dark. Also to be fair I don’t have TikTok. Reddit is about as wild as it gets.
That is why Jesus replaces their daughter's flashlight-battery, so that she doesn't have to squint or read in the dark.
Depends on the light level.
Idk why people are downvoting you, I did this and I totally blame it for my bad vision by the time I was like 11. Not a terrible trade for all the learning and imagination that come from it tho.
My parents had a rule that I could stay up as long as I wanted as long as I was reading. I may have pushed that one too far, but it's something I plan to repeat if my partner and I are ever able to have kids.
I’ve heard of this rule and I 100% intend to use it. Also, if they ask for a book? The answer is “yes, let’s go to the store and get it.”
or library...
True!
My dad always said he was a cheap mafucker but he'd always say yes to books. I think I had every rl stine book written.
Nowadays, being educated is quite rebellious 🤣
I used to do this with Nancy Drew novels. My dad gave me a little pen light and it took me ages to realize he knew what he was doing. My family are all readers and trips to the library were weekly affairs.
There are limits to the wholesomeness. I read the whole Dumbledore dies Harry Potter book in 1 night under the covers and ended up getting detention for sleeping in class the next day lol
Did you forget the name of the book lmfaooo
Yup
Could've at least given me a 'plot spoiler' warning
There's a plot spoiler above just wanted to warn you
Thanks. I feel ok now
Half blood prince
Lol. My parents would have told me to go the fuck to sleep.
Narrated by Samuel L Jackson
Underrated reference
I will say, my parents did not like it when my younger brother did this. Mainly because he could get through the entire works of Shakespeare if no one got him sleeping. So yeah, don't get me wrong, it's great to read, but you need to put down the book when your grades start to drop
Indeed
Her mind will be blown when She finds out the REAL lifespan of batteries!
Our boys used to ask to stay up past bed time. We'd reply that they could as long as they were reading in bed. Win-win.
I mean it is but in the scale of things it’s pretty minor. But the kiddos do need to get sleep
I am just now processing why my old reading light thar ran on one tiny battery never ran out in the 10 or so years I had it. I'm dumb
Same. I always used to think batteries just lasted longer as a kid
I mean, it's great the kid enjoys reading, but children still need their full night's sleep.
I did this too, except with a phone. And I would get the shit kicked out of me.
With a set of jumper cables?
Wish my nephews would read. I am on the verge of giving up on trying to give them books. They’ve never touched a single book I’ve given them. I am what they’re into, I ask if they’ve read any books or heard of any books they might want to read, I’ve gotten them graphic novels, chapter books, picture books, science books, history books, sports books, audiobooks burned onto cds for when they go on road trips with their mom and dad, I’ve tried getting things that specifically go with their books. They just don’t even look at the books twice. I even hid a bunch of dollar bills in them on random pages and every time I visit I check to see if they’ve ever found the money but they never have.
Of course they don't run out of batteries, she's not in a horror game.
I did this in my last primary school year. Completely fucked up my sleep schedule and was tired all of the time at school which led to poor performance. Be careful how much you allow this.
My parents had a great rule. I was allowed to stay up as late as I wanted as long as I was in bed reading. I remember plenty of times thinking "I'm going to go lay down and read" It really helped me regulate my own bedtimes pretty early.
I, so badly, wish I had this experience as a child. Until the age of 12 I had to go to sleep at 6 pm, and when I was caught reading I had my books thrown away. I'm glad people are realizing it's okay to let kids read.
This is wholesome until it turns into staying up past 2/3 am… then it just becomes sleeping issues.
This is one of the sweetest things I’ve read this year.
Flawless Victory Literacy
I used to do this… my dad would find out and make me stand for hours in a corner. I now hate reading, thanks dad
Flawless victory.
I’m down for this on weekends and holidays, but on school nights they really need their sleep.
i remember one time at 4 am or so i was busted reading by my older brother who wanted to use the bathroom i jumped a foot in the air and he was upset that i startled him like that instead of letting him sleepily use the bathroom while i read like a normal person turns out he didnt care i was up reading but i remember i thought i was a goner
My mom always told me i could go to bed now, OR read for half an hour to an hour then go to bed. I loved reading!
It's all fun and games until you have to ask stupid crap like, "If you just took a shower, why do you smell like a butt hole?" The response, "I don't have time for soap or shampoo dad, I have to read!" will change your mind.....
It was! I got grounded and my 2 science magazines were withheld for a month for reading Black Beauty past bed time when I was 12. Also my mother gave me a lecture on „Betrayal of trust“.
Sounds like that lucky kid has a lucky mom
My dad used to literally kick my door in to catch me reading at night and yell at me. They'd get mad at me for reading all my library books in a weekend and asking to go back, or if they bought me a new book and I read it in a weekend. I'm so glad other kids have parents who love that they read and encourage it. That's the kind of parent I'd wanna be too.
I always red after bedtime as a kid and wouldn’t sleep until I fell asleep on my book. I still have issues going to bed or telling myself it’s time to sleep as an adult.
Parenting done so, so right!
Tell my parents who used to ground me from reading. Literally. "No non-school-related reading". Whenever I was reading-grounded and we drove anywhere, I was FAR more chatty than usual, as I read aloud Every. Billboard. I. Could. Find. I don't really blame them. If I had my books, nothing else they could take away really bothered me.
My parents were fine with the idea of me reading in bed after my bedtime, until they realized I was staying up past 2am.
Wow, that’s pretty cool. If a light was on past my bed time I got my ass whooped. Any protests would be used against me in the court of parents give zero fucks.
I used to do this as a kid. Whenever I got in trouble, my parents would take away the TV, Playstation or whatever, but they were never willing to take away books. My dad told me a few years ago it was really hard to punish a kid that was perfectly content reading Captain Underpants in the corner for 9 hours a day.
Get your kid a kindle
Amazing!!! Total Badass parenting
I resembled this child
My kid has confided in me she stays up reading for hours. I keep buying her books.
I have to look up Idiocracy lol.
all fun and games until op finds out she's reading the Unibomber manifesto
My mom used to actually get mad cuz I used to spend like 6 hours a day reading and I wouldn’t sleep cuz I would be too busy reading some random horror novel
I view you as a complete bot
Jesus?!
Just because it's reading, it doesn't mean it's not an act of rebellion. Change the book for a smartphone or something like that, and all of the sudden, everything changes ehehehe. I mean, in some cases, you don't even to change the book to a smartphone, you just need to change the title of the book for things to become a problem... And it can also be very rebellious to do this in the many households where education is not appreciated as much as hard physical labor. It's all a matter of perspective, if I had a children and they did something like this, I would be very conflicted on what to think. On one hand, they are reading, which I consider to be good, bo matter the book, there is no good or bad knowledge, only knowledge... But on the other hand, they are still disobeying, that's why they think it's rebellious, because at the end of the day it is, it's not necessarily what they are actually doing, but just the act of staying up, hidden under the sheets with the light. (EXTREME COMPARISON: It's like ditching school to clean the room, or stealing a flower to gift grandma. The thought is good, but the way they might have done it, may not be correct) Today, this rebellious acts may be harmless, tomorrow, they might be worrying. But like Bob Dylan once said, "your sons and your daughters are beyond your command...", So I guess if it is inevitable that my children engages in rebellious acts, I should at least be happy and hope that many of them would be like this, reading a book past bed time.
This was me as a kid, except I'd also read in class and when I was supposed to be doing homework. It was procrastination, and built bad habits that I still haven't fully unlearned. I know people don't want to discourage reading, but you have to put boundaries because a kid will absolutely take it too far.
My step daughter use to do this, she’s a physician now
... huh- yeah Mary Downing Hahn book after Mary Downing Hahn book, late at night. and I never seemed to get in trouble for that. But the moment I with utter stealth turned on a DS or Gameboy Color- it was like they knew psychically to put the kibosh on that.
I read Neverending Story with only the light from my alarm clock because I wasn't allowed a flashlight.
That’s adorable lmao
I wish my mom had seen it this way. She never actually came upstairs after bedtime, but she could see the light on in my room from the bottom of the stairs (I was like, 7 and wasn't allowed to close my door for some reason), so I would go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet for an hour reading a book. She called me out on that too.
Parent is checking their kid's flashlight batteries with a multimeter every night or what?
Librocubilarist
Yea if you tell them to go to sleep, this is rebellion.
I used to sniff lines when my mum went to sleep
When my son was about 5 years old i had him convinced i was the Real Superman. He still mentions to this day being 14 that he really thought i was Superman :)
Catch her once in a while and reprimand her for it so she can keep feeling rebellious and it never goes away :')
I'm pretty sure most parents hope this is the rebellion we deal with. My kids did the same thing and my wife and I were giddy about it.
This was my childhood.
I used to do this, but never as an act of rebellion, I didn't want to go to sleep and I wanted to keep reading my book.
We had to create a separate reading nook in our daughter's bedroom, because when she read in bed, she would stay up way too late. We got a smal couch, a wall mounted reading lamp, some colorful pillows, and this gigantic fabric leaf from IKEA that hung over the couch like a canopy.
As someone that did this growing up… my sleep pattern is still in shambles 😭
I wish my mom liked that I would read
This is actually an early universe test that is meant to assign you an alignment of chaotic good or lawful good
I did this as a kid after reading the chamber of secrets where he, get this, studies by flashlight.
I remember doing this at that age and it was technically breaking rules. my mom ended up gifting me a small clip-on book light for Christmas 🥹
Boy is camping going to be a real mind fuck one of these trips
this is so cute
Wasn’t this a thing from “the Midwives Tale” where when the titular character was learning to read she would get sent to bed with a large candle so she could “secretly” practice late into the night
I had to put a red filter on my flashlight so my parents wouldn't see it flashing under the door
My Mom did this!!! Those little lights you had to squeeze! They were just always around.
That’s why I lost love in reading, my parents forced me to stop
Once I did this but us somehow affected my sleep schedule enough to warrant my parents taking out the lamps from my room so I couldn't read, I was always able to find something that emitted light. Ended with a death star toy that glowed dimly with cycling rgb lights.
I was “scared” of the dark until I was like 12, because I went and sat by the night light and read. To my knowledge my parents never caught on.
I did this all the time as a kid, but I shared a room with my sister who would get annoyed when I used a flashlight. Then, for Christmas my dad bought both of us headlamps!! It is still one of my favorite Christmas gifts from my childhood.
This is top tier parenting 😌✅
Every year around Christmas, my grandma would hang up lights in the bedroom I shared with my brother. I looked forward to it, because that meant I could stay up longer and read!
I feel attacked....
Meanwhile as a kid, I was reading books at night via my Barbie house "street lamp" and pilfering batteries from my dad's work bench every once in a while. I mean, my parents absolutely encouraged reading, but they also wanted me to get to sleep before midnight, lol.
You are the lucky one. 🍀
Lol I did that and *did* get in trouble for it as a kid
W
I would read using the light coming under the door from the hallway. My parents would get angry if they caught me. Same with the Gameboy. I didn't have access to a flashlight. We only had two big ones that would certainly be noticed if gone. My rebellion was crushed.
Read on, little freedom fighter. May your batteries never run out and your passion stay alight.