Audiobooks

I'm torn on audiobooks for my children.  I love audiobooks and have a membership to Audible that I take advantage of regularly for both the children and me.  I can get a book, let's see, "read" isn't the best term so let's use "listened to" a lot more easily than I can via reading alone.   This is due to the simultaneousness audiobooks afford you that reading alone doesn't.  You can't (or shouldn't) read and drive at the same time but you can listen and drive easily.

I do lots of things while listening to an audiobook.   My children tend to be more single-focused when they listen.  My daughter likes to sit at the bar seats in the kitchen beside the Alexa and listen.   She will also go to other rooms that have an Alexa or ask to have the book played on her iPad and lie on her bed or in a chair.

My son likes to be more active, usually bouncing around in his room, swinging swords around, or putting together Plus Plus tiles.   From an audiobook standpoint for my son, I'm a bit torn.   I like that he's enjoying the book and it's something he likes doing when he's inside and he doesn't have screen time available.   But we want him to spend time reading books as well.   He reads well for his age and will tear through a book when he's interested in it.   He's beyond the initial "chapter books" children start reading and can read anything now, provided he's interested in it.

For my daughter, given that she can't do anything on a screen, the audiobooks are a good break for her.   It's something she can do that doesn't involve any chance of injuring herself.   She doesn't need help to listen and she gets to hear complex stories that go beyond the level of reading she's at currently.

We also want her to read, but her reading is limited to what she has printed up by her braillest right now.   We get some books from the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, but we're requesting uncontracted braille books currently since she can't fully read all the contractions, and that limits the complexity and age-level of the books available.  Soon enough she will be able to read fully contracted braille, which will open up a large selection of books for her.

A lot of families have Family Movie Night or a time where they get together and watch a show or a movie together.   This almost never happens here.   My daughter can't watch a movie and rarely agrees to listen to one.  My son isn't that interested in movies unless we conscript him to watching one and then, five minutes in, he's engrossed in it.   For the most part, he has no interest.  Tonight we suggested, A Christmas Story, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, and A Charlie Brown Christmas.   He didn't want to see any of them.  Because my son didn't want to watch a movie he decided to listen to an audiobook instead.  Which has me thinking: Is that something I should limit provided he does a reasonable amount of reading?  I'm still undecided on what's a reasonable balance.  

Almost all the audiobooks I get are for my daughter given it's a medium she enjoys and because she can't watch most things and understand what's going on from sound alone.  For her, I will get her as many audiobooks as she'd like to listen to.   A bored blind child who has an active mind is a tough thing and we try to keep her mentally engaged however we can.

So on the whole, I love audiobooks.   I'm very glad there are so many options these days.  Couple that with the ease of downloading them and the myriad ways they can be played and it's a good solution for three of the four members of my family.   My husband, not so much.   He's more of a movie guy.   He took me to the opening day of Star Wars yesterday morning.   I go to about one movie a year.   It was definitely a good choice.

My Son's Technical Knowledge:  Last night my son's iPad did an overnight software update.  This morning it was asking for information he didn't know how to answer as it finalized the update so he brought it to me for help.   As I was working on it it seemed sluggish and response-delayed, something I didn't think it should be doing.  I asked him if it was always this slow.  He told me, "Usually it's down to the millisecond."   He had not a clue what that meant, but it sounded good so I told him I was glad it was that fast as I handed it back to him.

What My Daughter Woke Up and Said:  My daughter fell asleep after dinner on our bed.   As I'm writing this she sat up, looked at me and said, "Am I in Vocabulary?"  I told her, "no, you're in the bedroom with me."  She looked around and said, "I don't know why I would think that.  I know it's a collection of letters, but I don't know what that means right now."  Then she asked me if I could cover her up with all the blankets, as she pulled one over herself and fell immediately back to sleep.   This is good because her brother is in their bedroom listening to the audiobook Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief marathon-fashion because his father told him there was a movie but he had to finish listening to the book before he could watch it.