My coursemates thought I was a strange lad, as I displayed an unusual interest in geography at a young age. It happened that my father had a small collection of atlas books, which he used as a reference whenever embarking on a holiday. He liked the storied structures in Europe, which he saw in black-and-white movies. As a matter of fact, he met Mom during a trip to London. I haven't been outside of the mainland, even applied for a passport. But I knew where Helsinki was located. There would be capitals like Antananarivo. Danny suspected that I'd seen all the past episodes of "The Amazing Race," but it was far from the truth. I was bored after watching the contestants braving the subzero temperature in the Alps. But I was veering off from the main subject.
My old man and I created a bond through those atlas books, and I reckoned the effects would be similar to a different literary genre. Some parents would choose Lego blocks, and I couldn't blame them. (I've read a feature where engineers frequently said that construction toys inspired their careers.) And I could attest that Lego made me absorbed in my (developing) spatial skills. Books could be a challenging lot especially if it would be Victorian in origin. There won't be a problem with Harry Potter, even the diaries of that wimpy kid. I wouldn't forget the Grimm Brothers as well. (Mom read some of these stories to me before I went to bed. I was grateful.) But let's get into details. How could read bond parents with children? Let me illustrate it:
Reading can be another form of interaction. There's such a thing as good interaction, even bad ones as well. Both kinds can be considered work in progress, and the bad moments could be repairable as well. It's still interaction, whichever you look at it. There won't be any substitute for it. I would prefer to have fun; Mom would modify certain fairy tales. This won't make me more interested in the same stories. There won't be any limitations to the imagination.
This set-up will make kids more secure about their existence. I would call it a different kind of support, while the young minds embark on a different world. It will be a positive step, even if it's unfamiliar territory. And parents must be behind them.
Kids will be their own masters of their destiny. They may find another way to outsmart Professor Snape, even discover a counter spell to Maleficent's black magic. What will follow next? The young ones will be able to articulate it. Some may look at it as rather abrupt, as they want to know what happens in between processes. It will be a private matter between parent and child. In my case, it's rather a long story.
As for the atlas, it would lead to my other interest. There were eerie tales about structures that would date back to the Middle Age. This would be the reason behind my interest in Historical fiction, but that would be another matter.
