What is your favorite … ?
Many kids have a favorite story. They may imagine themselves in the story, may adore the telling, or enjoy where or when they heard it or saw it that makes a special impression. Many kids will have a special story or video that they want to take them back to recreate some magic feeling.
I suspect that all people are prone to addictive behavior — it can be difficult to distinguish between habit, learned behavior, and addiction. The substance abuse community seems to feel they own the addiction label, but they have to share ‘addiction’ to include other behaviors that annoy friends and family. We learn something that works, and are encouraged to repeat that behavior, whether polite etiquette, a craft, trade, or profession, or loyalty, honesty, and patience.
So what do we teach our kids, when we insist or require them to read or watch new things, rather than repeat the story or activity that they value? In our local public school kids are encouraged to read. They have a program for tracking ‘points’ for reading and testing on various books — so many required per school term. Most of the kids I encountered work the system. They trade test answers back and forth, they trade hints about which books are simpler to read, they are anxious to avoid re-reading a book — the school penalizes them by not allowing points for repeating the book. There is no pattern, no opportunity for kids to develop a ‘favorite’.
This isn’t a new phenomenon. My neighbor sees me sitting at the table after eating, reading (often re-reading) a book. He comments he cannot remember the last book he read (my father made the same comment some 30 years ago). He also notices that sometimes I will have a book he has seen me read before. I have tried to explain, that I enjoy the telling as much as the story. If a book is worth reading, it is likely worth re-reading. Not always true, but usually I do end up re-reading books.
I have seen movies that I enjoyed watching — and would be content to never see it again. Others were more rewarding in some way, and I go back to them. The music in ‘An American President’ and ‘Working Girl’ make the picture for me, and I enjoy seeing them every month or two. ‘Down Periscope’, ‘Operation Petticoat’, ‘She’s The One’, ‘Nuns On The Run’ are comedies, they have characters that are fun to watch and get to know, and to re-visit. ‘Long Kiss Good Night’, ‘Under Siege’, ‘Daddy Day Care’, ‘Grosse Point Blanke’ are repeaters for me.
Elizabeth Moon writes some very good Science Fiction. I tend to like the first book of her series’ best, but most are quite good, with some strong characters. Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne McCaffrey, Mike Shepherd, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Susan R. Matthews. All good books, that I have re-read numerous times.
It is rewarding to visit, again, a favorite friend or relative. If the ‘read it already’ crowd were correct, would that mean there is no value in forming families - that we return to each day?