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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2755 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 14, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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So, like 2 years ago I built my kid a stool with a drawer, and stuck a copy of The Hobbit inside it, since she was developing more of an affinity for fantasy through these "Julia's House for Lost Creatures" stories I bought her. But she was only 3 and not very interested in it. Too many words, too much description, not enough things happening, or pictures. She's 5 now, and we were doing pretty OK getting through it. She had more interest in the story, but the lack of pictures really were hard on her. A friend of mine had tried reading her 4 year old an illustrated and unabridged copy of The Hobbit (I've since learned he lost interest in it), which gave me the idea to order a companion art book for my daughter to look at while I read. So I ordered Alan Lee's Hobbit Sketchbook.

It's been night and fucking day. I think it took me 6-9 months to read The Hobbit to my daughter. I got the art book when we were almost finished, right after Smaug had been killed. My daughter went from having enough interest to sit down and see what happens next once a week, to begging me to read it to her virtually every spare moment. Then as soon as we finished, she wanted to start again right from the beginning. We get through about 20 pages or so a day, and after 2 weeks I expect we'll finish in another week or so. It's all she talks about too, it's adorable as can be.

I'd like to believe this could be a core memory for her spending time with her dad. In much the same way I remember what must have been the 1991 Washington Redkins' season, and how much it became a family event watching football with my dad.

That's a great idea, I'm going to try it :)

I started my kids off with Harry Potter. After watching the movies, it's much easier for them to visualize what's going on when I read. I read books 1 and 2 to my 6 year old that way.

I thought about doing the same with the Hobbit or Narnia, but the movies aren't quite as friendly to young kids. (I've also got a 1, 2, and 3 yo right now that even Narnia would be too much for. Harry Potter is full of funny scenes in between the scary ones that these other "kids" movies don't have.)

Yeah, my wife wants to read Narnia to her too. She's been looking for a nicer hardcover edition that doesn't break the bank. There are a bunch of all in one hardcovers of the whole series on Amazon, but they seem suspicious. The page count seems too low (500 pages?) and the photo reviews all show horribly quality issues.

Edit: I almost forgot! We're making an earnest attempt at not being a "TV" house hold. So it's unlikely we will ever proceed from The Hobbit book to The Hobbit movies. Or for Narnia, Harry Potter, etc.

It's actually interesting, trying to raise her as long as we can without the crutch of TV. It's exhausting, for sure. Sometimes life would be a lot easier if we just threw on a DVD and walked away for an hour or two. But I think it's been worth it.

The Hobbit movies

Movies? I'm sorry, I only know of the one.

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