We read Shakespear to our 6 month old. He looks at us as though we are utterly stupid.?

Question

He never offers a comment. Should we continue?

Answer 1

I would look at you like you are stupid too :} I applaud you for reading anything to your baby!!!! Enjoy these days when he has no comment (or criticism) you'll wish for them one day...many days!!!!
Congrats!!

Answer 2

Have you thought of maybe reading children's books to your child instead? You know, something with pictures he can look at? He doesn't understand what you're reading to him. Some adults don't even understand Shakespeare.

I would suggest simple baby books. Things with animals, or colors, or the alphabet, or numbers, or shapes, or just something fun.

My daughter's three favorites are a book of colors, a book of animals and "Where the Wild Things Are". Keep it simple, and your child will learn to love reading. Save the Shakespeare for later.

Answer 3

Shakespeare? My six month old looks at me like I'm stupid when I read her "Puppy Parade"! Shakespear has concepts and words WAY beyond the grasp of a six month old. Think about it this way... you don't try to get a child to skip, jump, and run befor s/he can even roll over, sit up, or crawl. You don't ask a child to fingure out the Pathagream Theory befor they can add or subtract! You don't drop a child in a college course befor they've reached Kindergarden. You're starting too big. You need to ease into to things, one step at a time. Start with books with pretty pictures and words that rhyme to get him interested in books and learning! If you start too big with words and concepts your child can't even begin to grasp, you'll only frusterate him and make him lose interests in all books, maybe even in learning to speak. The words, phrases, and style of speach Shakespeare uses are not like we use today, which may be confusing to a child who is trying to learn how to put words together and how to speak them. At this point in time he is not going to learn a single thing from Shakespeare except that when Mommy pulls out a book suddenly the world of words becomes more difficult to understand. On the other hand if you read "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" he will learn how words he understands, or is starting to understand from the pictures, relate to eachother. Soon he'll be able to put simple sentences together himself. With rhyme he'll begin to anticipate and remember sentences and stories. Keep reading, but read something he has the potential to understand. Something that will actually help him learn.

Answer 4

If you want your child to love Shakespeare keep doing it. My hubby reads our toddler Stephen Hawking...she doesn't care because it's Daddy reading to her and he can actually tolerate it more than the kids books. We've also been exposing our daughter to every type of music available since the beginning. We're both musicians at heart and her first classical and rock concerts were in-utero. Because of that as a toddler she enjoys jazz and rock music just as much if not more than nursery rhymes. Even if things are only in the background or if your child doesn't actively respond to them they're still absorbing everything you expose them too.

Answer 5

he's six months old--he's not really going to comment, now is he?

We exposed our son to Shakespeare in utero, literally (we're theatre people, and my husband jokes that our son's first show was Much Ado About Nothing--I played Beatrice when I was five months pregnant). We continued to watch videos and run lines in front of him after he was born, as well as taking him to rehearsals, and last year he played the changeling child in a local production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, he is simply too young right now to be expected to comprehend the action, or to sit through an entire play. We continue to expose him to the language of it, but our story time tends to consist of material more on his level--usually involving Elmo.

Answer 6

It depends on what you want to get.
If you do it only for the pure pleasure of reading to your baby, why not?
If you want her to react and show that she really enjoy it, you should switch to something more baby-ish, get some baby books that she will enjoy looking at and listening to you singing and making some funny noises (as well as learning some basic words)
If your objective is an 'early start', you should continue, but add some stuff she will need in her life to learn first, like colors and shapes.
Good luck!

Answer 7

what kind of comment are you looking for? He is 6 months old. Try reading him some baby books, there is plenty of time to get him into shakespear. Enjoy your baby, don't rush things.

Answer 8

He's 6 months old...what kind of comments are you looking for? Play Mozart and other classical songs for him until he's a bit older to comprehend something as weighty as Shakespeare.

Answer 9

You could read Shakespear to a 60 year old and get the same look!! Don't be discouraged - keep reading it!!

Answer 10

I did the flash card thing with my daughter when she was a couple months old. She looked bored and gave me looks also. But... she was reading prior to going to kindergarten - so read on!

Answer 11

he isn't going to comment. he is 6 months old. you should continue reading to him, read anything. he will like picture book more though. reading is very important at such a young age.