The Brain On Chick Lit
Findings from a British survey earlier this year as reported in the Daily Mail:
Women stop reading serious literature and turn to ‘chick-lit’ after having children, research suggests.
Mothers were shown to swap novels and non- fiction for lighter reads including celebrity autobiographies by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Jordan.
Sixty per cent of mums admit they read a lot less than they did before having children.
More than half - 51 per cent - prefer chick-lit or “anything that doesn’t take much effort” and only 8.5 per cent choose non-fiction.
I don’t find this to be either a good thing or a bad thing, but it did make me chuckle. I just got this vision of women having babies and then losing the part of their brains that allowed them to read anything written before 1992 or with a chick on the cover. Weird.
The article actually contains some pretty common sense info. Nothing negative. It points out how it’s good for kids to see mommy reading and enjoying it. Ah, how refreshing.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I had my 3 nieces last week and only was able to read about 40 pages over an 8 day period. Cheers to all the moms that can read anything while taking care of a family everyday. I’ve been playing catch up on my reading all week and have managed to read about 5 books since my girls left.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:10 am
I’ve read that motherhood affects the brain and have to admit I had more trouble writing, coming up with the right word, etc., during my pregnancy. One of my friends had no interest in reading at all while she was pregnant. Body/brain is busy with other stuff!
July 25th, 2008 at 8:31 am
What is a book “that doesn’t take much effort”? Or, perhaps more to the point, what is a book that “takes much effort”? Barring finger paralysis or severe dyslexia, I’ve never perceived reading as a particularly strenuous activity.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:19 am
The major problems I faced with reading after giving birth (2ce) was 1) staying awake past the first line of text because I was so exhausted, or 2) rereading the same paragraph over 57 times because I kept getting interrupted by someone else’s immediate needs.
I get this article.
Luckily, once they reach the stage where they can pretty much read on their own, you get to go back to “serious” reading. Usually you have to in order to answer their questions. My 9-er asked me about exotic dancing the other night— and the 14-yr-old answered him. Got lots to keep up with….
July 25th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Oh my. Haha - interesting article. I can’t remember if my mom didn’t read when I was little…
July 28th, 2008 at 9:17 am
The article is interesting. My mom used to read to me all the time. One of my favorite memories from when I was younger was the two of use reading L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series together. It definitely amped my love of reading.
July 30th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I don’t have children and love chick lit… maybe it will be re-inforced when I grow up!