Shut the laptop and pick up a book

• Published date: 19 December 2020
• Date: 19 December 2020

Reading to my class was the highlight of my teaching day. It was a ritual in which I, the reader, had an almost sacred power as I unlocked new worlds for the children in my care.

As the story stole over them, the children would relax - the well-adjusted and the anxious, the attention seekers and the quiet ones, even the emotionally damaged kids who came to school with hard little grins and a burning need to be disruptive - they would all settle into the "biodome of language" as I read to them.

Many parents interact with their children when it's time to do homework but this often brings stress and recriminations, for both parties, while sharing stories and travelling through new realms together does the opposite. Maybe we should just do a swap? - Yours, etc,

CLARE SHERIDAN,

Bray, Co Wicklow.

Sir, - I am delighted and...