Reading classic literature is an extraordinary exercise to learn how to unravel the complexity of life.
The social era we are living is not easy at all: children are faced and confronted by continuous changes of direction, by continuous changes of attention; more and more often brief attention times are requested, while classics obviously require a higher and longer concentration time and ability for attention.
Modern society is often criticized because of the tendency to simplify and reduce to a minimum the complexity offered us by our world and it is extraordinary to be able to show youngsters that complexity can be found even in the pages of a book.
Reading classics obviously requires a higher ability of concentration and attention.
For this reason I feel it is important to share this advice; read classics. For example, for a fourth of fifth grade it could be reading the integral version of Pinocchio.
The story of Pinocchio develops from his relationship with the adult, with adults, with different characters that are not only the cat and the fox, the talking cricket, Geppetto or the fairy godmother but they are all characters that Pinocchio needs to face to find his limits, and somehow sustain truth but also the possibility that a lie may have some kind of truth hidden in its deep.
The lie, as a sort of truth is not trivial and reading Pinocchio in its integral version means offering a child the complexity, not only an argumentative complexity but also a semantic complexity, a vastity and complexity of vocabulary, with the complexity of meanings that a single word can have.
Reading it in the integral version therefore means, above all, showing respect for the author and for the child himself.
Teacher of Primary School at Scuole CEFA
CEFA 4 Family is the column of CEFA Schools designed to collect and offer practical and useful advice to become aware parents and support their children in their growth.
