--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sometimes, reading to my children at…" description: "\"“Sometimes, reading to my children at night, the perverse thought would come to me that in rehashing for them the same fairy stories, Bible stories, an..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/nicole-krauss-920_children_sometimes-reading-to-my-children-at-nigh_1584730.jpg" --- # Sometimes, reading to my children at night, the perverse… ![“Sometimes, reading to my children at night, the perverse thought would come to me that in rehashing for them the same fairy stories, Bible stories, and myths, I was not giving them a gift but rather taking something from them. Night after night i was instructing them in convention. Here are the…” quote by Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/nicole-krauss-920_children_sometimes-reading-to-my-children-at-nigh_1584730.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/nicole-krauss-920_children_sometimes-reading-to-my-children-at-nigh_1584730.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/nicole-krauss-920_children_sometimes-reading-to-my-children-at-nigh_1584730.jpg) > ““Sometimes, reading to my children at night, the perverse thought would come to me that in rehashing for them the same fairy stories, Bible stories, and myths, I was not giving them a gift but rather taking something from them. Night after night i was instructing them in convention. Here are the various forms life can take, I was telling them. And yet i still remembered the time when my older son's mind did not produce known forms or follow familiar patterns, when his urgent strange questions about the world revealed it anew to us. We saw his perspective as a form of brilliance and yet went on educating him in the conventional forms, even while they chafed us.”” [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator worries that retelling familiar stories may limit a child's imagination, yet also values the child's unique curiosity and the tension between tradition and originality. **In simple terms:** Rethinking storytelling and its impact on imagination. Key Takeaway Balance tradition with encouraging original thought. Themes parenting imagination tradition education creativity Mood reflective thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - Bedtime reading - creative writing workshops - educational curricula - family discussions Key Concepts Narrative influence cognitive development cultural transmission Questions to Reflect On - How can we preserve cultural stories while fostering new perspectives? - What practices nurture a child's innate curiosity? A Different Perspective Stories can both constrain and inspire; the effect depends on how they are presented. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Life Telling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-telling-427916/) [Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perspective/) [Perverse Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perverse-thought-5993330/) [Reading Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading-children-576735/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Telling Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-remembered-5993331/) ## Related quotes > [This is what I thought: for the most banal even to become an adventure, you must (and this is enough) begin to recount it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/this-is-what-i-thought-for-the-most-banal-even-to-become-an-adventure/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [Children's reading and children's thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which this country will rise. 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