Reading Science Fiction Will Make Your Child More Resilient
Geeky reading won’t just distract your kid during lockdown. Sci-fi helps us cope with crises, experts insist.
By Jessica Stillman
See a kid curled up with a novel about space aliens instead of swinging on the jungle gym at the park and one word will probably pop into your mind: geek.
Maybe that young bookworm will grow up to be a billionaire (many of the biggest names in business were dedicated sci-fi fans in their youths), but many of us associate a love of sci-fi with social awkwardness and getting pushed into your locker a lot.
Instead of a sure, straight road to social isolation and nerdiness, parents should think of science fiction as a great way for kids (and adults) to build mental strength, weather uncertainty, and imagine better futures, experts argue.
Predicting the unpredictable…
“Science-fiction writers don’t know anything more about the future than anyone else,” admitted celebrated sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson in the New Yorker recently. “Still, if you read science fiction, you may be a little less surprised by whatever does happen.”
