Who’s Reading? On Children’s Aesthetics and Parenting

Abstract There is space for children in philosophy. They are mentioned in debates over the rationality of love and in ethical and pedagogical debates on the nature of parenthood. There is also a field devoted to teaching philosophy to children. But there isn’t much discussion on children and aesthetics, on their aesthetic judgments and preferences, and on what it is like to build an aesthetic for children. There is virtually nothing on how children’s aesthetic preferences affect not only the adults they will eventually become but also the adults with whom they live—their parents. In this paper, I approach the topic by looking at young children’s literature, specifically literature for children whose reading depends on the presence of an adult or, at the very least, of someone who is able to read to them. I will begin by looking at the practice of reading with children: what is read, when, and how. Responding to these questions can pave the way to answering another question: namely, why do we read to them? While the answer to the latter question may seem obvious given the extensive studies on the benefits of reading to young children, I believe an appeal to children’s aesthetics can complicate the answer and further contribute to the discussion on loving them, on growing as a parent, and on loving what they love.