My father is a very religious man. He is of Irish descent, and as a child was steeped in Roman Catholic tradition and culture. A few years ago, we were both reading in the same room, and I glanced over to see what he was reading… As it turns out, it was the Bible. I was slightly surprised; sure, I knew my dad was religious, but to me the idea of wading through a religious work such as the Bible is a daunting, and generally undesirable, expenditure.
I was genuinely curious as to why he was reading through it, so I asked! His answer was simple; he enjoyed it. He likes reading through the Bible just as much as I like reading a novel by Crichton or King. This intrigued me… I wanted to understand where his love for reading such religious works came from. I inquired more, and he explained to me that he was primarily exposed to religious works from a very young age due to his upbringing. His parents impressed upon him the importance of religious (specifically Catholic) literacy, and consequently, he became an avid reader of such literary works.
I reflected upon what he had said for a while. In essence, the religious culture that my grandparents impressed upon my father sculpted his literary proclivities for the rest of his life. Thinking back to my younger years, I wonder if my love for books such as those written by Stephen King or Michael Crichton derives its genesis from my parents enforcing certain beliefs upon me, whether it is a love that I created on my own, or if it is a healthy mix of the two… But I suppose I never will truly know!
Addressing the question you posed at the end, I think it may be a mix of both. At a young age, my mother encouraged my siblings and I to read. She said it would help broaden our horizons, but it think it was her way of getting us to not watch TV all the time. Many of the books I started reading as a kid, and still sometimes as an adult, are ones that my mom bought me that either she has read, or that others have read and approved of. From these books she has bought me, I have been able to develop my own taste of what I like and what I don’t, and my siblings have had the opportunity to do the same. For example, my favorite author is Jodi Picoult but my mom doesn’t like her because her books are too sad. I also love mystery and historical fiction novels, whereas my mom is more into romance books and what we refer to in my house as “beach books” (one’s that you take on vacation and can finish in a few days). My sister tends to be on the same page as my mom when it comes to books as well. She’s into the quirky love novels that always have a happy ending. My brother discovered that he doesn’t like to read, and my dad reads just about anything. With all of these influences in my home I think it would be impossible to not have some common ground based off the beliefs that one is taught when at home, but I also think it gives the opportunity to develop a unique taste in books. I believe that the beliefs you are taught somehow reflect in everything you do, so in some ways, you might be able to relate the books you read and authors you pick to your parents and others you might just enjoy because it gives you another outlook on the literary society and what it has to offer.
Also addressing the final question you posed, I also think it can be a combination of both. Everyone grows up in different households and everyone experiences slightly different forms of encouragement from parental figures. Personally, I think my parents were intermediate on pushing me to read. They introduced it to me, but they were never really on top of me to read books. At the other ends of the spectrum you could have parents that don’t introduce books and reading to you at all and vice versa, parents that scold you when you are not reading. So in part, I think it can be due to parents and how they raise you, however, I think it could also be personal preference. The idea of nature vs. nuture comes to my mind. This is an ongoing psychology fued of which one is more important to development. The nuture is the part of development that has to do with the environment you were raised in and the people you surrounded yourself with. This could be how much or how little your parents pushed you to read. The nature part is the genetic, innate part of you. This part of you does not relate to your environment, but rather your own willingness to do things based on your genes. So innately, you could just pick up reading at a young age just because you want to. Either way, it affects how or why you want to pick up books at a young age and thus affects your development of reading and literacy throughout your years.
I think that’s a very interesting observation, mainly because I went through a very similar situation with my family. My parents both very regularly read religious texts and that is something that they have held as a standard. Throughout their life, those texts have defined them. And a question I interpret as a result of yours is “does what we read influence us as people?”. In my parent’s case, reading religious texts has not only kept them dedicated to it, but it has pushed them to be more religious in times of hardship. When my brother and I were younger, we read a lot of science fiction and fantasy and still to this day, that is where our interests lie, and it seems to still resemble some of our interests in hobbies. It seems a bit to me like the chicken or the egg conundrum, but all the same, it is something to consider.
On another note, I think parents play such an integral role in one’s literacy development. Growing up in the States after coming from India, I had the unique opportunity to develop as a bilingual. Although I did not retain much Hindi, my native tongue, having a household where I could comfortably speak both has helped my confidence in general with learning other languages. That’s just one of things I think my parents have helped me with in terms of literacy.