Readers 4 Life

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away,

Nor any Courser like a Page

Of prancing Poetry-

This Traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll-

How frugal is the Chariot 

That bears the Human soul

-Emily Dickinson

  

Guarding his book from Finley

     First of all, here is a little background. I remember going to the cabin when I was about three or four years old and sitting in the living room, longing to go out and play but I was too young to go alone and my parents were busy reading. They actually said "I guess you better learn to read so you won't be bored." I quickly learned to read and to love reading. My mom was great about taking us to the library on a regular basis and she would read out loud to us for hours. Because she would read to us I was able to come in contact with books above my reading level and quickly became an adept and avid reader.

"Is that supposed to be a horse?"

     My mom taught, well, several different grades, but she spent several years while I was still living at home teaching third grade at a title one school (low socioeconomic status) and many of her kids came from homes where the parents couldn't be as involved with their kids for one reason or another. She felt strongly that her success with those kids, specifically in the area of test score improvement, (there is no accounting for kid magic which she has in abundance) was due to the huge amount of reading that she did with the kids in her classroom.

This should be one of those library "READ" posters.

     All these things bring me to the conclusion that reading is important. Duh, you all say. But hear me out, even if this seems obvious. The more adept you are at reading the further you can go in any area that might catch your interest. If you want to take up sailing, get a book. If you are curious about accounting, look it up, because we are all curious about accounting, right? If I can instill in my kids a love for reading, I feel, the only limits on them will be the ones they impose on themselves.

     So here are my fears...
     People always talk about how as you have more kids you tend to read to them less. You get busy, or rushed, or you are trying to help the older ones with homework and there just isn't time to read to the little ones the way you read to your first. Right now Nathan reads at least two books at bedtime every night. But reading with Finley is sporadic and she doesn't have the patience for books before bed. I know that as the kids get older things will get busier and that if we are blessed with more children bedtime will only get more hectic and our reading routine might fall by the way side.

Totally posed...

     I also struggle with the fact that I really don't enjoy reading out loud. As someone who has been reading silently since I was four, it feels very tedious to me, but I really do try to push myself to do it. I am often surprised, when I am done, how much I enjoyed it. Also, compare to Daniel, I am just rather boring. Given the choice of who to read to him Nathan will always choose Daddy. Daniel can do all the voices, he gets excited and really makes the story come to life. I try but all my funny voices sound the same and Nathan with gently ask me to "don't do the voices, mom".

Brings a whole new meaning to
 a truck load a books

I am blessed by the fact that Nathan already loves books. He will sit for hours, I am not exaggerating, and listen to someone read to him. He is such an active child normally (understatement of the year) and it is amazing to see him sit enthralled as someone reads aloud to him or as he flips through books, looking carefully at each page of the ones that we have read so many times he knows them by heart.

Story Time!

So where do you go to grow bibliophiles? The Library!
The library is a mixed bag for me as the mother of young children. The concept of inside voices, much less library voices, does not come naturally to my children, but I want Nathan and Finley to feel at home in the library so I try to make regular visits for things like story time. At least when we go for story time there are half a dozen other parents struggling with inside voices too and I don't feel like we are as conspicuous. There is a class for Finley where they sing more songs and read Goodnight Moon every time. And there is a older group right afterwards that is between their ages but they both seem to really enjoy it.

"Of course everyone perches on couches like
this when they read, mom."

 All this is to say I want our house to have a culture of reading the way mine did when I was growing up. It should be an expected part of everyday life. The gateway to worlds unknown! I dream of the day when I might look up over my book to see my whole family just sitting around reading together. I am not foolish enough to think that the beautiful moment will be more than a moment, I am betting on five seconds, before someone starts putting their feet on someone else and giggling or fussing ensues. Frigate* or not they are still kids.

*a frigate is a boat of sorts, my mom made me look it up.