When my first child came into the world, thankfully
my mother was present to help me. In no time, she corrected a major deficiency in my parenting skills.
“Talk to your baby. Don’t be silent.
The baby needs to hear your voice.”
From then on, I talked to my baby
about everything from bathing and dressing, feeding and what happened in the world.
My husband and I soon established a routine at bedtime — another of my mother’s
wise suggestions. Regardless of where we were in the world, we stuck to a
routine: bath, bedtime, read a book, down for the “night.”
By the time our third baby arrived,
bedtime had become an assembly line marathon. No matter how old the child, each
had a turn in Daddy’s lap reading a book of their choice while Mommy prepared
the next in line for their turn or nursed the newborn.
This summer, my business group
promoted the opportunity to participate in an ongoing reading program for children of all ages. “Reading Rocks” is held in
the city’s parks, every day over a six-week period. I volunteered to read with or to a child one
day each week in the park closest to my workplace. Literacy is one of the necessary
fundamental skills. Reading with my children proved to be essential to their education
and future employment.
Today, July 25th, is my
last reading session. Most of the children participating in “Reading Rocks” are
enrolled in summer daycare programs while their parents are at work. Some of the
children have no experience of hearing a story or reading with their parents or
other adult.
I gained as much from the program as
the children, from encouraging a group of middle school boys to make up their
own story based on a title one of the boys had misread, reading to a little
girl who was as interested in telling me her story, making the acquaintance of an armadillo from the local zoo and
a border collie trained to assist PTSD sufferers.
I was reminded of the many hours I
had spent with my children and how rewarding those hours were, especially in
terms of the gift of time.
Thanks to my experienced mother, reading and routine
were regularities that established reliability in their young years. There’s
more to raising children than reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic.
Perhaps one or two of these young
readers will become writers. Story-telling certainly came into my life at a
very young age from hearing my mother and father read aloud and tell their own tales.
The Reading Rocks program sounds fantastic. More cities ought to have something like that, and more children need to have the importance of reading instilled in them as your children had. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Fran. I believe the Reading Rocks program is through the library system and seems to be national, depending on the library's decision to participate.
DeleteReading Rocks is a wonderful program, essential for children whose parents don't read to them. Kudos to you for participating. For me, one of the greatest pleasures of my life has been the time spent with a child in my lap or snuggled against my side, the two of us sharing a story.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate that my mother loved to read - even though she was dyslexic, she read voraciously and told me stories of her experience as a young mother during WWII as well as others from her childhood. I preferred to write stories than to read them! Still, all my children read proficiently before they attended kindergarten. Like you, the hours reading with my young ones remain precious memories - and I now have their children to carry on the tradition with.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a terrific program. I'm convinced that instilling a love of stories early is critical for children's development.
ReplyDeleteHi Leigh--
ReplyDeleteWhat a great program to participate in! And what a wonderful gift of your time to those children. I agree that your mother is a wise and caring woman and look at the impactful results taking her advice has had on your family and community.
Victoria--