Reading — Making It All In The Family
We did at least one thing right as parents.
Everyone has their own reasons for reading. You read to learn. You read for pleasure. You read for work. Whatever the reason, reading is the gateway to understanding our world — past, present and future. It’s the gateway to understanding ourselves and others.
I have always loved reading. Growing up in a small town, reading allowed me to have experiences, go places, and meet people that shy young me would never have done in real life. Trips of the library and the Weekly Reader Book Club are fond memories for me.
My husband has also always been a reader. He grew up in a smaller town than I did and read all of the magazines that his parents subscribed to — Readers’ Digest, Car & Driver, Good Housekeeping, Redbook. It did not matter who the intended audience was, he read it cover to cover.
So it was just natural for us to start reading to our children before they could walk. My oldest son is now 33 and I can still recite most of Dr. Suess’s ABC. We read it that often. Our reading habit started with picture books and grew to novels. When I say we read to them, I mean when we read The Lord of the Rings trilogy out loud to them, we read every word to them. They did not read to us. Of course, they read other books to us, but the true habit…
