Please Read To Your Children…

Each night I have Anderson is special to me. Like every night, we eat dinner and have enough play time to have fun either playing Wii, boardgames, baking...there is always something fun to do.

But the most important thing parents seem to overlook. Not in my house.

I can remember being a little girl sharing a room with my sister, Jenny, and every night having my Mom put us to bed with a story. She worked full time, had 9 children, cooked a full dinner every night, did the laundry, the shopping, the cleaning...EVERY DAY!  She may have been dead on her feet but she ALWAYS made time for bedtime.

Even before the studies were done and published in the scientific magazines, she knew that reading to her children was important. It didn't matter if it was Dr. Seuss or a book we brought home from school. She took the time to read to us and teach us to read. I credit her with my love of books.

I remember one summer when I was 15 my parents let me walk the 3 blocks to the Lawrence Public Library. I read an entire series of 50 books about wagon trains within 3 weeks.

It is so important to read to your children. Anderson has a love of reading. He is in first grade and is on a 16 reading level, which is very high. It's because we read every night. His school Benton Elementary is challenging student to read one hundred books this year and he is well on his way. I'm not saying this to brag...I'm saying this to inspire other parents to read with and to your children.

Last night, Chad and I were on the couch and he read us a book about Smurfs. He needed help with Azrael and Gargarmel but other than that he read it word for word.  We didn't need the television, just a blanket a book and being surrounded by love. It only took 15 minutes but it's 15 minutes that we will remember. Memories are made together as a family.

I posted this video a few years ago. You can see that even then he was excited to read. Please, PLEASE, read to your children. The difference you see with them will amaze you. They will be proud of themselves and become more independent and you will see improvement in their grades.