Read To a Child

I have been so busy the past few days. Not busy doing anything out of the ordinary, just abnormally busier than usual. I have decided to finally read #6 book in the Harry Potter series. So, when I am not busy with work or my family responsibilities I am reading that book, hence my abnormal business.

On Thursdays I have the opportunity to volunteer in my daughter's first grade class room. Today I left feeling a bit sad. The teacher is challenging the students to read 700 minutes the first quarter of school and will celebrate with a reading party at the end. The whole school has also started a reading challenge as well. The teacher has strategically placed numbered stars along side one wall of the room. As the children's reading minutes are tallied their named is moved to the numbered star that matches the minutes they have read. I am proud to announce that Emily has already read 750! Anyway, the point of my post tonight is the sadness I felt when looking at the names of the students and the number of minutes they were reading. There was a handful of students who had not even read 100 minutes. The vast majority had read anywhere from 200 - 300 minutes. There was one child who was not even on the wall. I am going to assume that this child's name was removed because of the upset mother I am going to tell you about in a little bit.

After looking at the wall for quite some time I mentioned to the teacher how sad it was (the kids were at recess). I said, "if the parents only new how important it is to read with their children every day". Before the beginning of school Kevin and I were doing the most of the reading to the kids. Since this challenge Emily has read anywhere from 30 - 45 minutes a day to us (broken up between morning and night). Her reading skills have improved dramatically since we have been doing more listening and less reading. We mix it up sometimes, I read a line, she reads a line. Or, I read a more difficult story, or the scriptures, and Emily follows along and jumps in when she recognizes words. The teachers response to my comments surprised me. She said, "I wish so bad you could have attended my parent meeting I held". When I asked her why she told me about one of the mothers. The mother was furious. She did not understand why she had to read to her child and thought it pointless. She proceeded to "lecture" the teacher on various "psychological" studies and reprimanded the teacher for even suggesting such a challenge. HOW ABSURD! The teacher had wanted me there to shared my opinion in rebuttal to this woman's.

Every week Emily came home from school and reported how much closer she was to earning the party. She looked forward to reading. And then one day she was just beaming and she shouted I have read 750 minutes! That means I earned the reading party!

Emily's classroom has a large percentage of children with various "issues", from poverty to learning disabilities. But the biggest disability these children have are parents as ignorant as this one mother who REFUSE! to read to their children. Whether their refusal is intentional or just plain ignorant neglect I do not know. But either way the child is the one who is suffering from the parents lack of interest in the child's educational well being. Shoot, even the parent is missing out. I love to read to my kids! I love the snuggle time, the adventure, the one on one time that I don't always get! What a horrible and vicious cycle it is for an under educated (even educated parents may neglect their child in this area due to lack of time) parent to continue to not show interest in their child's education. One comment recently sent home in the school's newsletter was to the parents telling them to read and let their children SEE them reading. What's that? Be an EXAMPLE? For so many children the example set for them is their parents watching TV, movies, playing video games, or just lounging around visiting with friends. These things are all fine to do. But if it is the only thing your child EVER sees you do then it becomes a problem rather than being a relaxing or enjoyable thing to do. I could even say that goes toward the example of hard work. My parents taught me about hard work. Even now I have a difficult time sometimes just being still.

Please, read to your children. Let them see you reading. Something I always tell my daughter is that she cannot do anything in her life unless she knows how to read. "You cannot read to your own kids. You cannot go on mental journeys or adventures. You cannot be a Zoo Keeper (Emily's most recent career desire)."

So, grab a book, grab a kid (yours, your sister's kid, your grand kid, your neighbor's kid), and go on an adventure together.

Speaking of books...check out my business web link found on the right column of my blog.