Why encourage reading?
When you pick up the kids from school, pour into the living room, scarf down supper, head off to foorball practice or ballet class or piano lessons, wondering when in the world you'll get time this evening to read, have you ever wondered why should you encourage reading?
I admit I have. Yes, even me, even though I grew up with my nose in a book and later majored in English. After all, I still think my kids need time to move their muscles, explore their talents, and just have fun.
And what is reading except another form of entertainment? Is reading Franklin any different than letting your kids watch Franklin on PBS? Is reading Twilight really any different than watching the movie? Is reading a book about Spiderman really so much different than letting them play Spiderman on Wii?
And now with math and computer skills becoming paramount to getting a job, what is really so necessary about reading for fun?
The answer wasn't apparent right away, but as I've watched my cousins, nieces, nephews and my own kids grow up, the answer has become pretty obvious. Reading is still a major job skill. Careers that involve major amounts of reading, espcially the boring dry reading nobody wants to do, still pay high amounts of money. And how do you get to the point where you can plow through 150 pages of briefings or instructions or medical textbooks in an evening? You build up to that point by reading for fun. Kids who read for fun as little kids grow up to find college, medical school, law school, and business careers much less daunting. They are able to speed read through massive amounts of information every day. They find employers willing to pay them large amounts of money per hour because the employer knows that the hour will not be spent sounding out words. Reading fast is not a skill you develop when you get to college. It's certainly not a skill you aquire with large amounts of television viewing. No, it's a skill you pick up as a child.
Of course, we're not going to get any child to improve their reading speed by reading legal briefings.
BORING!
That's where reading for fun comes in. As parents and educators, we scour bookstores and libraries to find just the right books that will interest our children. If that happens to be Franklin, that's great! If it happens to be Twilight! Awesome! As long as the child in question is practicing moving their eyes back and forth, taking in information, and remembering.
Reading out loud to your children, at any age, has the added benefit of improving their auditory processing skills. Again, you don't improve a child's ability to follow verbal directions by telling them to do a long list of things and expecting them to remember it. You improve their ability by giving them information verbally, without any other visual stimulus, and making it memorable. The more they practice this, the better they will be able to remember exactly what their football coach says when he goes over strategy. Or, they will be able to carry out longer sequences of a dance routine the first time the choreographer explains the new routine.
And they will be able to sit through a lecture on foriegn policy and remember exactly what the director of the FBI just said.
Yes, that's where the skill comes from.
Do your child a huge favor tonight. Go home tonight, grab a flash light or candles, turn out the lights and read from the most interesting book you can find. Do your best to read with as much mystery, suspense, and drama in your voice as you can. You'll prepare them for their future and create a memory that will last a lifetime.
I admit I have. Yes, even me, even though I grew up with my nose in a book and later majored in English. After all, I still think my kids need time to move their muscles, explore their talents, and just have fun.
And what is reading except another form of entertainment? Is reading Franklin any different than letting your kids watch Franklin on PBS? Is reading Twilight really any different than watching the movie? Is reading a book about Spiderman really so much different than letting them play Spiderman on Wii?
And now with math and computer skills becoming paramount to getting a job, what is really so necessary about reading for fun?
The answer wasn't apparent right away, but as I've watched my cousins, nieces, nephews and my own kids grow up, the answer has become pretty obvious. Reading is still a major job skill. Careers that involve major amounts of reading, espcially the boring dry reading nobody wants to do, still pay high amounts of money. And how do you get to the point where you can plow through 150 pages of briefings or instructions or medical textbooks in an evening? You build up to that point by reading for fun. Kids who read for fun as little kids grow up to find college, medical school, law school, and business careers much less daunting. They are able to speed read through massive amounts of information every day. They find employers willing to pay them large amounts of money per hour because the employer knows that the hour will not be spent sounding out words. Reading fast is not a skill you develop when you get to college. It's certainly not a skill you aquire with large amounts of television viewing. No, it's a skill you pick up as a child.
Of course, we're not going to get any child to improve their reading speed by reading legal briefings.
BORING!
That's where reading for fun comes in. As parents and educators, we scour bookstores and libraries to find just the right books that will interest our children. If that happens to be Franklin, that's great! If it happens to be Twilight! Awesome! As long as the child in question is practicing moving their eyes back and forth, taking in information, and remembering.
Reading out loud to your children, at any age, has the added benefit of improving their auditory processing skills. Again, you don't improve a child's ability to follow verbal directions by telling them to do a long list of things and expecting them to remember it. You improve their ability by giving them information verbally, without any other visual stimulus, and making it memorable. The more they practice this, the better they will be able to remember exactly what their football coach says when he goes over strategy. Or, they will be able to carry out longer sequences of a dance routine the first time the choreographer explains the new routine.
And they will be able to sit through a lecture on foriegn policy and remember exactly what the director of the FBI just said.
Yes, that's where the skill comes from.
Do your child a huge favor tonight. Go home tonight, grab a flash light or candles, turn out the lights and read from the most interesting book you can find. Do your best to read with as much mystery, suspense, and drama in your voice as you can. You'll prepare them for their future and create a memory that will last a lifetime.