Reading Does a Growing Mind Good

Have I ever told you how much I love to read? Well, I love, love, L-O-V-E, love to read.

My earliest memories are of listening to my mom read at home. I also have very fond memories of my elementary school library days. The librarian would sit in her big rocker and read to my classmates and me as we sat sandwiched in between the nonfiction shelves in the back corner of the library. She had very white hair and always had a cough drop in her mouth. And, then there was the very sweet Kay Stoker, library aide. She always knew the best books to check out. In my later elementary days I was obsessed with the Boxcar Children, Sweet Valley High, and the Babysitter's Club series. I can't imagine the money my mother must have spent filling up those collections.

In junior high I earned the second highest number of points in our Accelerated Reading program. I was introduced to Lurlene McDaniel and read up all the books on the something or other medal list my librarian was always recommending.

In high school I fell in love with the Left Behind series and anything Oprah recommended. Miss Day, the high school library aide, also always had good recommendations. I read Rifles for Watie (and have re-read it approximately ten times....probably the only book I have ever re-read) and any other books set during the Civil War period. I read a biography about a girl named Alex growing up with cystic fibrosis and it made me appreciate the happy healthy childhood I had like never before.

In college, I took a strange hiatus from reading novels, except for when a new Left Behind book came out. It was something about being too cool for reading, or maybe too busy with school and life to think about reading. I did study my Bible more at this time than I ever did before. I just didn't find myself in the library each week scoping out my next new book to devour.

When I graduated college and entered adulthood, as I call it, reading came back to me. I eat up anything written by Nicholas Sparks and read more devotional type books. I recently read an Oprah book club selection, but the ending stunk, so I've pretty much stopped taking her advice in the book area.

Where am I going with all of this you say?

I want my son to love reading as much as I did. I want him to be so immersed in the world of reading I have to tell him to put the book away at meal time. I want to yell at him from the front seat of the car because he's reading at dusk and "it's bad for his eyes". I want to scold him for choosing to get in one last chapter instead of cleaning up his room or doing the dishes. I want to go into his room well past midnight and say, "It's past bedtime. Put the book away and turn out the light." And, I want him to say okay, turn the light off and get out the flashlight and read just "one more chapter".

And, so....we read to Gabe. Thanks to generous friends and family he's already got a great book collection going. Before bedtime, we read together. In the afternoon, we read together. In the car, we read together. Waiting at the doctor's office, we read together. He enjoys the pictures, but doesn't usually sit still long enough to get through an entire book. I'm hoping in time that will change though.

Here are some pictures of story time this evening.

Checking out page one.

Intense studying.

Daddy Kisses, a great bedtime book!

If you're a young mom or dad and you're reading this...read to your kids. Read to them and allow them the opportunity of a lifetime of enjoyment and enlightenment.

P.S.- Gabe had his one year check up today and everything was great. He weighs 23 lbs. 6 oz. and is 31" in length. Despite the rug burns on his knees from some intense crawling, Dr. McQ says he's just perfect!