I wish I still had the research that motivated me to start reading everyday for at least 15 minutes to my oldest. It was something like 95% of kids that are read to everyday for at least 15 minutes graduat in the top of their high school class. I love books and I definitely want my kids to like books. I read all the quotes about “Leaders are Readers” and how its a sign of intelligence. I just know that if I want to ever learn something, I just have to find a book on it.
On my first tour to Iraq I would order books online and when they got to me, I borrowed a DVD recorder and would record myself reading stories to my son on DVD. Then I would send him the DVD and the book. He was 2 the first time I left. Despite my best efforts, he wasn’t interested in reading on his own until he started at a family private school that required so much time a day of reading. Once I found the right book, he fell in love. This one just happened to be The Spiderwick Choronicles. After that he read a lot and he did actually graduate high school a year early with amazing grades, a welding certificate, and a semester shy of an associates degree.
My other kids aren’t so easy to persuade into the love of reading and the amount of screens shoved into our faces, I kind of get it. We offer them money for approved book reports. By approved I just mean we have to see them reading the book as it has to be a long enough book and age appropriate. We also have to watch them write a book report on it. This also is age appropriate. For example the 4th grader fills out a book report outline that I found online. The older kids we have them type it up in front of us while we are doing other activities so they can’t use AI. We also discuss things like plagiarism and sometimes run their reports through a plagiarism checker so they understand the concept and not to do it.
The little kids…they love being read to. Our library has a program that helps them keep track of their books read to them and they get a free backpack for every 1000 books read before kindergarten. I try to make these as fun as possible, complete with voices, jump scares, and laughs.
All of this being said, with traditions we try to do with the kids, bedtime stories, or family favorites I decided to write a kids book. Then more started coming to mind. The first one is at an illustrator! I couldn’t be more excited and I can’t wait to share it with you!