Friday

I love to read!

I’ve been an avid reader all my life... wish I had as good a memory as Noe, but then again, I can pick up a book I know I’ve read and because I don’t  remember exactly how it went, it’s like reading a new book!! LOL

I think having 4 older siblings helped, as well as adult family members that liked reading to us too. My uncle had a children’s set of books with lots of interesting stories in it that he would read to us, and when we got older, we read them to him. The set got lost somewhere down the road, so sad we can’t find it again. That’s a fond memory, sitting in his lap reading together.

I used the school library a lot, even got to work in it when I was in elementary school. That was back in the days of the dewey decimal system and file cards, no computers then! We had the Weekly Reader Club we could buy books from, no Amazon or Barnes & Noble. There were no video games, no VCR or DVD movies to watch whenever we felt like it, and just boring stuff to see on TV anyway except early Saturday mornings and an hour after school. One of my other uncles worked for a TV station and was the kid’s show personality for a little while too; he was called Snuffy....

Anyway, reading was a favorite pastime and I loved it. My fourth grade teacher had an exercise we did, where she picked one of us to read aloud for a page or two, and if you read without making mistakes -- not even getting to back up one word! -- you got a star for your book cover. That was fun too, and made us all strive to be good readers.

I guess I can’t say enough to parents about how important reading with your children is for them. Read to them even when they’re too little to talk, read their favorite book a thousand times - even 3 or 4 times in a row when you wish they would get tired of it because you are. That not only develops a love of reading and learning in them that will continue to grow as they do, but also creates a strong bond between you and your children that will remain all their life... and that’s one of those things you’ll forever be glad you did.

cindy

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