The Power of Being a Parent

Blog #5

The experts say that the time that you spend reading to your children forms not only a bond between you and your children, but also a bond between your children and books.  If a child learns to read, it opens their door to learning, and if they establish a love for books, it sets them on the trail to become "Life long learners".  This isn't completely reserved for parents either.  As a grandpa, I love it when my twin grand daughters clime up on the arms of my chair so that I can read them a story.  This doesn't have to be stopped as the kids become a little older. As they get a little older let them read to you.  My wife was telling me the other day that she used to drive the kids to school, and on the way she would have them read the newspaper to her. I can tell you as a former radio announcer and broadcast journalist that there is no better way to build your vocabulary then to read out loud, and reading the newspaper will expose the reader to a great vocabulary, and current events
A few years ago I helped tutor a group of intercity kids.  One of the biggest things we did for them, was to help them with their reading skills.  We read to them and had them read to us.  We helped them with pronunciation.  We helped them earn the meaning of the words, and taught them how to use a dictionary.  We also helped them with their math skills,and the simple things like how to tell time. Basically, anything that they were working on in school we helped them with if they needed help. We checked their homework, and made sure they were doing it and doing it correctly. The kids came after school for an hour or two a couple of times a week for a school year.  Some just a few months, and their advance in school was dramatic.  One girl went from the lowest reading group to the highest.  One girl had been diagnosed as special ed, was given accolades for making the best advancement in her class for the year. Unfortunately, the program was cut for lack of funding.
This blog was meant for last week, and it was appropriately the 107th birthday for Dr. Seuss.  While I was never a big fan, I've never met a kid that wasn't.