My daughter has finally become a full-blown bibliophile!
All the signs are there: opening a book in bed the second she wakes up, reading at the breakfast table, walking around with her eyes buried in a book, etc.
Those are just SOME of the books she has checked out of the library right now. In fact, we almost hit the library limit last week (had 95 out of a 100 permitted loans) on account of her burgeoning book appetite.
Her older brother has been reading like a lunatic for some time now. See my previous post. And we weren’t sure if it was realistic to expect her to take to books anywhere close to the extent that he did.
But over time, perhaps only a year or so later in development, fed on the same *no TV*-diet….Christine eventually became enamored of books.
Of course seeing her brother and parents get so much enjoyment out of reading certainly played a major role too.
I recently heard of a mother who was dying to get her kids passionate about books but nothing worked.
Then one summer, for a month or so, they went on a sailboat cruise which was devoid of all entertainment options except for books.
Well, it did the trick. The kids all disembarked bibliophiles and Mom was ecstatic!
It’s a simple but strict recipe: no TV, no video games….and surround them with books and readers.
Too many people tell me that they control TV, that they successfully limit viewing to *an hour a day* for their kids.
But that’s still waaaaaaay too much. Mine watch probably an hour….every two weeks, at most. Would you feel comfortable if someone was pouring acid on your child’s brain for only *an hour a day*?
Of course you wouldn’t! So change your mental metaphor from merely *less than everyone else* to *acid spewing directly from the TV!* into their precious brains…
Ideally, the kids will eyewitness Mom and Dad reading 20-30 books apiece each year. (Newspapers and magazines DO NOT count, sorry.)
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