1 MAJOR REASON WHY YOUR CHILD IS NOT READING.

People complain that there's a decline in reading, the article below captures one of the major reasons, succinctly! I bid you to please read.



A Mother's Gift
---------------

I've written editorials around holidays before, but never on
Mother's Day. Since I am not a parent, Mother's Day generally
means remembering to send a card and/or flowers to my
mother-in-law. Rarely do I reflect upon what it means to me
"personally."

This year, however, as my mother-in-law is turning 90, we began a
family discussion of her many contributions to her family over
almost a century. One of the topics my husband raised was the ways
in which she encouraged his love of history and archaeology. And
that got me thinking about what may have been one of the best gifts
my mother gave me: The love of reading.

In fact, my mother was the person who TAUGHT me how to read. I'm
not sure why she decided that this shouldn't be left in the hands
of mere schools, but when I was about five, she set in with
flashcards and the first "Dick and Jane" book. When I'd mastered
that, she was able to get two more "Dick and Jane" books from the
school, and from there... well, from there, I don't suppose I ever
looked back.

But my love of reading didn't come from flashcards. (In fact, I
think I pretty much hated the flashcards!) It came from being a
part of a family where books were considered not just a normal but
an indispensable part of life. We had books everywhere, in every
room -- including the bathroom, where, perhaps unwisely, my father
actually installed a built-in bookshelf. This was stocked with a
selection of lurid mysteries and even more lurid true-crime tales.
I, of course, was forbidden to read such inappropriate material,
and of COURSE I obeyed... (Actually, I soon learned to go in
clutching an "authorized" book, e.g., something like Dr. Dolittle,
which would quickly be set aside as I perused the more intriguing
fare on the shelves. And I wonder why I gravitate toward shows
like "Forensic Files" today...)

Everyone in the family read, and read constantly. As a child, my
greatest desire was to be initiated into this fellowship of
readers. I knew what was IN books, because my mother read to me.
That was nice, but I wanted to be able to read to myself, to follow
a tale at my own pace and not have to wait until someone was free
to read the next chapter.

When I was four or so, I caused much amusement when I located a
discarded mystery novel in a box of books in the attic. It caught
my eye because it had something on the cover that I recognized: A
rasp, a tool my father used often. (The book was Philip
MacDonald's "The Rasp," which I managed to locate and actually READ
some 40 years later...) This became "my" book, and I carried it
with me everywhere. It was just the right size to fit in a
bathrobe pocket, this being the day when pocket books really did
fit into pockets. Carrying a book around like everyone else truly
made me feel like one of the "big people."

The point was, my family didn't turn me into a reader by insisting
that I read, or forcing books on me, or telling me what a good idea
it was to read or how much I'd enjoy it or that it was "good for
me." My family turned me into a reader by, simply, reading. I
watched the avidness with which everyone around me devoured books,
the joy they experienced in getting new books for Christmas and
birthdays, the pleasure they obviously took in being able to settle
down in a comfortable chair in the evening and read. (We had a
weekend cabin with no TV, which may have helped...) This was
clearly a major source of family fun, and I wanted to be able to
enjoy it too.

Today, we are given endless, gloomy statistics and factoids about
the decline of reading in children. We are also given endless
explanations for why fewer and fewer children are interested in
reading, with television and video games generally topping the
list. Meanwhile, child "experts" of every ilk weigh in on what
children ought to read, want to read, shouldn't read, won't read,
and so forth. I can recall reading many "expert" articles in
writing magazines declaring that "today's" children (which,
admittedly, are yesterday's children now) were too "sophisticated"
for fantasy stories. Today's children knew that magic wasn't real,
so of course they couldn't possibly be interested in reading about
something so "fanciful" -- give them stories of divorce and blended
families and diversity and bullies and all those other issues that
are so much more "relevant" than fairies and wizards. Then "Harry
Potter" came along and... wow, suddenly children started reading
again! (It must have been the dysfunctional families, diversity,
and bullies that did the trick...)

Well, I've already pointed out that I don't have children, so I do
not claim to be an expert of any sort. But I DO remember my own
childhood, and I do have a theory. I suspect that one reason
children's reading levels are declining is the same reason that ALL
reading levels are declining: More and more adults consider
themselves "too busy" to read. Even adults who love reading may
feel that they don't have much time for it anymore. Our time is
increasingly consumed by all the things we "must" do to keep up --
checking e-mail, surfing the web, catching up on the day's work
during the evening, getting ready for the next day's work. I
suspect that, for many parents, "reading" is a luxury that they
feel they can no longer afford.

Perhaps it's time to take a step back and start asking, not why
kids "don't read," but why kids do ANYTHING. One reason is to be
like Mom and Dad. When I was four and carrying around "The Rasp"
in my bathrobe pocket, that was my goal -- to be like everyone else
in the family. When I was five, my goal was to be able to share in
an activity that was clearly a major source of pleasure for
everyone else. By the time I hit the teen rebellion and wanted to
be NOTHING like Mom or Dad, it was too late; I simply showed my
rebellion by choosing DIFFERENT BOOKS.

The gift my mother gave me wasn't simply teaching me how to read.
A teacher would have done that, eventually. Her gift was teaching
me WHY to read. It was demonstrating that this was perhaps the
most wonderful way that one could spend one's time -- that I would
love reading because reading was something to be loved.

Perhaps, if more parents recall this lesson from their own
childhood, they'll find that reading time isn't an unaffordable
luxury, but an indispensable necessity. And, quite possibly, one
of the best gifts they can ever give.



Moira Allen is the editor of Writing-World.com (http://www.writing-world.com) and the author of more than 350 published articles. Her books on writing include Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer, The Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches and Proposals, and Writing to Win: The Colossal Guide to Writing Contests.
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