Things I want my girls to know - Mandatory Reading Time

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Why I require you to have Mandatory Reading Time:

I read to you while you were ensconced in my womb. In Kiki’s case she went to school with me during college for the first seven months of gestation. I’ve been fortunate you two have always loved being read to, and with a few false starts have loved to read.

However it seems that computers and the TV’s have begun to compete with reading, and that my dear children is unacceptable. (Yes, we own several and I have a Nook)   Why?  Because words are the foundation of our language. If you can’t read them or sit long enough to truly appreciate them then I’ve done a piss poor job of educating you.

Some would gasp at the way I’ve never filtered language from you. I’ve wanted you to see our language in all its glory and its shame. Why you ask? Because I want you to be able to express yourself in anyway. I want you to see what is effective and what is simply horrendous to listen to. 

Why reading ? Because when you read, you immerse yourself in words in a way that isn’t easy to do in movies . You have the words on the page and your brain turning those words into stories, into images, that transport you to other worlds. That spark you interest in other topics, other countries, other worlds, other people. (You know I love watching movies, so this isn’t a knock against them)

It does what I cannot do. By simply demanding you be interested in the world around you, I cannot make you interested, you have to be interested on your own. It also helps to give you a break from the stimulation overload of your video games (and ours). Your generation needs to know how to shut off for a while and a book is the perfect way to do it.

Then there is the fact that it gives you a conversation starter. A common ground with someone else out there. The ability to connect over something as simple as an idea. It gives you a source for lively debate and shared enjoyment. So when I ask you to turn off the electronics. I’m not torturing you. I’m asking you to do something for yourself.