An Action Plan for Reading to Children

Do you read to your children or grandchildren?  I recently picked up a copy of Bernice E. Cullinan's Read to Me: Raising Kids Who Love to Read.  This book explores the importance of reading to children and offers practical advice on how to raise children who love to read (as the subtitle would indicate).  In chapter 3, she suggests some ideas on where to get a start on reading to children.

Consider these tips:

1. Keep books on hand.
2. Choose good books your child will like.
3. Set a special time for reading.
4. Read at bedtime.
5. Don't panic if you miss a day.
6. Read twenty minutes a day.
7. Talk about the story as you read.
8. Mention the author and illustrator.
9. Get others in on the reading act.
10. Share your reactions to books you read.
11. If you can't answer a child's question, look up the answer in a book.

These tips offers an easy way to create a lifelong love of reading for your children.  Delia and I are trying hard to instill such a love in Sophia.  We want her to grow up loving to read.  There are many benefits to reading to our children.  It lengthens their attention span, it helps to them to become better readers, and it gives you an opportunity to bond with them. And these are just a few of the benefits.  I hope you will make time to read to your children or grandchildren.  It will bless them in more ways than you can count.

Planning for Christmas Break

'Tis the season. Soon Christmas break will be upon us. I know that many of you have a lot of holiday plans. There are countless Christmas "classics" to entertain, encourage, and enjoy. There will be family get-togethers and neighborhood parties. There will be church events to attend. But the Christmas season is a good time to slow down and reconnect with family. I hope you have a holiday plan that allows you focus on your family. A good way to do that is to turn off the t.v., shut off the gaming system and computer, put down the ipod (or other musical devices) and cell phones, and to do something together as a family. A family could sit around talking or playing a game or reading a book together.

If you have small children or grandchildren who will be spending a lot a time with you during the Christmas break, I want to recommend a book to you. Actually, I want to recommend it to everybody. Could you imagine a world where it was always winter, but Christmas never came? Such is the world discovered by young Lucy and her siblings: Peter, Susan, and Edmond in C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (LWW). The story is rich with Christian themes. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia series (there are seven books, LWW is 2nd in the series, but they can be read separately) to teach children the basics of the Christian faith.

So during this Christmas break, when the weather outside is frightful, gather by the delightful fire and begin reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Of course, you can still read it even if you don't have a fire to gather by and the weather is delightful. It will still be a great way to spend a few hours together.