Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Where We Read

The other day we took a short (1 express stop) subway ride.  My 7-year-old brought two books - one she was almost finished with and a back-up, and I brought the chapter book I've been reading to my 4-year-old.  We all snagged seats and began reading.  As we exited, another woman complimented me on raising two such voracious readers, noting their concentration (my older daughter later told me she didn't even realize I had been reading aloud to the younger one, so engrossed was she in her own book).

One of the ways to raise a reader is to bring a book everywhere.  My phone is the flip variety from 1998 or so so it has no games, no apps, no nothing.  So what do we have with us?  Books!  We read on the subway and the bus, while waiting at the doctor and the dentist and the post office.  But we also read on benches, stoops, and even sidewalks all over the city.  We read at the park, in between the monkey bars and games of "shark" (where one person pretends to spot a shark and then everyone has to run away).  I read to my younger daughter while we stand in the schoolyard waiting to pick up my older one.  My older one reads in the schoolyard in the mornings while waiting for her teacher to pick up the class - unless the supervising teacher has the chutzpah to insist the children run around so they don't freeze!  My husband has even been known to bring a book in the elevator for the ride down to the laundry room!

Of course, raising a reader is not as simple as bringing books everywhere, but it certainly helps!

Where do you and/or your kids read?

6 comments:

  1. We try to read everywhere! We read when we wake up in the morning, at breakfast, after breakfast, at the park, in the car, after lunch... whenever and wherever!

    Is there a way that I can follow your blog by email? I see that I can do an RSS -- but I'd rather have it via email -- if possible. I'm so impressed with your posts and I don't want to miss them. Thank you!

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  2. Thanks so much! I tried to add a "follow by email" gadget. Can you try it and tell me if it works? I probably won't post again til towards the end of the week. I'm so glad that you enjoy the blog! I want to check yours out in more detail but I have a squirmy child poking me until I read (what else?!?) to her so I'll come back to it later!

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  3. Doesn't everyone bring a book in the elevator? Heck, I'm known to read in the stairs, but I don't actually recommend that. But I'm never without a book, rarely without two, and nowadays my second book is usually my NOOK.

    It backfired on me a bit when the kids started resenting my books -- I'd read instead of watching them constantly at the park, and it KILLS me to have to watch an entire youth sports game... And my second son doesn't like to read in tiny bursts, so he probably wouldn't bring out a book on that short ride, and he can entertain himself by people watching or just enjoying his own thoughts. My older son and I find that very odd.

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  4. I keep books in my car - from Curious George to The Lord of the Rings - just to be prepared for any reading emergency.

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  5. I think you just described us. I read to them in restaurants to keep them from asking "when is the food going to get here???????"

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  6. I'm not sure what the story is in other parts of the world, but here in Australia I've noticed that many waiting rooms are doing away with books and magazines. Admittedly, many were tatty, but I suspect it's to save staff having to tidy them etc. So that's even more reason for me to have a book or two in my bag.

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