I was careful to do all the right things to ensure both of my children would grow up to be readers. I was rewarded for my efforts by realizing my goal. My daughter loves to read. The only thing that readily gets her nose out of a book is the Internet and being with her friends. My son also loves to read, but is much more distracted by other things.
Today Andrew scoured the house for a book to read while waiting between matches at his 11 hour long wrestling meet. I thought he hadn't found one, until I saw a beat up second hand copy of Avi's Nothing but the Truth in his wrestling bag. We'd had that book for years; I bought it when I was an avid Avi fan, but as far as I knew, none of us had read it.
I was pleased with his choice and even more pleased to see him reading the book instead of listing to his iPod. Other parents and fellow wrestlers noticed him reading as well (he was the only wrestler reading as far as I could tell).
When asked if he was reading for pleasure or school, he always said "For school." When asked if it was a good book, he nodded. I asked him later if he was really reading it for school and he said no, but it wouldn't be cool to be reading for pleasure.
Go figure.
2 comments:
Hi, I just thought I'd let you know that I found your blog by googling "Cedar Waxwing Illinois"--because, of course, I live in Illinois and was wondering more about whether they can be found around here.
Anyway, I decided to leave you a comment, because, to be more specific, I live in northwest Elgin, Illinois; and so, I was interested to read your posts about Elgin. My wife, two stepsons and I have lived here for about 4 years now, near Randall Road, and things have changed quite a bit in just that little time. Suburbia has finally made it to Randall Road--and beyond.
Finally, I was also interested to see your post about teaching your children to read. I love to read, always have, and I've done my best to try to impress that on my stepsons. Unfortunately, I haven't had the same success you appear to have had. So, congratulations on that--it's not easy these days.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for your comment. I'm willing to bet cedar waxwings can be found in Illinois - I think my uncle used to see them around there sometimes. Look for them when flocks of robins come through the area - I've seen them often that way.
Yes, Elgin is changing very quickly these days. Very sad.
Thanks for the congratulations about getting my kids to read. I feel very lucky.
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