Rainy weekend leads to
discovering joy of reading
Posted 8/16/02

A couple weekends ago it rained all day Saturday and Sunday. Being the weekend warrior that I am, I was disappointed with this unwanted downpour - at first.

Then, after spending time cleaning the house just to the point were it was semi-presentable, I decided to curl up on the couch with a book.

It was a mystery novel I picked up at a garage sale and the story had enough twists to keep me intrigued the entire soggy weekend.

But what turned out to be the best part of the weekend was when my six-year-old decided he wanted to curl up on the couch and read, too!

Though I wasnít sure he was ready for lengthy chapter books, I agreed to buy some. At at another garage sale, of course.

Boy, was I wrong. He was definitely ready.

Before I knew it, he had read three chapters in an R.L. Stine "Goosebumps" book. He was hooked!

Throughout the weekend I would take a break from reading and do laundry or actually make food for my troops.

But it wasnít long before he was asking me once again, "Can we cuddle up on the couch and read some more, Mom?"

My son has always liked books. Even when he was just a baby we could sit and look at books - over and over and over again.

Last fall, when he read his first book to his father, and not just one he memorized, I literally started crying I was so moved by it.

And it made my heart beat a little faster that weekend to see him enthralled in that fiction story. So much so, that he now keeps one book in the truck, one book at day care and another next to the couch at all times.

Reading is such a wonderful thing for children - and adults. Itís so easy to get caught up in all the things that "need" to get done in our daily lives, that the only time we tend to read is a magazine in the bathroom or at the doctorís office and maybe a book before nodding off to sleep.

Because of that, children donít often see us reading and I think thatís a shame.

Sharing an interesting line in the book with my family was reciprocated when my son began explaining a scene from his book. Which, of course, led to more conversation.

So hereís the point Iím hoping to make. The cleaning can wait, the garbage can sit, the answering machine can take the calls and the television has an off button.

Take time to read and let your children see you reading -whether itís a book or a newspaper or a magazine.

Take your children to the library and open their world to new places, new people and new cultures.

Who knows...you might find something new yourself.

Iím glad it rained all weekend. Not only did it get my sonís interest peaked in reading again, it gave me an opportunity to adventure into another world, and it enticed my two-year-old to pick up some of his books and say in his own unique way, "reader me."

Of course, we happily abided by his request and read to him. Over and over and over again.