Reading Traditions

Reading has been an important part of my life as long as I can remember. I remember my parents reading to me and then “pretending” to read the newspaper, magazine, or books in our home. As a child, since my sisters were 15 years older than me and out of the home by the time I was 4, so I was basically like an only child. I learned to read very early and have always loved it. Now that my father is retired and in his 70’s he is a voracious reader. He reads more books than I can ever keep up with. I enjoy going to bookstores and finding the perfect book for his next read. Since I belong to a book club, I frequently share with him the books we have read. No one else in my family is in a book club, but I have numerous aunts and cousins who enjoy reading and we often share our great reads with eachother. My nephew, Eric, is also an avid reader and used to be a high school English teacher. So, we would often share our “good reads” with eachother. It has been great because my dad and I have found a new way to connect with eachother…through our love of reading! Now, as a mom, I want to be sure I carry on that tradition to my children. Our oldest was reading by the age of 4 and has always found reading enjoyable. Our middle child would prefer to be read to, but still enjoys reading. Our youngest is almost 4, but can already identify certain common words. I enjoy reading to them and am always eager to purchase new books for our library or to travel to the library for some new material. As we are coming up on the holiday season, I love to pull out our Christmas and Winter themed books that are only out during that time of year. It makes them more special since we can only see them once/year. The important thing is that we are a reading family. I want my kids to see that I enjoy reading and that it is important. That is one tradition I am not willing to break.