Wednesday's Wild Wrant! - Rocket Science?

I'm a reading specialist and I can't remember when I didn't love to read. I remember being in 1st grade and being in a special reading class for higher readers. At the time I didn't know this was a big deal; but as I talk with other moms and transition into my new position, I have a few things to discuss on this Wednesday morning.



1. Parents want the best for their children. No one will deny this. So, why don't parents take the time, from the moment their child is born to read to their child?



Books are expensive: really??? ok, so go to the public library, those books are FREE. Go to Half Price books, those are close to free. Talk to friends that have older kids and see if they have young books they want to get rid of. If all else fails, read the newspaper, a magazine, WHATEVER. When they are infants and young toddlers, it isn't important of what you are reading to them, it is the fact that you are sitting with them and they are hearing the cadence of your voice as you read!!!



I don't have time: if you took 5 minutes to read to your child, the level of enrichment is PHENOMENAL!!!! Make it a part of your child's bedtime ritual. If you don't take the time now, while they are young, when they enter school, they are at a HUGE disadvantage. Turn the television OFF!! Yes, there are good things on it, but the time you spend with your child reading is WAY more important and the payoff is much, much more. If your child is important to you, you'll make the time!



I'm not a good reader: your child doesn't know this. Children's books are written for children and the level of vocabulary is low and the sentence structure isn't complex. I promise you that the more you read to them, the better YOU will become as a reader. It's a two for one deal!!!



I don't like to read: ok so my thought on that is that you haven't found a book that captures your interest. There are millions of books out there, something is bound to interest you. NEVER tell your child you don't like to read. You are setting them up for failure. They idolize you and they won't like reading just because you don't.





2. What happened to pulling children out for enrichment??? It is the low level readers that get the majority of a teacher's attention. If parents would do their part prior to their child entering school (all I'm talking about is reading to your child and there is actually much more you can do, that's for a later post), we wouldn't have so many reading issues in our schools and teachers could focus on ALL children and not leave the on-level and above-level children to teach themselves. Let me insert a disclaimer here, reading to your child will not guarantee they won't have reading or learning issues, but you sure to set a darn good foundation for their entire educational career and life! Isn't this what all parents want for their children?



Ok, Lynette is getting off her soap box, we'll see you next Wednesday for another Wrant...and yes, I know there isn't a "W" in rant, but this is what you call author's prerogative and I want it to be WWW! :-) Happy Hump Day!!!