Reading by Example

This is how it goes at my house. Every morning the paper is delivered, and before I sit down to breakfast, I sort it into sections. Front page, living, business, sports.  The ads go into the recycle bin immediately.  The comics get read first, the business section last. My husband likes to read the paper, too, but it has been a learning curve for him.

Here are my rules for the morning paper.

1) The paper must be sorted. You cannot just open the paper and take whatever section you want and leave the rest scattered. This is wrong. Sort first, read second.

2) I read the comics first. This is not negotiable. Comics are not funny if someone else reads them first. Only I reserve the right to read, and laugh, and then give a sort of vague wave of dismissal and say, “oh, it’s nothing really.”

3) The newspaper people in their infinite wisdom have folded and creased the paper for a reason. Think of the creases as guidelines as you read. It’s fold and read, fold and read, not unfold and leave.

4) The paper is read in silence. I will get to the very clever article about the pelicans in Milpitas (or whatever) on my own. As an addendum, any article that I deem clever gets to be immediately shared — with sections of it read aloud.

How in the world did I come up with the newspaper rules, you might ask (or perhaps you are asking, “How in the world does her husband put up with her?”). Simple. That was how it went at my house while I was growing up. We got the paper every single morning. It was sorted, and it was read. My parents let me read the comics first. When I was old enough to leave my parents house, I was shocked to learn that some people do not subscribe to the morning paper. How in the world those people eat their cereal in the morning, I do not know.  

My parents subscribed to the paper and read it. I subscribe to the paper and read it. My parents went to the library every week and checked out books for themselves to read. I followed along and checked out my own books. When my parents had a quiet moment, they read a book. When they ran errands, they tucked a book along for those waiting moments. I can’t remember a time when my parents did not have a book or a magazine around for themselves to read, and I followed by example.

I know parents are very concerned about their children’s reading habits. I hear it every day. “My child hates to read!” they lament. And I always want to ask the parent, “What are you reading?” It’s not enough to expect a child to learn to love to read on their own; children read by example. What is important to you will be important to them.

So. Need a good book to read for yourself? We’ll see you at the library!