Monday, January 12, 2009

Oh my gosh! I did my job.

I can't believe it. I've spent the last 16 1/2 years flailing around trying to figure out how to raise a "good kid." There are those absolute rare times in the life of a parent when you hear your child say to someone "Thank you very much." without you needing to smack them in the back of the head to force the words out their mouth. But for the most part, you get very little feedback and are down on your knees praying most of the time you've done something...anything...to raise them right.

So I was thrilled this weekend when my daughter finished reading a book that she'd also seen the movie, and she said to Mark and me "The book was just so much better! There was so much detail that wasn't in the movie." Then we proceeded to have a wonderful (although short) discussion about the advantages of books over movies.

Holy cow! In a world of instant 24/7 electronic short-attention-span entertainment, I raised a READER. I'm ecstatic - books will take my "baby" places that a non-reader never gets to go. They will help her develop thoughts and opinions some people don't even know are available to them.

When I look back, I am so impressed again
with the life-giving power of literature.
If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of
myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young.
~ Maya Angelou ~


Life is good today. I think I'll sit back with my feet up for a little bit. Tomorrow we'll start worrying about the Spring SATs.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love it!! I was such an avid reader when I was young (and still am) that when I started reading to my kids every night (practically the moment they were born,) I thought for sure they would love reading as much as I do. Well, not so much. Spencer has his moments and Allie could care less. I am hoping that changes (and actually I see glimmers of it already doing that) because you are right.....reading can take you places you may never go otherwise.
Amy

Judester said...

Oh you were such a good Mom. You'll notice the photo of someone reading to Kirsten is my brother, not me or Mark. I hated reading to my kids. I did it, but looked for every excuse not to do it!

Anonymous said...

Great job! I've said it before--you are truly the best mom I know.

Anonymous said...

The irony will be that it will end up being Brianna--the one that I didn't read to nearly as much as the first two ---that will be my biggest reader:)

LindaG said...

Hi Judy,
My daughters are both readers. With Pamela it seemed instantaneous. When she was an infant we would lie side-by-side on the floor, me holding a newspaper overhead and reading aloud to her. She was mesmerized. Seb would read business biographies/autobiographies like Trump's "Art of the Deal", and I would read everything at hand.It didn't matter; she loved books and still does today.With Mindi it took a little work to find the right books for her to connect with-Mercer Mayer "Little Critter" books did the trick.

Pamela is studying in London this semester and is keeping a blog: http://pamelainlondon.blogspot.com/

Check it out if you're interested!
~Linda

My Bookshelf

Powered by weRead