Read To Them

SEARCH BLOG: EDUCATION and DYSFUNCTIONAL

I had a conversation with my youngest son's girlfriend. She just received her bachelor's degree and has been working in a pre-school with children as young as two.

I asked what they did with two-year olds and she said they had all sorts of activities including geography lessons. That greatly surprised me. But she assured me that they actually learned to identify places on maps.

Sending your child to a pre-school is becoming fairly common. Yet, many parents simply can't afford that luxury.

My wife quit work after our first son was born; we adjusted our spending patterns. We also focused very early on spending time in a way that would benefit our son for the rest of his life; we read to him.

Cost is never an issue when educating a child. We bought Dr. Seuss books for a few dollars each... one every couple of weeks... and a couple of Muppet puppets [which dates us]. Then, the "Muppets would read" the Dr. Seuss books to our son.

By the time he was 3-years old, he was "reading" along with the puppets. I'm not sure when his memorization turned into actual reading, but it was very early on. He never seemed to get tired of the ritual of reading with the puppets after dinner. He would select a book, pick up the puppets and bring them to me, and we would listen together as the Muppets read.

I could have read my newspaper, or watched TV, or just relaxed on my own. But this was my opportunity to have my son spend time with me and I knew it was just as important for me as it was for him.

I replicated this ritual with my other two sons. Often the next oldest would join in and read to the younger one using the Muppet puppets in the same way I did. They were creating a tradition of sharing and learning together that they still have today... as much as is possible for grown men to have. The oldest has move out of state, but the two younger sons have their own thriving business together. They are still sharing and learning.

We didn't spend a fortune to create a love of reading and learning with our sons. We spent our time. That "investment" has returned the greatest rewards.

I have written about dysfunctional subcultures in which education simply doesn't matter.

Unlike, many who wish to blame our school systems for the failure of children within these subcultures, I hold the schools blameless. There is only one reason for a child's failure to become educated and prepared for life: his parents.

Unfortunately, the children become dysfunctional adults who create children who become dysfunctional adults.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got.

Some children will escape the cycle. They will forge a bond with a teacher or some adult who will care and nurture. But too many will simply replicate.

Stupidity has its own rewards.

It's been said many times by many people: "read to your children."

The only reason for not doing so is terminal stupidity.

School is in session.

..