Note to Adults: Read to Relax! Kids Will Notice

If we want our kids to be readers, and we do, we need to model a love of reading.

We too often fool ourselves into thinking we are too busy to sit down and relax with a book. We instead zone out in front of the television, convincing ourselves that we need the mindlessness offered there. Okay, sometimes we DO need it! Just not as often as we think.

Let's face it. There is too much noise in our heads, and a good book is one way to silence some of it. Screaming commercials and inane happy talk won't do. I have an old friend who rereads Little Women every time she is sick in bed. The familiar story comforts her, silences some of the worry that comes with being ill.

Every couple of years I reread David Copperfield. It's like visiting an old friend who offers me more with each reunion. Dickens teaches me about life and about writing. At the moment, I'm reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre for the first time, and I'm pretty sure I've made another lifelong friend. I am sitting at Bronte's feet--just as I sit at Dickens'--and I am listening. All the other noise of my life fades into silence.

If we want our kids to be readers, and we do, we need to model a love of reading. If we want kids to grow up balanced and wise, and we do, we can begin by showing them the rewards of becoming lifelong friends with a few good books.