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The magic of reading
Can you remember the first book you ever read?
The one you read by yourself, with no help? Was it a gift, or was it a school book? One from the library? Do you remember the look of astonishment on your child’s eyes when they suddenly realised that all the signs and labels everywhere all had words? That they weren’t just lots of squirly patterns?
As we head through life, our ability to read becomes one of the most important features of our everyday life. We rely heavily on our reading ability when we drive, our use of Social Media, our need to find out the most recent news, even in our Black Friday sale shopping. Reading is such an intrinsic part of everything we do; perhaps those of us who can, really take it for granted.
As a parent to three children, I am only too aware that reading is something which brings both pleasure and pain, usually in equal doses. My eldest (Year 13) loves to collect penguin classics, and create a myriad of colour, deliberately organised, on very organised shelves. My middle child (Year 9) seems to have an aversion to reading at the moment, although also seems to be collecting up the same knowledge bank from character and setting as her sister. My youngest (Year 2) is still very much needing to read every night to me, making a log, and this is where I remember how important it is for us, as parents, to not take a step back.
It is very easy, once our children can read, to step back and let them carry on themselves. But our step back means that reading aloud becomes something to be feared, something that stops progress being made, and means that our children are not always reading as we need them to. My advice - as a Mum to three, English teacher, and Deputy Headteacher who is one of the biggest advocates of keeping reading alive, as well as just someone who loves nothing better than to disappear into a good book - is to keep the reading aloud alive. Read newspapers, magazines, stories, poems, articles or letters; It really doesn’t matter. Read with expression, enthusiasm, curiosity and interest. Ask questions, query and enquire. But don’t let them get away with not reading at all.
Think back to that very first book you fell in love with. Share the story. Share the wonder and excitement. Find that love of reading that all of us had at one point. My Dad had a rule; if you walked past a particular bookshop in town, you had to buy a book. It was a great rule, until he decided it was now mine! But libraries, second-hand bookshops, they all give us access to that wider need to read – we just have to push ourselves sometimes to not go for the easier options.
Maybe Father Christmas this year needs to help a little – make reading and books part of the Christmas tradition.
After all, the magic of reading is really quite special.
