“If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of brain food! Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child’s hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and stories. A kindergarten student who has not been read to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment.” (USDOE, 1999)
I have long loved books. I don’t know when it started but I do remember that when I was younger my parents had to ban books at the dinner table because all I wanted to do was read, read, read. Forget talking; just let me immerse myself into fictional worlds and I am happy.
My Dad was so worried about my reading habits, which tended towards Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew that, when I was 13, he made up a list of books that I had to choose from. No more Sweet Valley High (and their adorable blond twins and their antics) or Nancy Drew (will she survive yet another scrape!?). Instead he had books like “Little Women” and “Les Miserables“. For some reason, I chose “Les Miserables” first and man oh man, I remember it to this day. I LOVE that book. Other noteable books from that summer were “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Animal Farm.” “Animal Farm” especially made a big impression on me and continues to, to this day, as I view the political environment of my city, state and nation.
My reading obsession continued throughout highschool. My poor parents were forever taking me and my brother through awesome scenery and I refused to look up from my books. “Anne-Marie, do you see Yosemite!? Can you look up, please!?” I’m still that way on a car ride; Chris drives and I am head down in emails, magazines and books. I have a Nook now and that is addicting. I’m reading the new Ann Patchett book, “State of Wonder” right now (along with a couple adultish Nancy Drew type thrillers). You can always see what I’m reading now on the ‘About’ page here.
We are hoping to introduce Jamisen to books and the love of reading early. As you can see, he’s totally into books and his favorite book readers are his Grandpa and his Daddy. Of course, I’m not taking it personally. He really seems to like the colorful books – anything by Dr. Suess books and anything that has a finger puppet associated with it.
It is so fun to introduce him to books, words and imagination. When I’m feeding him, I have this entire made up story that I tell him (Captain Jamisen and his Brave Warriors and Maidens Sail the High Seas!) and every feeding, we do one more adventure. So far, we’ve fought sea crackens (giant squid), had a horrible storm where Captain Jamisen bravely lashed himself to the steering wheel, and have navigated a coral and seahorse laden barrier (by speaking ‘seahorse’ese’ natch). I have no idea what he’s taking in but it sure is fun to come up with these tales for him. If you watch the video below (email viewers, click through here to see the video), he certainly seems to do a great job following the plot line along and talking back.
Interesting aside, this graph has a lot of interesting information about librarians around the world. Even today, public libraries have over 3 times the impact on literacy and reading than Amazon.com. We’re looking forward to taking Jamisen to our local public library for Story Time when he is older to continue his love of books, imagination and reading.
Awww! My mom instilled in me the love of reading. One of my greatest joys was reading “Guess How Much I Love You” to Casey. It is such a bonding time! Now she too is an avid reader; a voracious one in fact!
I spent much time and many summers at our library! I loved going to the library!
I love watching this chronicle of you and Jamisen together! So precious! Thank you for sharing!
OMG! I loved Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew when I was growing up! I lived at the library! My dear sweet librarian Mrs. Glenna, bless her heart for she has passed on now, she would always hold on to new books just for me! I held such a love for that woman!! She was the greatest! I too was the same way…I would easily read at least 6 or 7 books in just a couple of days! I couldn’t get enough!
I read to both my boys starting inutro and they are both still reading. They are 21 and 24 and luckly have the same love of books as I do. The best thing is they prefer the old fashion books as opposed to kindle and things like that. I’m not opposed to them, but there is just something about a book!
My father was a great reader because his grandmother, a school teacher, introduced him at an early age and then continued to supply him with “good” books. My parents read to all 8 of their children and we older ones read to the younger. It was one of the testimonies to Dad at his funeral that we all appreciated our early exposure and life long love of reading. Good going A-M and family!
Cute little guy! Reading to him now will make such a big difference when he starts school! I know that right now that seems a long way off, but it goes sooo fast. Seems like only yesterday I was reading to my baby, and I just bought my 9 year old “baby” mens size 9 football shoes!
I too love my Nook, as does my family! My Nook means I don’t have to add to the piles of books threatening to fall over and injure my pets or small children. I also was able to keep my bed, which was seriously in danger of having to go so that I could fit more bookcases in my room 🙂
When Jamisen is a little older, remember Barnes & Noble storytime, which often times also has a story-related craft and snack along with it!
Quite cute! I hope he loves to read…
I know exactly how you are at reading, I won a contest when I was 6 for reading 300+ books for the summer.. I was almost hit by a car reading, which prompted my mother to tell me NOT to read unless I’m sitting down and, I’ve missed plenty of scenery on family trips! At 25 I am addicted to books, I’m constantly reading and, I even have a list posted in my cubicle of which books to get and, which authors I love are coming out with new books (release dates also added of course). My son is 5 and autistic, right now he really doesn’t care for book, but I’m hoping in the future they will help him out a lot.
Have you tried interactive e-books? Barnes & Noble has a number of them, and you can download their desktop reader for free to read them so you don’t have to buy the Nook color. My cousin’s autistic son and my niece with Cerebral Palsey aren’t very interested in books, but they love the interactive books! My SIL loads them to the Nook app on her IPad, and my cousin has a small netbook that she lets her son use (with supervision). The only time he’s verbal is when they’re reading the interactive books.
I haven’t tried interactive e-books – thanks for the hint! I love that idea.
Hilarious story about you and the car … since you’re alright of course! It would have been less funny had it ended differently. But that sounds like something I would have done too =) Congrats on that contest when you were six. I’d be dining out on that for years too! That’s an awesome accomplishment to last the ages. =) Great job for continuing to work with your son even though he’s not loving reading … yet. He’s your son so it’s bound to happen sooner or later.
I think that you are right on with Jamison. My daughter was read to like you are doing. When we went anywhere in the car I would also point out signs to her. By the time she was 3, she was pointing out signs, billboards and reading well. We also put little labels on things around the house and made a game out of mixing up the labels. She would pick them up and put them on the right object. She really loved that. The only thing that we ended up with problems on was when she got to school and they were teaching phonics type reading. She picked up on it fast but I had wished we had thought ahead and taught sounding out instead of her just learning the whole words. Keep up the good work. In this world of so many kids raising themselves, it is a breath of fresh air to see involved, plugged in parents.
Ah ha, good tip re: sounding out the words because of the way things are taught in school. I never would have picked up on that so thanks for that hint! =) We have a sign game in our family (find all the letters in the alphabet on road trips on signs) that will be fun to share with Jamisen as he gets older.
Oh how adorable!! He’s such a curious little guy!
Brings back memories of reading to my sons when they were babies. We read to them (3 and 7yrs) every night before they go to sleep. It’s paying off in countless ways. My boys can “sit still” and pay attention to things with ease. They have a natural curiosity about the world. They’ve always had excellent letter/number recognition. (Last night my 7yo read a book to me with such ease and pride…) And my kids look forward to their bedtime story ritual a great deal as it brings us close after a busy day.
I was an early reader (4yrs) and I’ve always felt that everything is much easier when a child can (and wants to) read. It greases the wheels of LIFE IMO.
Well, yes, I REALLY believe in what you’re doing with Jamisen 🙂 Look how much he LOVES it already!!
Thanks so much for sharing your parenting adventures with us Anne-Marie. I think it’s safe to say that we all adore the updates 🙂
Karri
Our son gets so riled up (talking, giggling, rocking those little legs back and forth) during storybook time that we have added it to the bedtime ritual but early on. Bedtime ritual is reading, then bathtime, and then baby massage + special goodnight song. By that time, he’s ready to go down and he goes down easily (thank goodness!). =) Hopefully that trend stays throughout his entire life …
Anne-Marie,
I know…one more thing to do, but you should try to capture those stories you are telling Jamisen somehow…I am sure they will be treasured as he grows older…
One of my favorite children’s books is “Guess How Much I Love You”.
Blessings,
C~
We have that book for him (“Guess How Much I Love You”) and I always do the arm movements (“I love you THIS much!” and stretch out my arms) with him.
You’re right – what a fun idea to save those stories. I’m going to do that!
I like this post and think it is great what you are doing with your little one. I began reading each night before bed to Aurora, my daughter, now 13!, from nearly when she was born. It made bedtime special. I never had a protest about bedtime from her as she grew up because it was our special time together. By the time she was 11, we had read through most of the children’s classics and lots of non-classics as well. I also insisted that we/she read the book before seeing the movie… Aurora is an avid reader now, like me. xoxo Jen
I love the idea of reading the book before the movie. Now that I think about it, I’ve read many books before the movie and it’s always enhanced the movie experience (especially if the movie was bad – at least I know that it’s the movie makers and not the original plot). =)
Our Savannah reads to US at 3 1/2 yrs.! No it isnt memorized, we have had it checked… ASD kid, yes… but for all we know she may well be another Temple Grandin! YES IT IS CRITICAL TO READ TO KIDS always and forever!
I LOVE that – it gives me serious joy to read that your daughter has excelled so much by such a young age, despite her unique challenges. Way to be an active parent with her …
He’ll be reading Tolstoy in no time! My favorite picture is the one in the middle of the trio. He looks so thrilled by whatever’s there. Sweet!
He he … wouldn’t that be quite the little college scholarship trick! =) Tolstoy by 3!
I started reading to my son, Sam, when he was your son’s age. I always loved the time at night right before bed when my Dad would read the Funnies to me. So I was longing for the same thing with Sam. He loves reading…loves books…and all those hours paid off when he started Kindergarten. Picked up reading like it was nothin’. I actually still read to him before bed most nights, and he’s now 11. Of course now the books are a lot thicker than One Fish Two Fish! LOL Enjoy this time with your son!
It would be great to have something thicker than One Fish, Two Fish with a slightly better plot line but I know that time will come quickly. =)
We always read to our kids when they were little, but fell out of the habit when got older (and could read to themselves). Now I have an 11- and 13-year-old and we’re reading The Hobbit this summer! I love to read and have always loved reading to my kids. I think that in addition to the “head start” you’re giving Jamisen by sharing words and stories, the closeness with all of you is so important! I also think the quiet time with books is a much better way to end each day than the TV or video games or other things kids like to do. Bravo to all of you! Enjoy that time with him. :0)
I love that idea – reading a really epic book together as a family. You could do 15 pages a night or something like that. Since we don’t have a TV, Jamisen will hopefully love books! Because it’s all he’ll have to wind down at the end of the day. =)
I am not a avid reader but read to my children every single day since they have been born. I was told by my children’s teachers that it does show that my children have been read too. This being said that both of my kids are reading well above there grade levels. This is a proud parent moment to hear that. Keep up with the great work. love the pics.
thanks
Good for you for reading even though it wasn’t your first love. And look! It’s paid off and will continue to pay off for them for a lifetime.
I am a retired teacher. I have always been an avid reader, and of course my children are! Jamisen is enjoying himself and LEARNING! We understand before we speak. Keep up the good work!
A retired teacher? You know better than anyone how language skills are so essential for everything we do, both on the job and off the job. Here’s to hoping Jamisen appreciates how important elegant and refined language is for everything in life. =)
I am a former school and public librarian and strongly believe in the power of reading to infants. To quote a poem “The Reading Mother” by Strickland Gillilan, “You may have tangible wealth untold: Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be – I had a Mother who read to me.” In your case, you also could include Father and Grandfather. Good for all of you to be reading to baby Jamisen!!
What a beautiful poem – I’ve never heard it before and it is wonderous. I love it. =)
He is so cute!