“Turn off the light already, and get some sleep!”
I was the kid who always had my nose in a book. In middle school, I remember having a novel on my lap and reading while teachers prattled on about whatever. I went to the library every few days to check out new books. My parents had to nag me to do chores and come to dinner because I always wanted to “read just one more page.” At night, I hid under the covers with a flashlight reading well past bedtime. I’m still that person, except I don’t hide out under the covers anymore because I am an adult and can stay up as late as I want. (One of the few perks of adulthood.)
I am also secretly tickled to say that my daughter, who has dyslexia and was once a reluctant reader, has lately taken to sneaking a book and a flashlight into bed to read well past bedtime. She has always loved to listen to me read to her, the library is one of her favorite places on earth, and she’s been enamored with Graphic Novels for a while now. But it’s just been recently that she’s started reading longer books with more text.
I posted a few weeks ago about the Wildelore book series. Book One of that series was her “gateway book”. She loved it so much, she couldn’t wait for me to read to her so she just read it herself. She’s since blown through the second book and is now working her way through the third at breakneck speed. She asked if she could write a book review. She begged me to buy Book 3 because it had just come out and the waitlist at the library was too long. I couldn’t turn down that request!
Waiting, trusting, modeling, surrounding her with books, reading to her, keeping TV and media to an absolute minimum, and letting her choose what she wanted to read and when; (Graphic novels are real books!) all of these things have paid off and now I am the parent telling my child to “turn off the light already, and get some sleep!”
This video clip is R at 20 months, sitting on the floor, surrounded by books, and holding Little Blue Truck open in her lap. She’s saying “Beep Beep” over and over as she looks at the pages of the book.
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