Are you depriving your children of a basic human right? Shelter, food and love are basic human rights and ones that all children deserve to experience. But UK author Michael Morpurgo, has added another to that list. His view is that parents who don’t read to their children are depriving them of a basic human right. I agree.
You might say time is the problem. I heard someone on the radio the other day say ‘time is a luxury item these days.’ Maybe so. But we all have the same number of hours in a day. No matter how busy with are with work, family etc, we usually manage to make time for the things that are important to us, whether it’s time with exercise, hobbies or time with our loved one in marriage. We need spend time together and talk to our spouse if we want to keep our marriage on track.
When our children were growing up, we always made a point of reading to them. Mick and I read to them from the time they were babies. As a result they did well in school, college and other things they have attempted since. The second advantage of reading to children is the close bond that occurs as you sit and read a book.
Yesterday I was talking with our son about the books our grandson is reading, books way beyond what he should be reading for his age. Yet, even though he is reading independently our son and his wife still make time to read to their two children and the children love being read to. It’s a time to have Mom or Dad’s attention and cuddle up. Isn’t that what we all like in marriage as well? We like time, where we have our spouse’s attention and cuddle up together. Why should children be any different?
I’m sure all of us want to do what is best for our families and give them a legacy of love and care. A love for books is a great legacy we can give our children. Mick and I enjoy knowing our son and his wife are carrying on the tradition of reading together.
Often too, children come up with questions, as our grandchildren did recently when reading with their Dad, ‘Why isn’t the Dad around?’ one asked.’ He explained they were divorced. This was followed by, ‘What is divorce?’ And ‘Why do people get divorced?’ So the reading experience enabled our son to talk with his two about various issues outside their experience, but issues that are facing marriages and families today.
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