This is a wonderful post Rich! ( I actually have a draft post on the exact same topic - books as counter-cultural arsenal....) When our kids were younger we regularly had over 100 books checked out from the library (picture books, chapter books, non-fiction, and audio, times three kids adds up). Our home has 17 bookshelves. When the kids were little, we often started our early mornings with a huge stack of picture books on the coffee table and read through them as we sat piled on the couch. In the afternoons I would do a read-aloud from a longer book for them, and in the evening there was story-telling time with dad. Even if children cannot remember all these stories when they grow up, I believe the language, images, and themes are bred into their marrow and will remain with them. We need all the monkey wrenches we can muster, the more the better!
I love this, Rich. Excellent work! We've vowed to read to our children every night, and actually began reading bedtime stories while our daughter was still in the womb. We read to her every night now (she's 8 months) and plan to continue moving forward. Simultaneously, my wife and I read books together too. We read all of Narnia in our first year of marriage, and have been slowly working through Tolkien's works ever since.
I really love what you mentioned about how this is a way to help them combat bad stories later on. Family scripture reading and working through godly stories will equip them (and certainly equipped me when I was growing up) more than any other family activity. Of course, that shouldn't be all that we do, but it's a wonderful addition for sure. Thanks for this!
One thing is to never underestimate what your kids are capable of getting into. I started bedtime story when my oldest was 5 with Narnia, loved it. Decided to try The Hobbit, far wordier and more advanced, but worth a shot. Devoured it to the extent that he begged me to give him the book to read himself.
The real crossing point was when he asked me to read the full Lord of the Rings. This was a book that bored me stiff with the descriptions as a teenager and only as an adult was I mature enough to appreciate it. Okay, we'll see what happens.
He sat enthralled, at the edge of his seat for every reading. My younger ones, well, not so much, but for him it was like he escaped to a different world every time I read it. The crazy part is he understood it, maybe not all the millions of nuances in the series, but enough where he knew core events and motivations.
Now, two of the four are old enough where they opt out and just want to read to themsleves, which is a little bittersweet, but my three year old daughter will refuse to go to bed until I read her a bedtime story.
Good stuff. There’s also a lot to be said about successful lifelong readers having had hours of reading tine with parents. It is also a wonderful moment to experience when you take turns reading with your children.
This is a wonderful post Rich! ( I actually have a draft post on the exact same topic - books as counter-cultural arsenal....) When our kids were younger we regularly had over 100 books checked out from the library (picture books, chapter books, non-fiction, and audio, times three kids adds up). Our home has 17 bookshelves. When the kids were little, we often started our early mornings with a huge stack of picture books on the coffee table and read through them as we sat piled on the couch. In the afternoons I would do a read-aloud from a longer book for them, and in the evening there was story-telling time with dad. Even if children cannot remember all these stories when they grow up, I believe the language, images, and themes are bred into their marrow and will remain with them. We need all the monkey wrenches we can muster, the more the better!
I love this, Rich. Excellent work! We've vowed to read to our children every night, and actually began reading bedtime stories while our daughter was still in the womb. We read to her every night now (she's 8 months) and plan to continue moving forward. Simultaneously, my wife and I read books together too. We read all of Narnia in our first year of marriage, and have been slowly working through Tolkien's works ever since.
I really love what you mentioned about how this is a way to help them combat bad stories later on. Family scripture reading and working through godly stories will equip them (and certainly equipped me when I was growing up) more than any other family activity. Of course, that shouldn't be all that we do, but it's a wonderful addition for sure. Thanks for this!
One thing is to never underestimate what your kids are capable of getting into. I started bedtime story when my oldest was 5 with Narnia, loved it. Decided to try The Hobbit, far wordier and more advanced, but worth a shot. Devoured it to the extent that he begged me to give him the book to read himself.
The real crossing point was when he asked me to read the full Lord of the Rings. This was a book that bored me stiff with the descriptions as a teenager and only as an adult was I mature enough to appreciate it. Okay, we'll see what happens.
He sat enthralled, at the edge of his seat for every reading. My younger ones, well, not so much, but for him it was like he escaped to a different world every time I read it. The crazy part is he understood it, maybe not all the millions of nuances in the series, but enough where he knew core events and motivations.
Now, two of the four are old enough where they opt out and just want to read to themsleves, which is a little bittersweet, but my three year old daughter will refuse to go to bed until I read her a bedtime story.
Great article man!
Good stuff. There’s also a lot to be said about successful lifelong readers having had hours of reading tine with parents. It is also a wonderful moment to experience when you take turns reading with your children.