Zig Said this is How You Raise a Reader

This “Tell Me Something Good” post is inspired by a speaker and author I tremendously admired—Zig Ziglar. I am in the process of reading Better than Good by Zig. The other night when reading, I came across a sentence that made me think twice about a seed I want to continue planting in my girls—the joy of reading.

It is no secret that I love to read. I have loved books all my life. Naturally, we read a lot to the girls. This is what Zig wrote that made me want to step up things a notch. “If you want your children to grow up to be readers, then they need to see you reading, going to the library, getting new books in the mail from book clubs or online retailers, and frequenting library book sales and garage sales looking for great, interesting books.”

I thought hmmm. I want to make sure that we become more intentional to explore avenues of encouragement toward reading. Both girls enjoy it when we read to them and we do it as much as we can throughout the day. If it’s one of those days when I can’t seem to focus on words and Jessa says, “Here, read this Mommy.” I turn it back to her and say, “Ummm why don’t you read it to me.” I love to hear her version of reading the book as she mimics my own points of emphasis and funny sounds.

Lately, it has warmed my heart to see Juliana gravitating more and more toward books. She loves them! And while she may not be able to quite get the direction right (holding them upside down seems to be her favorite way) it doesn’t matter. What matters is that she recognizes that this is something that is important in our family. On Sundays, she loves to go through the paper with me.

And I hand her sections of the paper and comment on the things she’s reading. Or I’ll say, “Here, Juliana. Here’s the one with the cartoons.” Going through the paper is one of her favorite things to do. Now, I save all the circulars so she can read them during the week whenever she likes. I’m fascinated by her enjoyment to read and study the words and pictures.

In keeping with our planting-the-reading-seed-theme, last week Jessa and I visited the local library book sale. I couldn’t resist the shot up top of her at the sale. Or the large crowd that was there for books. Yay for reading I say!

Yes, I know I sound really corny. But, I cannot begin to tell you the doors that reading has opened for me. And that is what I hope to pass on to my girls. With a good book, you can escape to a wonderful island, join someone in solving a mystery or learn important keys to success. Who wouldn’t want that?

And so that she wasn’t left out of the little adventure that occurred while she was at school, I let Juliana dig through the bag of books that Jessa and I got that day. Then, the three of us cozied up in a big chair and laughed and ooohed and ahhhed at the great adventures of monkeys, mice, and gorillas.

And we did so without even leaving our living room.