SFL 240 #8

It shocked me that reading was included in the top ten things to teach your child. There are so many different things in the world to teach children, but the prophet felt that it was important to teach children how to read. It got me thinking about reading to children as a serious thing. Of course there are the practical things about reading; the ability to do well in school, the ability to do common day things like read a menu at a restaurant, and the ability to critique and learn about other times and places. All of these are good things, but honestly if the schools took enough time and money they could teach a child how to read a book. In my mind for a prophet to emphasize the importance of reading to children is has to be more than just a simple suggestion for increasing academic successes. I thought about what reading was to me as a child and concluded that reading builds memories.
I have lasting memories from my father reading to me as a child that I want my children to have with me. One of the most common ways to work reading into a child’s development is for parents to read a story book before going to bed. In my ideal life every night before going to bed my husband and I help our children pick from a shelf full of finger smudged books their favorite story to read while we sit on their beds wrapped in blankets and surrounded by teddy bears and stuffed animals. I want them to develop memories while we read. We would talk about the pictures and point to the words while we read them. It is important for me that they develop these memories while reading because no matter how empty head “I Love you This Much,” “The Squall who Lost His Nuts,” or “The Monster at the end of this Book,” these books might seem they will always have a special place in my heart because I remember reading them with my parents.
My dad used to read to me and my brother when we were younger. He had a chair with two oak arm rests that were so large my brother could sit on one comfortably and I could sit on the other while my dad read stories about cows that could go to Paris, three men at sea, and a bear that was so lazy he did not even plant his own garden. I am too big to sit on the arm rests any more. The straight oak back makes it the most uncomfortable chair in the whole house to curl up and read a good book in. It is sun bleached too, and although my mom has vowed to remodel that chair countless times my dad tells her not to. As I look at the chipped stained legs and the flattened cushion I cannot help but to hope that the chair is never covered up because even now I can remember tracing the plaid material with my finger while listening to my dad’s voice rumble like distant rolling thunder.
I think that reading is important, and that teaching children to read is vital for a child to develop academically, and that parents should care about their child’s academic performance. I believe that the prophets are concerned parents to read with their children for more than the simple reason that children need to learn how to read. If the only goal was to teach a child to read letters on a page than a proper formal education would be sufficient. I think that they also gave us this council so that parents could develop opportunities to create lasting memories with their children.