Let me start off by saying "I hate reading!" Yep, that's right. I do not like reading and never have. I actually can probably count on my hands the amount of books I have read fully in my lifetime (not counting childhood books). Okay, don't stop there, I know what you are thinking. I'm not stupid. I actually did graduate high school and have a college degree in teaching of all things (music ed.)! I think my dislike of reading comes more from the fact that I am very impatient person, than just not enjoying the stories. I would rather watch a movie and find out the ending to a story in two hours than hours upon hours of reading. As a young child, like many others, my parents read to me right before bedtime. I believe that this resulted in my dozing off twenty minutes into a story through my teenage years. Because of this, I never read to my daughter, R, before bedtime. I like to do it when she is wide awake during the day.
Okay, so now that you know this about me, why the "Reading For My Kids" blog? Well, this comes from some personal beliefs my husband and I have. We are Christians first and foremost as well as pretty conservative people. Throughout my student teaching and teaching years, my heart would break at some of the things I would see our youth reading. I mean it really is no wonder all the problems we have in the world today considering the things our youth are filling up their minds with. Now it's not just books, it's music, television and movies. Oh and I shouldn't forget parents! My years as a teacher changed me a lot-my views on teaching and parenting for sure! When I became pregnant, my husband and I decided that we must read any book before our children read it or see any movie before they see it to make sure it is up to our standards. What this really means it that I would be doing all this, seeing as my husband hates to read even more than I do. Some may say this is a hovering parent, but we just want to do our best to make sure our children are molded into becoming the best disciples for Christ they can. This doesn't mean nothing secular will be allowed in our home, just that our children will have a realistic view of life and what it is all about. Saying this, I don't see why there would be any reason that a non-religious person would have any problem with this blog.
So in this blog, I will read books and give my view on how appropriate they are for different age levels based on content and difficulty; as well as give a brief "book report." This is for all you other parents out there who also hate to read, but want to keep tabs on what your children are reading. I'll do the work for you. If you have books you want me to read, just email your suggestions to readingformykids@gmail.com or post below. Be realistic, I'm not going to get a book done every day. I do have an 8 month old to run after.
Happy Reading!
J
