Raising children that enjoy reading

by Darius Alexander

I remember the days when I was little. Every night before I went to bed, I would spend some time with my mom and dad reading the newspaper comics. We called them the "funnies." Those were some of the best times of my childhood. I looked forward to reading the funnies with my mom and dad because we could spend some quality time together and I loved the excitement of learning to read. Half the time, they would have to explain the gags to me, but it was still memorable.

But how many of us as parents do things like that today? There are so many things that compete for our attention and the attention of our children that it's nearly impossible to find time for reading with them. Between video games, TV shows, cartoons and playing outside (and that's just the adults!), it seems there is just so many other things to do besides read. As a result, kids grow up without experiencing the pleasure of reading the classics like A Tale of Two Cities, Shakespeare and others. They never have the excitement of escaping into their own little world besides the half-hour or hour television program. They grow up with a limited imagination that only involves problems that can be solved in 23 minutes.

So this begs the question: What are our children going to be like when they grow up? I've already seen many teenagers that can't put simple sentences together or speak eloquently. Do you remember Miss Teen South Carolina from 2007?

This isn't to imply that kids and teenagers are stupid. In fact, it's quite the contrary. I could throw a dart at a list of teenagers and pick one that knows more about computers than I do. I could throw another dart and find a kid that would be able to tell me how to work a DVD player or stereo system. But that doesn't qualify they have an imagination or that they are articulate.

On the other hand, there are some teenagers that love to read. I mean they absolutely LOVE to read. I had a discussion with one last night that held his own when talking about politics. In fact, he knew more than I did about this year's candidates. Another teenager I was talking to from my church's youth group was talking about how she loved Shakespeare because of his eloquence and command of the English language. It almost broke my heart to tell her that many experts believed he stole most of his writings.

So there are examples on either side of the equation. But reading has always been and always will be the best way to increase a child's imagination and help them grow up to be problem-solving adults that think out of the box. Reading opens them up to the ideas of the world - both good and bad - and allows them to resolve for themselves the ideas that appeal to them and shape their world. Isn't this the best way to teach our children how to think for themselves and grow up to be responsible adults? And in this day and age, the world really needs some responsible adults that are willing to think of ways to make the world better in ways we may have never thought about before.