Important Together Routines

My precious and very smart 4 year old granddaughter approached her mother with a very serious inquiry, "If I learn to read, will you keep reading to me?" Now that mother assured her that certainly she would continue to read to her, we suspect the 4 year old will quickly transform all those letters she knows into words she can read and stories in which she will delight in reading, even by herself. But any transition can be scary or difficult to tackle if you lose togetherness in the process. This brings forth the importance in reading in our own family. We read to our children constantly and spontaneously. But we also had certain times of the day that reading was just part of our routine. We read aloud just after breakfast and before the start of other activities. We had "reading" alone time where children would look at books quietly even before they could read them while others were reading the books for real. The end of the day was usually spent enjoying a family read aloud time. And when a child embarked on their own reading plan, they were allowed to stay up a bit later to read. We tried to change up some of these together routines for various reasons but I still remember trying to drop the morning reading time so we could use our morning energy on some serious school subjects that required that vitality. MISTAKE! Instead we felt out of sorts the rest of the day. Just last winter, I realized that our family reading time had been set aside in the midst of many transitions resulting in changing schedules. I know families change and adapt but I also noticed attitude changes and a disconnectedness occurring. So, we brought back our family read aloud time. We have read a variety of material, fiction and nonfiction, as a family. Sometimes it is the parent's choice; sometimes we allow a child to choose. Since one of our sons is joining the army soon, we are reading a military-based book. (I do miss "Blaze", "Good Night Moon", and "Make Way for Ducklings" when compared with bombs, helicopters attacks, and a list of other military jargon I would rather forget.) Our family reading time binds us not just in the time and stories but in the discussions that surround those stories. We learned about men of God, we challenged the ideas of evolution, we explored behind the scenes of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and changed our eating patterns. I know that my granddaughter will grow up in a house where reading aloud will always be a part of what they do and I am reminded to make sure it is something we continue to do, no matter the transitions. By the way, my husband and I usually do not read aloud to one another, but it is common for us to share in reading the same book. Right now, we are reading "Radical" by David Platt. I see us doing more of this type of sharing a book as our family transitions to more young adults unless the grandkids return then we will feast on "Tacky", "Go Dog Go", "Hop on Pop", and "Blueberries for Sal", followed by "Little Britches" and "Anne of Green Gables" and many more good friends we have discovered in books. We have other things we do together but reading has a special place in our family.So maybe it is not reading for your family but it is good to evaluate what are some of your unique "together routines" and to keep them going--and if attitudes are turning sour, maybe evaluate if those routines have been lost along the way.