Bill Ward's Blog - Posts Tagged "blog-children-reading"
The legacy of books
I have two young girls aged 8 and 9 who are very keen on reading and writing, which is no doubt heavily influenced by my own passion for both.
When I was about 11 I was sent to a Boarding school, which enforced discipline in very old fashioned ways that would never be tolerated today. Looking back I owe so much to my Grandmother for taking me from a very young age to the library every week. By the time I went to school I had read an enormous number of childrens' classics and would consume a couple of books a week. Once at the school, which I didn't particularly enjoy, I always read anything I could get my hands on and as we had a decent school library, I was never without a book.
Reading taught me so much about life and was my escapism from the world I didn't always enjoy. I could become a Musketeer or join the Secret Seven. There was always an adventure in my life!
As I became an adult I still loved reading and in my twenties I started to think about writing my own adventure but a busy career kept getting in the way and it was a long time before I finished writing my first book.
The legacy of my Gran taking me to the library when I was young has been huge. I learned so much about good and bad! About geography and race and religion. About history and about creative thinking. The influence was positive on all my school subjects.
I am finally an author but more importantly what I read has shaped who I am as a human being. Reading has helped me through life's inevitable ups and downs.
My daughters have to complete a reading diary for school every week, which is a wonderful encouragement for them to read, although they are more fortunate than many because we encourage it anyway in our home.
I suspect most people who read this blog will be similar to myself and don't need telling the significance of reading for our children.
It opens their eyes to the bigger world. A world in which all people are born equal and great deeds are possible. It enables them to share experiences of different cultures and hopefully be less likely to be influenced by prejudice.
I decided to write this today because I was speaking to the teacher of one of my girls and he told me a significant minority of the children in his class didn't bother to submit their reading diary regularly or if they did simply wrote one sentence.
None of the parents of those children will read this blog but I still felt compelled to share my thoughts.
Historically, reading or the inability to do so often dictated your class and in extreme circumstances perhaps whether you were a slave or a free man. A man/woman who could read could escape poverty.
Today there are many charities around the world helping children to learn to read in order to better their lives. Supporting such charities can help not only the individuals concerned but benefit us all by reducing the risk of wars and other disasters caused by ignorance. We owe it to future generations to educate all the world's children.
I know I have been preaching to the converted but thanks for the opportunity to get my thoughts off my chest. And most importantly thanks to my Gran, who is no longer with us, but gave me such a great start in life.
When I was about 11 I was sent to a Boarding school, which enforced discipline in very old fashioned ways that would never be tolerated today. Looking back I owe so much to my Grandmother for taking me from a very young age to the library every week. By the time I went to school I had read an enormous number of childrens' classics and would consume a couple of books a week. Once at the school, which I didn't particularly enjoy, I always read anything I could get my hands on and as we had a decent school library, I was never without a book.
Reading taught me so much about life and was my escapism from the world I didn't always enjoy. I could become a Musketeer or join the Secret Seven. There was always an adventure in my life!
As I became an adult I still loved reading and in my twenties I started to think about writing my own adventure but a busy career kept getting in the way and it was a long time before I finished writing my first book.
The legacy of my Gran taking me to the library when I was young has been huge. I learned so much about good and bad! About geography and race and religion. About history and about creative thinking. The influence was positive on all my school subjects.
I am finally an author but more importantly what I read has shaped who I am as a human being. Reading has helped me through life's inevitable ups and downs.
My daughters have to complete a reading diary for school every week, which is a wonderful encouragement for them to read, although they are more fortunate than many because we encourage it anyway in our home.
I suspect most people who read this blog will be similar to myself and don't need telling the significance of reading for our children.
It opens their eyes to the bigger world. A world in which all people are born equal and great deeds are possible. It enables them to share experiences of different cultures and hopefully be less likely to be influenced by prejudice.
I decided to write this today because I was speaking to the teacher of one of my girls and he told me a significant minority of the children in his class didn't bother to submit their reading diary regularly or if they did simply wrote one sentence.
None of the parents of those children will read this blog but I still felt compelled to share my thoughts.
Historically, reading or the inability to do so often dictated your class and in extreme circumstances perhaps whether you were a slave or a free man. A man/woman who could read could escape poverty.
Today there are many charities around the world helping children to learn to read in order to better their lives. Supporting such charities can help not only the individuals concerned but benefit us all by reducing the risk of wars and other disasters caused by ignorance. We owe it to future generations to educate all the world's children.
I know I have been preaching to the converted but thanks for the opportunity to get my thoughts off my chest. And most importantly thanks to my Gran, who is no longer with us, but gave me such a great start in life.
Published on February 05, 2014 11:47
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Tags:
blog-children-reading