unruly rant: reading = fun + duh + mental
My daughter brought home a "Reading Log" today.
And believe it or not, I'm pissed.
"Reading books is a sweet treat!" it says. And then it encourages my child to color in a cupcake every day that she reads a book. At the end of the month, I sign it, and she takes it back to school, and they give her a certificate for a child-sized pizza at Pizza Hut.
And you know what?
I threw it in the trash.
I mean, I get that we're not normal. I spend 95% of my free time either reading or writing. There are towering stacks of books in every room. And we buy books for the kids, too. I almost never turn down an intelligently worded request. There are books on the floor and the kitchen table and the stairs, books under their beds and in designated book boxes and stuffed between the car seats in my car.
No one in our house can walk three feet without encountering a book.
And I know that we're incredibly, incredibly lucky, and that not everyone has the access to books that we do.
But coloring in cupcakes and turning in worksheets and earning $3 worth of pizza? That's not how you turn a kid into a reader.
If you want your children to read, you buy them books. You read them books. You ask them to read books to you. You let them see you reading. You make sure that books are always around, waiting to entertain and delight. You make books into friends that you can turn to again and again.
You make books a priority and a fixture.
This worksheet is not a philanthropic way to encourage children to read. It's a great way to sell pizza to parents rewarding their kid for coloring in cupcakes. After all, your kid's pizza is free, but mom and dad and the other kids are going to want to eat, too. So basically, you save $3 on your kid's pizza and spend $30 on unhealthy food for the rest of the family instead of spending that money on, say, BOOKS.
So yes, books are a sweet treat.
But please don't pretend that your ad from Pizza Hut is encouraging reading.
I deeply resent the fact that public schools allow this crap into my life.
You know what's getting my kids excited about reading?
It's not pizza.
It's reading.
*
And believe it or not, I'm pissed.
"Reading books is a sweet treat!" it says. And then it encourages my child to color in a cupcake every day that she reads a book. At the end of the month, I sign it, and she takes it back to school, and they give her a certificate for a child-sized pizza at Pizza Hut.
And you know what?
I threw it in the trash.
I mean, I get that we're not normal. I spend 95% of my free time either reading or writing. There are towering stacks of books in every room. And we buy books for the kids, too. I almost never turn down an intelligently worded request. There are books on the floor and the kitchen table and the stairs, books under their beds and in designated book boxes and stuffed between the car seats in my car.
No one in our house can walk three feet without encountering a book.
And I know that we're incredibly, incredibly lucky, and that not everyone has the access to books that we do.
But coloring in cupcakes and turning in worksheets and earning $3 worth of pizza? That's not how you turn a kid into a reader.
If you want your children to read, you buy them books. You read them books. You ask them to read books to you. You let them see you reading. You make sure that books are always around, waiting to entertain and delight. You make books into friends that you can turn to again and again.
You make books a priority and a fixture.
This worksheet is not a philanthropic way to encourage children to read. It's a great way to sell pizza to parents rewarding their kid for coloring in cupcakes. After all, your kid's pizza is free, but mom and dad and the other kids are going to want to eat, too. So basically, you save $3 on your kid's pizza and spend $30 on unhealthy food for the rest of the family instead of spending that money on, say, BOOKS.
So yes, books are a sweet treat.
But please don't pretend that your ad from Pizza Hut is encouraging reading.
I deeply resent the fact that public schools allow this crap into my life.
You know what's getting my kids excited about reading?
It's not pizza.
It's reading.
*
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message 1:
by
Susan
(new)
Feb 04, 2012 05:22PM
I did all those things you have done, passionately, but my son, as of yet (almost 18), is not a reader. He admittedly has fond memories of the books we read together, he has insisted keeping a huge number of his childhood books for "his children" and we share a favorite book, "Star Girl", that he read in middle school and brought home to me. I do remember when his elementary school did that Pizza Hut incentive program... back then he loved to read but he did NOT like pizza! Ha! Pizza Hut, your big corporate marketing strategy did not work on my child! I keep hoping Blake will someday "catch" the fever again. In the meantime, we don't have cable but we still have tons of books.
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I agree. I must have books with me and around me (including ebooks and audio books). My 3 girls took different paths to reading, but as adults they read. I remember my middle daughter was not reading. She knew how, she just did not want to read. Then she found the Fear Street (I believe they are called???) books. She devoured them all and was reading Stephen King in short order. People told me I should not let her read the Fear St books as they were not "literature". My answer - she is reading by choice. If it sparks an interest in reading I do not care if it is not great literature. She still enjoys reading.
