Morning Sky & Books

Day 5: Morning Sky

I am thankful for each new day.  The morning brings new possibilities and many adventures.

Day 6: Books

I am grateful for the love of reading.  My girls love to read and the picture above was not staged.  I often find my 3 year old daughter with a pile of books next to her "reading" away.  Aria, my oldest daughter, loves to read also and she is an awesome reader!  Aria is reading at a 5th grade level and she is in 2nd grade.  I am also thankful for the library.  I grew up in a small town and we had to use the book mobile, nothing wrong with that, but the library is just cooler.  I remember when I got married and moved to the big city, one of the first things I did was get a library card. 

On our last library trip we checked out a book named Read To Your Bunny by Rosemary Wells.  In the back of the book was a message from the Rosemary and it rang true to me. 

All of us love our children more than anything in the world.  In their first years we feed them so they grow.  We bring them to the doctor so they are healthy.  We strap them in car seats so they are safe. 

But the most important thing in the first years of life is the growth of the mind and spirit.  This is when a child learns to love and trust, to speak and listen. 

After a child turns two years old, these things are very difficult to learn or teach ever again.  Trusting, singing, laughing, and language are the most important things in a young child's life.

And so they must come first for mothers and fathers, too.  Because we can never have those years over again. 

Every day, make a quiet, restful place for twenty minutes.  Put your child in your lap and read a book aloud.  In the pages of the book you will find a tiny vacation of privacy and intense love.  It costs nothing but twenty minutes and a library card.

Reading to your little one is just like putting gold coins in the bank.  It will pay you back tenfold.  Your daughter will learn, and imagine, and be strong in herself.  Your son will thrive, and give your love back forever.

                                                                                                                            R.W.