This may seem pretty obvious given where I work (and those of you that don’t know where I work can check out this link) but I’m a huge believer that one of the best things you can do for your kids is read them books. This started young for me, as I loved reading when I was a kid and my parents read to me all the time. I had “The Big Red Barn” memorized word for word before I was even close to reading and would often make sure my parents knew when they misspoke a word. I knew going into this fatherhood thing that I was going to read a lot to my son, but it was emphasized even more to me when I started my current job how vital and important getting kids interested in books and reading really is.
I believe that the easiest way to get a child interested in reading is to start reading with them before they even know what’s going on. For my son that started when he was in the womb. While I know he couldn’t see the pictures, he could hear my voice and it got my wife and I in the habit of grabbing books and reading. We continued to read to him right after he was born and now there’s not a day that goes by that he doesn’t read multiple books.
Because of this, my son loves books and loves reading. He enjoys screen time, runs non-stop and loves being outside, but he can sit down and read the same two or three books over and over and over again. He loves going to the library and loves getting new books. He also speaks really well and has quite the vocabulary for a child of his age. Obviously, there are a lot of factors that impact this and every single child develops differently, but I believe one of the biggest reasons he is such a smart kid is because of the amount of time he spends with us reading and the variety of books that he has.
I’m not trying to brag on my parenting skills or son with this, but just stressing something that I feel is so important and has a clear and long-lasting impact on my son. We will absolutely be doing this with our little one that is currently chilling in mom’s tummy and will continue to encourage my son with new books and reading time as long as he’ll let us.
To finish up…I thought I’d share some of my favorite books and series that my son and I enjoy. Happy reading!
–Elephant & Piggie! (My favorite and one of my son’s as well)
–Bear Series by Karma Wilson (really nice rhyming text, and great friendship-focused stories)
-A couple of great Bible options 🙂
-These two books I was introduced to by work and don’t have them yet, but love them and can’t wait to share them with my boy!
There’s lots more where this came from so message me or comment if you want more recommendations.
This is fatherhood…
This Is Fatherhood 