This morning I had the great privilege of listening to my son read Elephant & Piggie books to me. Those of you who know me or who have been following me for a while know how much I enjoy Elephant & Piggie and have sometimes had to beg my son to read them with me. Well, this time was different as my daughter just kept bringing me book after to book (we have all 25!) to read to her and then when my son joined in…he just all of a sudden started to read them to us. It was a very proud and happy moment for me and a reminder of just how amazing he is, but also of one of the biggest successes my wife and I have had as parents: our kids love to read.

From their early days in the womb we began reading each of them books.  We have so many books at our house and almost always give at least one as a gift for birthdays, Christmas, or just because.  Our kids love reading and don’t let one day pass without reading at least 2-3 books with us. I believe that this is something we have done a great job of encouraging them in and have hopefully helped them get a head start on a very successful life journey.

Both my wife and I already had a passion for books and reading, but I think for me it was even further ingrained when I started working at my current organization back in June 2013.  SMART Reading places volunteers in schools to read with kids one-on-one and gives each child in our program 2 free books to keep every month.  Our mission is to spark joy and opportunity through the magic of a shared book. Through this work of almost seven years now I have learned so much about the power and magic of literacy and how important it is to help children develop a love for reading when they are very young.  My organization is celebrating World Read Aloud Day tomorrow, February 5, 2020 and is simply asking that if you believe in the importance of reading with kids, please take just a moment to follow this link and sign our pledge to read aloud to a child or someone you care about in your life tomorrow.

I hope you have a great World Read Aloud Day and have as much fun reading with your little ones as I did today with mine .

This is fatherhood…