JON GLOVER CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
When I sat down to write this article, I thought, wow! Something different, yet encouraging in spite of the coronavirus that could put our children, grandchildren at ease, even parents.
We all know that the coronavirus has upset many a life and lifestyle.
It’s summer. What do we do with our children?
With the virus impeding vacations, what do we do?
We improvise. We make the changes where our children will have as great a summer as every other summer; it just will not be traveling down the road to grandma’s house nor Disneyland or Sea World.
What we will do is take those trips. Yes, take that trip to grandma’s house. How? Technology. A service, Zoom, free, is a great tool that affords such a visit.
We will go to Disneyland. How? Reading. That is right; get that book and wow your children. Having them read and seeing the excitement of Disneyland right in your living room or playroom. Just think much beyond, a skill retained.
Not every trip, adventure, has to stop. They can continue through reading.
Reading is fundamental. Your son or daughter reading that book about Sea World get to see many a sea creature never imagined. Reading now opened doors to adventures that challenges imaginations.
Reading opens up a world of adventure to children, even to parent. What will you do with your children this summer? Encourage them to read.
Do not forget the value of card games. Two card games, UNO and Phase 10, challenge the mind; they also support competitiveness. The object, we all know, of any card game is to win. To win at UNO or Phase 10, two specific skillsets are present, reading and math.
Even playing dominoes requires that math.
There is the statement that says, “If a child cannot read successfully by the third grade, their future will be dire.” If such is true, then why not engage embrace reading?
So, you don’t or didn’t know what to do with your children for the summer. Even now have a suggestion.
A suggestion, reading, well worth its weight. Libraries opened now, and library cards are free. You need only call, in some instances, and reserve your book, and it’s waiting upon your arrival.
Why are there so many students lagging behind in reading here in Caddo Parish public schools?
Whatever your child learns begins with teaching. In teaching, teach the skills that affords reading. In reading, knowledge gained. Knowledge gained leads to comprehension. Comprehension opens the door to understanding.
WE now can READ. WE now can COMPREHEND. WE now have KNOWLEDGE. WE now have UNDERSTANDING. The world is at your fingertips because now you can read.
That journey that opened the doors of your child’s imagination began with reading. Now that skill, reading, continues their journey and all thanks to a virus, a horrible virus, that now helped us help our children be adventurous, all because now they read.
Reading really is fundamental.
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THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE June 26 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.