Share a Story – Shape a Future
Share a Story – Shape a Future is a collaborative venue to share ideas and celebrate everything reading has to offer our kids.
I’m a huge fan of reading. Most writers are . . . we’re word lovers, and of course we need other word lovers or there’s no reason to write.
I didn’t love to read as a child. I preferred television, music, and daydreaming over sitting down with a book. And the options for children today can make reading fall very low on the list of ways they want to spend their time.
Thankfully my mom, a devourer of books, did something on a difficult “tween” day that taught me the power of written words.
She handed me a letter. It wasn’t long. Seven or so pages of beautifully handwritten thoughts on parchment paper. Notes from a new mom to her infant daughter . . . me.
Unlike her Sanguine daughter, my mom did not bubble over with emotion. Reading her thoughts and feelings as a new mom helped me know both of us a little better. And launched my interest in reading books about understanding people, emotions, life, and faith.
I’m sure my mom had no idea how she was shaping my future the day she shared our story with me.
Share a Story
Read to your children and let them see you reading your favorite books. There is no better way to help them develop a love for reading.
And don’t forget to write to your children.
Start a journal when you find out they’re on the way and write short notes to tell them your story and theirs. It doesn’t have to be prolonged or poetic. It doesn’t even have to be everyday. Just a short note once a week. Add a photo here and there and you have a book they are guaranteed to love.
You can even do an electronic journal, although I recommend some handwritten journaling to personalize it even more.
Shape a Future
Don’t ever think the little things you do everyday with your child are unimportant. Each story read, hug given, nose wiped, and dance party celebrated makes memories.
You’re shaping the future.
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. Ecclesiastes 11:5-6
Last week while our daughter and her family were eating dinner, she asked three-year-old T to tell her the best thing about his day. After he told her his favorite moment of the day, he asked, “Mommy, what was the best thing in your day?”
She answered, “My best thing was when you called me downstairs to give me a hug and kiss me on the forehead.”
Smart momma! Guess who’s getting extra hugs and kisses this week?
Everything you do is important. Everything.
Photo Credit
I’ve loved reading since the 4th grade. Before that, it was a struggle for me. However, my 4th grade teacher, (Mrs. Gilfillan) set up a reading section in our classroom complete with comfy couches, chairs, a rug and book shelves! We counted it a privilege to be able to go there to read. I think because she made it seem so special, I began to love it. Writing to our children is such a good idea for it saves our thoughts for them to read in the years to come…maybe when we are no longer here. We can use our journals to leave a legacy to our kids. And as for things our children have written to me? I cherish them. I have them saved in a box and consider them true treasures.
Blessings, Joan
I’ve saved all my children’s notes and cards too. It’s really a joy to go back and their early attempts at handwriting and putting their thoughts into words.
What a great idea to have a classroom reading corner. It’s sounds like your teacher did a good job of making reading a get to rather than a have to. It’s all in the attitude isn’t it?