00:00:26
Well, hey, Claire, it's nice to be with you on another podcast episode, and this one is so special.

00:00:31
Yeah. We are not in our usual place. We're so excited that we took the podcast on the road again this month. We are coming to all of our listeners at home live from the NAEYC annual conference. Yes, Rachel, for our family listening at home, can you just tell folks a little bit about what NAEYC is and why it's important?

00:00:53
Yes. I think that in my experience, a lot of families understand NAEYC as maybe an accrediting body or standard of high quality. Maybe they've heard about professional conferences or maybe teachers have said, that's not NAEYC or we follow NAEYC standards or some version of that. But National Association Education of Young Children is so much more than accreditation standards, although they're very important. It is a place, and we're at the annual conference, so it is a place that anyone in the field of early education, whatever that means, whatever role that is, and there are so many roles in this field because come together to share best practices, to learn from each other, to share stories, to find solutions and share expertise. And we thought we want to get a piece of that for our listeners. So we wanted to do this family podcast at an educator conference so our families, our listeners, can hear from other educators that share our passion and have other kinds, additional expertise to share.

00:01:55
Yeah. This conference is one of my favorite events of the year because it's full of my favorite people, which are people that want young children to thrive. Early educators are the best people in the world, in my opinion. So I'm happy to be here.

00:02:07
They just are. It's not even just our opinion. They just are.

00:02:10
They just are the best people. So at Bright Horizons, we're really excited this year because we're celebrating the 25th anniversary of our Growing Readers program.

00:02:19
Which is a program that offers families and teachers monthly book recommendations and storytelling tips.

00:02:25
It's really special to us.

00:02:26
Yeah. This is a program we started 25 years ago, and we did it because we wanted to, similar to this podcast, we wanted to help parents identify what the best kind of early literature was and what the best of the best books were, so they didn't have to spend a lot of time figuring out for themselves. And then we also give them storytelling tips and reading tips and ideas about the books themselves to help facilitate that really rich, important early reading, early storytelling. So we're so excited to be celebrating 25 years. And one of the things we do at Bright Horizons too, that our listeners have heard us talk about is we have a foundation. And so we do a lot of work in the communities where we work and live to support families outside of the walls of a Bright Horizons center. And this year We've collected over 25,000 books to donate to share in our communities through our Growing Readers program. So that's pretty exciting.

00:03:19
Yeah. And if you're curious, those of you in the room with us today, more about Growing Readers, there's flyer on your table about it. For those of you listening at home, check out the Growing Readers program at Bright Horizons. We're just really proud of that work.

00:03:29
It's online and it's in a center, if you are attending a Bright Horizon center.

00:03:34
That's right. So today our podcast topic, with the help of our live audience full of seasoned educators, is how to inspire a lifetime of joyful reading, which is really the spirit behind the Growing Readers program. So we chose this topic both because we're celebrating growing readers, but because, well, Rachel and I are both total readers. We're total book nerds and we cannot shout enough about. Well, if you've heard our podcast before, they're like, Rachel and Claire are either going to talk about Brains play or reading. And so here we are talking about reading again. But it's really important to talk about because of what we know is going on in the research. So again, if you're a regular listener of our podcast, we're going to start where we always do, which is with the research. So we know that reading is in decline in families in homes around the country. The research, it doesn't matter. I did a lot of deep dive into the research before today's podcast and source after source found the same thing. 81% of 4th graders and low income families score below proficiency in reading. In America, those students are one and a half times more likely to fall short of reading proficiency when compared to the more affluent peers. A 2023 survey from Scholastic found that by age nine, only 35% of kids report reading five to seven days a week, compared to 57% of eight year olds. So as children are getting older, they're reading less and less. And we know as early educators how important this is. We wanted to talk about this topic today because we know it in our gut, but we know it as educators that this is important. We need children to be reading.

00:05:07
Yeah, I think about my own kids and I had my older daughter who she actually at a time in, I think it was about middle school, late elementary School where she said to me straight in the eyes and said, I hate reading. And I was like, that's not an option in this family. But also she's their own person and we figured that out together and she really didn't like it for most of high school. And now she's an avid reader again. But I think what happened to her is what is happening a lot to children and families is she had a lot of other options. There was more ways to read. It's what she was growing up in a time. A lot of digital reading resources were coming out and there wasn't research yet to tell us that those are not as good as reading in paper books. A lot of character driven books, a lot of media starting to get into children's literacy world. So not as much research or knowledge about the quality of something like a character driven kind of movie franchise book versus a well written children's literature book. So she was in the era that all of that stuff was happening and she had a lot of forced reading. You have to read this amount of books by this time. You have to read these specific books in her life through schools at that time. And that was taking all her reading time and also her love of reading away. So things like how fast can you read? I understand why sometimes that happens in schools, but she was just not a fast reader. So then therefore she felt unsuccessful at it and therefore she stopped liking it. Now when she can read and just do it for enjoyment, it's a whole different situation. We have more and more, more and more of all those things I said that have got in the way of her being a good reader and loving reading. We have more digital products that are telling us this is the way for your children to read. This is as great. But right now we also have research telling us that is actually not true. All those bells and whistles in online books, they are actually not good for kids. All of the reading on a screen is not as good of a way to read as a paper book. We know these things now, so we can advocate for them differently. But kids and parents are making really tricky decisions because you also have built a life around making things a little bit more convenient. So it's harder to find the time to sit down and read a paper book. It's harder to find the time to get to the library or a bookstore because our lives have sort of developed and our habits are sort of developed around the conveniences that these other things bring to us. And our kids love things like Spiderman or Princesses or all the things that come with those commercial books. And that's okay. It just doesn't mean those are high quality literature books.

00:07:51
That's right. So how do you choose a high-quality book? How do you get children excited about reading? We know the folks in this room who work with a 0 to ages 0 to 5 crew that some of these routines and habits and really that foundational love of books and reading starts then it starts in those early years. One of my favorite quotes from Emil Buswald I probably butchered their name is children are made readers on the laps of their parents. I would add and teachers to that. Right. So that's what we want to talk about today before we press record. For those listening at home. We are in this room of very talented and passionate early educators. We asked them to do some brainstorming about what tips and, and strategies would you tell a parent, a caregiver who is chasing this? They want to inspire that lifelong love of reading. So we are so excited. We're going to share the expertise, the folks in the room with all of you at home. So I'm just going to start with some of the prompts that we, some of the questions that we asked our audience to consider and I'm going to ask our brave audience members to, to share their expertise with us. So let's start with this question for the folks who are with us today. How would you explain the long-term importance of daily reading to a parent? They've got a lot of things competing for their attention, for their time. Anyone want to tackle this question?

00:09:21
Well, we know, right? Research has shown us that for a child to be a successful reader in third grade. So if we look at their reading scores in the third grade and we look at their vocabulary in the third grade, those children that are more successful in third grade actually were more likely to have a positive home literacy environment and were read to at younger years. So I would say that's a big fact.

00:09:45
Yeah, that's absolutely right.

00:09:47
And that's what we want. That's what parents want for their children, rightly so, for them to be successful long term. And it's kind of a relief that reading books, something kids just really love to do, is one of the best ways to do that. No extra equipment required.

00:10:01
We have someone else who wants to tackle this question. How would you explain the long term importance of daily reading at home to a parent?

00:10:08
I think similar to my colleague here, just really thinking about, you know, reading to our children is Important, and we want them to do well with their own reading. But ultimately, we want our young people to be literate. And as a parent, what do you want for your child as they become an adult? We want them to have agency. We want them to be able to think for themselves. And so starting from a young age, exposure to, like you said, high quality literature not only is building their vocabulary, but it's really exposing them and giving them experiences that they may not have access to and really being able to build their capabilities around being articulate young people as they get older.

00:10:42
Yeah, I know I was saying something earlier about commercial books, but I want to, I want to walk myself back there a minute too, because while I care very much about the quality of children's literature, I care more that kids are reading, that they're loving books. And if that's what it takes, read all of them. Read every single commercial book you can get your hands on. And sometimes that's what people have the most access to. So I love that point is we're unlocking a pathway to everything in life when we help children develop a love of reading and literacy skills for their life. That's such a great point. And I think too, what you're both saying, and maybe we'll talk about this later, is this idea is. It's so important, but that doesn't mean that we push down academic learning. We get to push up love of reading. And that's one of the important reasons to talk about this.

00:11:32
Absolutely. Okay. Another topic that I hear families talking about a lot when I'm interacting with our Bright Horizons families is some families already know. They know. Some parents come to me and they already know I know reading is important. I know it's good for their brains. I know it's good for their vocabulary and their future literacy skills. I know, I know, I know. I'm busy. How do I create a reading routine with my young child? So if you had a parent approach you with that question, what tips would you give? What strategies would you give? How do you create that routine?


00:12:12
Create a reading space within your home. Like just a little cozy space, a basket, a library, something for one, where. You know, the kid can go on their own independently, if that's what they choose to do.

00:12:30
Why don't you go and sit, you know, near the books? Yeah, what a great idea. And I love that you mentioned that they could independently choose because a love of reading isn't just reading with the adult. Right. That they have access to reading when they want. There's one answer up here, thought up here and then the second table.

00:12:48
So one of the things that we talked about is really thinking about the age of the child and you know, the accessibility. So obviously with a toddler you wouldn't want to have just a whole spray of books. You know, it would be this one or this one. But really giving that child the opportunity to choose which one. The other thing that we all think about is that it's always just about reading in laps and not all children can do that. So it might be that you're standing together, it might be that you're having to sit beside each other, it might be that there's a special place that we sit that you know, really helps a child kind of see what is their space to do those types of things. And then of course for you know, an older child, a preschool age child, you know, you're really going to want for them to really be talking to you about what their interests are and you know, let's look together and let's choose something and then, you know, really work towards making that a big part of their each day routine.

00:13:52
You want to add anything, what else you're just concurring, that's okay. Or adding either one. Yeah, I was and for me, when I was an NC pre K teacher, I learned about the child more about what they liked. So, you know, if they weren't a child that would go to the book center, you know, I would sit down with them and ask them, you know, what are the things you like to read? So just finding out what your choices are, your children's choices are and what they're, you know, if they like Spider man, let them, you know, explore Spider man or Batman. Back, way back when I was teaching, it was wrestling for some of my boys. You know, they like the wrestlers. So you know, things like that. I think the big thing is finding their interest and then fitting it into the parents routine would be, you know, something hopefully mutual before, after dinner or you know, during transitions. That's a great idea. Transition times.

00:15:05
And also, you know, really realizing that you may not make it all the way through the book. You know, if you make it through one or two pages and everybody's happy and we're ready to go to bed or we're ready to move on to the next thing, it's really, really focusing on the child's. Lead and what their interest is. And then you as a parent, if you want to try to over time, kind of build time in to where it gets a little bit longer each time, but not walk into it with, we're going to sit here for 15 minutes.

00:15:36
I think that's such an important. You both made such important points. I just want to talk about a couple of them. But your last point about not thinking that it's not a useful use of time just because you don't get through it, because I do see that, is that, well, they weren't interested in it. It doesn't mean they weren't interested in it. It doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea. They just weren't interested in doing it for 15 minutes or for even five minutes. So I think that's such an important point for parents to hear. And I also love how you're weaving in this idea of choice and someone else brought up the idea of agency, meaning allowing kids to have some control and some decision making in their own lives. And that's great for all sorts of things, not just literacy, but what a great way to also add that skill or that ability for them to have that there and using their own interests. It's just a great way to capture. In fact, that would be great if the K12 system did that more for schools because then kids that had this long reading list of things that they could really care less about if they could have some choice in there, that would maybe reduce some of these statistics and probably some schools and some educators and some things are happening. But the standardized approach to it is a pretty rigid, prescribed list of books. So I love all those ways to engage children and, and I hope when parents are listening too, that the routine and these little ideas, they're so simple to infuse. Have a basket of books in the car. You don't have to pass your phone back. Have a basket of books. Have a basket of books everywhere. Bring a book with you. Only this special book bag can come in. When we wait at the restaurant or the dentist or wherever it is. Just put it into your life versus having it have to be this whole separate time.

00:17:16
That's right. I think when we hear the word routine, reading routine, we automatically go to bedtime, cozy time, pajamas, which is a wonderful, delicious time of day. But that doesn't have to be the only point of the routine. It could be an after breakfast book. It could be a transition book. Right.

00:17:41
That's a great idea. That's going to be your next book right now. I heard so many great tips. Another question that we posed to our audience was, and we already touched on this, so I'm just going to pose it in case anyone wanted to add on. If not, we can move along. What tips would you give a parent who wants their child to have a life love of reading? Because what we know from the research is that as children get older, they need a lot more encouragement from adults to even pick up a book. So how do we get if maybe you've got a two or three year old in your classroom at home who likes books? They're fine, they're good. I like them. That's a thing that we do every day. But you want that to be a fourth grader, a 14 year old who wants. You want that lifelong love of reading.

00:18:21
We've got a lot of ideas on this one. I'm excited to hear them. So one thing I love to do as a teacher and I think it's easy to do at home as well, is act out a story. So if you, especially if you have children who are active, they want to move around, get some props, let them act out that favorite story and just help them extend the story or let them read the book to you and tell you the story.

00:18:46
So there's lots of different ways beyond the traditional reading a book. You had to really immerse in that book to let it be more than just something you read. One thing we talk about with educators all the time is the point of reading a book is not to get through the book. That's an outcome of the point of all the other things. But that is like really enjoy it. Learn about these characters, immerse yourself in the story, enjoy it. That's the point. Then you eventually get to the end. But it's not just about getting to the end. One back here and then we'll come up front to this front table.

00:19:18
I feel like if you want them to be a lifelong reader, you need them to see you as a lifelong reader. So they need to see you reading all the time, immersed in it. Like someone else had said earlier, having that comfy cozy spot, but having it for everyone. Hammocks in the backyard, you know, those comfy chairs on the patio and everyone, it doesn't, when they get older, it can be like family reading. Kind of like back when I was in school, we had drop everything and Read. The family has. Drop everything and read. Go to your little cozy spot and, you know, the whole family gets to go enjoy their own books together and you can come back together later and oh, my gosh, what's happening now in your book? This is what's happening in mine.

00:20:01
Maybe, maybe instead of. In addition to the no phones at the table rule, you could have conversation at the table. Has to be about your book that you're reading.

00:20:08
Everybody share. It's like family book club. I like that.

00:20:13
I'm glad I got this question because this is what I did with my kids, and they are adults out of the house now, and they love to read. But first, I would take them to the library every week or twice a week, 10 books, because I could remember 10 books to make sure I didn't leave any behind. We read on trips. I would get a chapter book. We like to travel by car, and I would get a chapter book and I would read a chapter or two a day or however. And I remember my oldest son, he wanted to continue the story because of the cliffhangers. And I said, no, can't. This is. I'm going to read to everybody in the car. And they loved it. They really enjoyed listening to these stories. We also had a rule that when it was bedtime, if they wanted to read past their bedtime, that was okay. They could not play, they could not do anything else, but reading was allowed. And my. One of my sons had two friends that did not like reading. But when they would come over and sleep over, the only option they had once the lights were out was to get out a flashlight and read a book. And they learned to love to read. So that was wonderful.

00:21:30
What a good idea.

00:21:31
Such a great idea.

00:21:32
And then the reading, like at bedtime, My younger son, because by then my oldest son was reading on his own. My younger son, when he was in elementary school, I would get novels and I would read them to him every night. And they love reading now because of these things that we did that was not the norm. And then, of course, we had lots of books in the house because we wanted them to see that reading was fun and wonderful.

00:22:02
Right? Books in the house are one of the earliest predictors of strong literacy skills. Right. Just access to books, valuing books, relishing books. I have books that are like my decor in my house because I don't have enough room to put them in other places. But I just love looking at my books. And that's the same thing you're all talking about is this just this love of reading. I love what you're talking about in terms of making it really special. This is coveted. It is cool to be able to read. It's not something you can do. I mean it is something you can do all the time actually. But it's like a special thing you can do to stay up late for. I've traveled for work for a long, long time and when my kids were little, this is pre facetime we would get the same book from the library and I would take one copy and then you'd have one at home and we'd read it together when I was traveling. But then we couldn't read it other times. And that was sort of the same thing as I hope they were looking forward to talking to me, but they were also really looking forward to what was going to happen in the book. So that creating some intrigue, some excitement around it.

00:23:04
I'm really into the role modeling tip that's hugely important for, for teachers to be role modeling it and really for parents and caregivers at home. I actually just had a birthday recently and someone gifted me a new purse and I in front of my children, I said, well, I'm going to have to exchange this because it doesn't. It's not big enough to hold a book and I need to have a book with me. It's like a security item. But it's, it's just I want them to see that I am. That is a. I make it a priority in my life. So I think all the parents listening, it's such a. That's such great advice.

00:23:33
The library thing too. Let's go back to that. Because libraries are having fewer and fewer people using libraries. Libraries are incredible places. They have books and so much more and they're just such a safe, welcoming place to be. And the little libraries, you can find a map of those. You can find them all over. My kids and I have gone on little scavenger hunts around little libraries. We've donated, we've said like we're going to go to 20, we're going to donate, donate to 20. Or are we going to see if they have any books that we're interested in and do some swaps. But you can have a lot of fun with that too. But this idea that books, books are accessible, we just have to make sure get people to the right places that they are. And that's one of the reasons we wanted to do that big donation is to make sure that in these communities and These agencies that we support, that they didn't feel like they had to keep the books to themselves, if kids love them, that they had enough to say, take this home.

00:24:26
Because we know how important that is.

00:24:28
Okay. Another topic we love to cover for our audience at home because our, you know, the pod, our podcast listeners, are raising young children. These, these parents are in the trenches. They've got those zero to three, zero to five children. So if you had a parent walking into your office, into your classroom, saying, I, I know reading is important, but I've got a, I've got a baby, I've got a young toddler, like, they don't seem that interested, what advice would you give them? How do you get an infant and a toddler engaged in reading? What are your tricks and tips for that?

00:25:03
Well, I like it that you can. One thing about when you're working with children, and that's why I got into it, is you can use your funny voices, your silly voices. You can hide in your voices and make it interesting based on your baby. You can have your quiet voice. And so it makes it more interesting when you use different voices to read to infants and toddlers.

00:25:24
I love that tip.

00:25:25
It's so good for their language development, brain development, too. And as you're saying, it's kind of fun. Let loose parents and have a little fun with it.

00:25:36
But you can also incorporate props that can grab their attention and help to.

00:25:41
Keep them engaged as well. And then, of course, remembering that you do not necessarily have to read the entire book, just kind of taking their lead and what interests them and just kind of keeping it exciting. Exactly. Yep, that's right.

00:25:53
That's great, Great advice.

00:25:55
I saw another hand over here. I was going to say have different textures, have board books, fabric books, things that infants can grab and hold. And, you know, that's okay if you don't go in order. Just have fun with them and help build those positive associations with books when they're that young. And if it's you, the book and them, they know you're focused on them. So really put away the distractions, the tv, the phone, and just focus that time on the books. Yeah. Great.

00:26:30
And I think something that parents need to understand that it's the purpose is not that they read a story to the child and that the child sits there and listens to the story. It's like you said earlier, it's the brain development. So if parents understand, it's okay if your child grabs the book and Turns it upside down. That's not the purpose. The purpose is to get the child to get used to being read to. And it's a process, but I think they think the child has to sit there. I worked in research with Latino mothers who are not used to reading to their children, and they didn't. They would say, well, they won't sit there. And we're like, that's okay. It's a process and it will take a while. And so I think it's taking away that. That fear that my child won't sit still while I read. No, they're not going to sit still. It's an infant or a young toddler. That's okay.

00:27:24
Yeah, I think it's a pretty common thought from, I mean, probably a lot of educators too, but definitely families. Is, is it working? Is it not going well? Do they have an attention challenge? Because they're not sitting still for this story and just a lot of concern about it. But to, to let go of that. Really what we want is for children to love reading, being read to. And when they're, especially when they're just a couple months old, wanting to explore the textures of the book, wanting to hold it, that's they should be. That's. That is helping them with that lifelong love of reading. And I know we've probably said it already because I say this on repeat, but earlier is not better. So it's okay. We actually don't want them, we won't. Don't want children to feel, or parents to feel like there's this enormous pressure that reading, being able to read needs to be a quick, fast, early outcome because they've got a long road. Not one of us, not anybody listening, was asked the question during any job interviews, at what age did you start reading? It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. But what matters is that they love reading and that they're literate and that they can use communication skills long term. So if we're focusing on that, then we get to spend all this good, rich time loving books.

00:28:44
For me, one of the easiest things is helping parents understand that you can read the same book a thousand times. It is okay. And in fact, I truly believe that it really does instill that love for reading, hearing that story over and over so you don't have to spend a million dollars or go to the library every single week and get 1,000 books. Or especially for those really early years, that the same five books, even if you're sick of reading it, the child loves it and just hearing it over and over, we know, also builds their language skills. But knowing that if you just have a few books and you read it over and over and you've probably not committed it to memory, so they're holding the book while you're cooking dinner and you're reading the story while they turn the pages.

00:29:29
And you're still killing two birds with one stone. But hearing those stories over and over and over at a really young age, the really rhythmic ones and rhyming ones, and I've discovered they have Bob Marley books and board books. And I know the kids that I've given that to, they absolutely love it as well as their parents. But reading books over and over is really good.

00:29:50
Yeah, that is. It's a good point to talk about how good that is for children because that is one of the hardest things for parents to have to read that book over and over and over again. And I think like having fun with it. What new part can you add a little twist? Can you talk about the characters? Can you turn it into a song? It's okay to do those kinds of things to liven yourself up if you need to. I'm having visions of goodnight moon as I'm saying this. Right?

00:30:24
All I was going to add is just parents being open to some alternative forms of print. And you know, there's some amazing picture books out there. But I've had readers that would prefer to look at dog fancy magazines and read articles about poodles or like a mechanics magazine or even recipe books like they would. It was far more interesting for them to learn about how to make like grandma biscuits than it was for them to sit down and enjoy an Eric Carle book or something else that would their peers all loved, but they would be outside the box readers and just be open to like loving print in whatever form it comes in. What a great idea. It can be Hulk Hogan or it can be biscuit recipes. Either one.

00:31:07
We're open and what you're talking about here is meeting the children where they are and following your child's lead. When it comes to reading, like you go to the library, you go to a bookstore, follow them instead of you leading them to a shelf, see what they kind of naturally drawn to, what topics, what colors, what photo. Like, is it a book of photographs, is it a book of illustrations, is it watercolors? Like your child's gonna tell you what they're interested in if you just slow your roll a little bit.

00:31:32
And it's such a good way to learn about your child. They have all their own interests and if you're going to not find out about them, if you're always directing them to something, but you'll allow them to tell you about them and ask those questions and you get to learn a little bit about what's driving them, what they're interested in early. If you're letting them choose their own reading explorations, good tips.

00:31:53
Our last question for our audience today was about enjoyment of reading, which was the topic of today's podcast. But I found this piece of research that only there was a 2025 survey in the UK that found that only 40% of parents said reading to their child is fun. And I, as an educator and a professional, that made me wilt a little bit. And then as a mother, I was like, yeah, you know what? Sometimes it's not. So I wanted to ask our experts in the room today, how do you make reading to young children enjoyable for you? How do you make it something that you're looking forward to doing with a child?

00:32:32
I think first we have to understand that reading is a whole experience. It is every time and it is everywhere. Sometimes as parents, we tend to have the children do the reading all the time, but children are the funniest, most creative little creatures. And if we start with wordless books, if you don't like to read, you could start with a wordless book and have the child make up the story and you will see how much you will enjoy what the child is saying, the imagination that the child is using, the out of the box solutions that the child will come up for a story. So I think we have to understand and help parents understand that the reading is not always for you, but if you allow the child to make up the story, if you turn a story into a whole experience, for example, if you're using Goldilocks and the three Bears, you can have the child say, well, what do you think the porridge tasted like? Let's make some porridge. So instead of just reading, you turn it into a whole experience.

00:33:34
Yeah, I love that example. It's okay to stop, stop, stop the story and go make some porridge together before. Most people don't know what porridge is. So go figure out what that is. Sit in every chair in your household, do a whole test of all the chairs in your household, see which one you like. That's a really good example because most people are familiar with that book and all the different places you could take that story. They could start telling you a story. Like you're saying it has nothing to do with finishing the book, but it has a lot to do with loving reading and loving stories.
00:34:13
One of the things that I used to share with parents is that it's also okay for parents to pick a book that they like. So maybe your child can pick a book, but then you pick a. So maybe you are tired of reading Goodnight Moon for the hundredth time. But then if you pick a book that you like, children are also going to see you light up or you get to a part that you like. And so then there's just a little bit of back and forth and like a shared experience in that love of reading. Cause it's not the hundredth time of the book that you've read.

00:34:53
Sometimes I like to think outside the box. And so for some parents, I realize they don't have the love of reading because they cannot. And so when we talked about having different ideas, acting out a story, or, you know, creating props for a story, it's easier for a parent who might be embarrassed, and that's okay. And to be able to read a story and have story time with their child on a different level. And you can use your own creativity. A parent can talk a story and the child can draw the pictures, and you can create your own story time with it. So it's okay. There are creative ways to still have story time with your child.

00:35:33
What an important point to say. Because we're talking to parents here today, and we might be talking to parents who are saying, I don't love reading. I don't feel confident in reading. How can I share that with my children? What a fabulous idea. And just a topic that we should be talking about. And that's another reason to love libraries or rely on libraries, because then you get that support from the library for you as a parent, but also to supplement your parenting in an area that you might not feel as confident or strong in. That should be true for every aspect of child development. But thank you for raising that.

00:36:06

That's a great point. Just to Piggyback in terms of extending the learning, planning special projects or trips. Like a trip to the grocery store or different things like that. And then again, just kind of allowing the child to experience it and help you plan and just kind of, again. Expanding the whole experience.

00:36:26
Like she stated earlier, how many of you, as educators or as parents or in your personal life, have kids that you used a story to help prepare them for something to help? So that's like a very common thing that we do in education. This is a good way for a parent to value. Maybe it's not all the way to enjoy, but to really value what books can do. I had a daughter that had to have some medical procedures when she was young. And we read, remember Franklin the Turtle? We read a lot about Franklin going to the hospital, and that helped so much. So that's another way to get value out of books. That is not. Maybe it's not enjoyable. You don't really have to enjoy it for that, but it has a really nice purpose. And it also then becomes valuable to a child because it has an additional purpose and it really helps them out. Yeah.


00:37:22
This was fantastic. I wish that you all. Are y' all available next month? For the record, really, the wisdom in this room is so apparent to me, and I'm not surprised. I had absolutely zero hesitation with this format because I've been to this conference before. I'll end where I started, which is early. Educators are the best people. Y' all are such creative thinkers and innovators, and we are so proud to.

00:37:48
Be part of this community. Yep. So thank you, everyone, and thank you, parents, for listening into this. We hope that this gave you some really great tips and for reading to your children, to understanding how important it is to finding value and joy in the process of reading and understanding that it is truly the foundation for a lifelong love of literacy and thriving. Thriving using literacy and language skills.