Portrait of a reader

One goal of mine has been to have children who are readers.  I believe reading is the key to all other subjects.  If you cannot read the math text book, can you understand the problems well enough to do them correctly? This applies to every single topic.  I do not see myself as a real driven person about most things but I have been driven about having children who are readers.

T was a natural reader from the beginning.  He loved to read books and he needed no urging on my part.  I have supported his love of reading but I did not have a lot to do creating it, just with nurturing it.

L was a little "slow out of the blocks." By that I mean she was slow at loving to read, not that she was slow at reading. I persisted in bringing home arm loads of books geared to her interests.  I allowed reading as a valued behavior (i.e., allowed reading when perhaps she should be doing something else).  She caught the reading bug at some point and is every bit the reader Tyler and I are.

 J was my challenge.  He was a resistant reader from the get-go.  I have bent over backwards with every trick I knew to get him to love reading.  I have offered bribes for reading books.  I have carted home books and books and books, with many of them going back to the library unread.  I have worked and worked and cajoled and cajoled.  Finally, I think it is safe to say, he's a reader now.  Yea!