With Father’s Day approaching, my wife Tawny asked me to write a Father’s perspective on reading with our children. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts. While I have enjoyed putting together the technical side of this website, I have also been inspired by everyone’s response to and participation in it. And now I’ll try my hand at the writing side.

As a small boy, I was enthralled with raccoons. Inevitably, my mother treated me to all kinds of raccoon paraphernalia, including stuffed animals, t-shirts, and books. It has been quite a treat to turn around and share these items with my children. My youngest in particular has us read Rutherford Raccoon to her at least once a week. I find that both tender and odd, because her animal of choice is meow-meows.

I have done a fair share of reading to kids over the years. Some of my favorite memories are of reading to a small child or two on my lap. I will admit there are a few books that are difficult for me to get through. The Giving Tree and Love You Forever are a couple that somehow always put a catch in my throat. Maybe it’s because that’s how my mom read them to me. As the kids each get older and begin to read more on their own, I get that bittersweet feeling they don’t need as much of my help anymore.

My second youngest was well on her way with intermediate reader books, but still loved to be read to. She got her hands on a lengthy graphic novel called Smile by Raina Telgemeier. The book centers around a young girl who, while running, trips and breaks out her two front teeth. (I don’t really know why she loves this book so much, but she does.) She had already gotten my wife to read it to her once, and was hoping to read it again, but Tawny wanted to move on through the other library books. 

Now, I don’t really care for graphic novels very much, but I wondered if this might be one of my last chances to read with her before she was a self-sufficient reader. Every night we read a bit together. After a couple days, I started to really look forward to the evening, when things would quiet down and we would read together. Sometimes she wanted to read and other times she let me read. It was amazing to listen to her read so fluently. Every once in a while she would need my help, but not often. 

We finished that book after about a week. It seemed like that might be the end of it, but then she found another Reina Telgemeier book to read. We eventually finished up with that series and have since read about the Titanic, Egypt and King Tut, and Queen Elizabeth. We have read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Because of Winn Dixie, and many others. 

If I hadn’t been willing to read that first book, I would have missed out on so much. I wouldn’t have found out about all the things my daughter is interested in, and we would not have enjoyed all that time together. My takeaway from that experience I want to share with other dads is this: your kids might already be very capable readers, and they might already have a routine with their mom, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to grow closer to them through reading good books.

This remarkable man held my hand
Through high school and college.
Then gently let go for missions.
He gripped it again at the altar;
Clutched it through moves, degrees, 
Chronic pain, infertility, work trips, 
Adoption, childbirth, church, 
House projects, hobbies, and dreams.
Oh, how grateful I am for this man,
Who clings to our five children
With his other devoted, mighty hand.

tawnyember