Reading in Bed

I have called this post "reading in bed" for a reason that will become apparent as finish writing...I have subscribed to a total of 18 new rss feeds today. Probably too many...

http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs

and while I am sure that many of them are interesting it all seems like information overload to me at the moment. I subscribed to a couple of dog ones and the most interesting thing I saw was a video with a debate about whether or not dogs should be able to wear clothes. I learned that pug owners like to dress up their dogs in frilly dresses...

http://www.friction.tv/debate.php?debateno=651&gclid=CJvo6bfw3ZICFQKwPAod4QhImg

I have just gotten back from being off for three days, clearing my voicemail and deleting my emails for the past four hours after updating my facebook at home this morning and ordering tickets online for an upcoming trip. I am tired of being in front of a screen! I sometimes secretly wish all of the computers would crash at work and we would have to talk to each other -- "face time' as it is called now....

This leads me to my point. I think back to a couple of years ago at one of the libraries I work in -- a high needs suburban neigborhood where there are lots of problems with violence and youth at risk. This is mostly due to people not having enough choices in their lives or the ability to make a proper living. I was conducting a parent's workshop called "Raising a Reader" to help parents make their children better readers. I was asked by one of the parents the following question --

Is it ok to read to your children in bed?'

I was taken aback by this and I wondered why this would not be a good thing. I told the man that it was ok to do this, an excellent thing, in fact. But the question has stayed with me to this day as I wonder why he asked it. Did he think that his children would fall asleep and that would be a bad thing? Did he think it was not appropriate as children should only read while sitting up at a desk? Was it was a cultural issue and did it have something to do with family members sharing a bed? I will never know.

I think back to some of the best memories I have of my own father. He told us stories of Icarus, the Trojan Horse and the Three Little Bears in bed and I remember how much I enjoyed it, the familiarity of the stories, the quiet time together at the end of the day.

What I want to say now to him is, YES, read or tell your kids stories that you love while they are still young enough to enjoy it before they spend so many of their waking hours in front of a computer screen.

Yes, mister, have some face time with your child and please, please, please read to your children in bed.