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Monday, June 25, 2012

Do you read to your children?

Do you read to your child? I wrote in this blog last year that parents should read to their children, and that post has been my most popular one so far.  Perhaps you followed my advice, and perhaps now your child is a reader. YES!

Congratulations!  So  you may be thinking “Since my child can now read, it’s time to stop reading aloud, right?  NO! 

Elementary school children love being read to in class by a teacher, classmate, visiting parent, or local celebrity.  My high school students loved having me read to them.  Book group members and public radio listeners love listening to authors read from their work. Parents enjoy spending quality time with their children over a favorite book, and children enjoy it, too.  So by all means, keep up the regular nightly bedtime story ritual for as long as you can.  It will
  • help develop comprehension skills so your child can get good grades and be a success in school and life 
  • help strengthen your relationship with your child 
  • give your child an opportunity to ask questions about matters you don’t ordinarily discuss during the day 
  • give your child an opportunity to hear unfamiliar words pronounced aloud, and
  • expose your children to your own childhood favorites, the old classics, or those “forgotten” books that they probably won’t discover on their own or through a recent library school graduate.
Reading is about much more than decoding the symbols on a page.  It is about nothing less than thinking itself.  Even a child who has "cracked the code" can grow intellectually by discovering new ideas and new vocabulary, by learning how to recognize plot patterns or style, make predictions, detect bias or irony, and develop cultural literacy and critical thinking.  I could read Charlotte's Web in second grade, but I could not have tackled Sherlock Holmes on my own even in fourth or fifth grade.

There are plenty of books your child might be able to read on his or her own.  Yet there are even more books that might still be too much of a challenge.  Informed teachers could tell you each child has two different reading levels, the independent level and the instructional level.  A normal fourth grader might be able to pick up and read second or third grade level books for pleasure without help, something that will not hurt a child and that can provide useful practice, even if that child’s test scores demonstrate that fourth or fifth grade level materials are most appropriate in a formal reading class at school, with a teacher who knows how to teach.

With a parent, grandparent, older sibling, or other person reading aloud, a child can experience books and stories beyond his or her instructional level.   Books written for seventh or eighth graders might frustrate even a bright fourth grader, and if parents wait for children to read these books in seventh or eighth grade, homework, sports, video games, The Mall, or even more popular newer books might prove too much of a distraction and prevent that from ever happening.  

So what books are good to read?  I would leave children alone to discover books like Twilight and Uglies for themselves, and since series books are so popular, it makes sense to let children read volume 2 or 3 or 40 independently after introducing the first one.  Books written in the 1800's or even mid 1900's might be trickier or more tiresome for modern children to tackle on their own, and they often deal with more innocent subjects than more recent books, which should make children feel more comfortable reading them with parents.  The classics, like mythology, folklore, Robin Hood, and fairy tales were written for inter-generational sharing.  As I mentioned before, anything that you yourself loved as a child would be good to share with children.  Detective books can also be good.  Of course any good children's librarian would be happy to suggest books that might work well for your family, and I will post a list if people express an interest in one.


I would like to thank Jen Robinson, for the picture above. 

Now for something completely disgusting . . .

Today we're going to have a word about household repairs.  Depending on their ages, you might want to teach your children how to do this, at least step 1. I learned about it from a kitchen and bath remodeling expert who thought I might want to save money by doing repairs myself instead of calling a plumber.  I liked his suggestion, because it was consistent with my philosophy that you should NEVER SEND CHEMISTRY TO DO A JOB THAT CAN BE DONE BY SIMPLE PHYSICS.

If you have a clogged toilet or a slow drain, and the standard equipment you keep around the house doesn't immediately solve the problem, try this simple three step solution.  Note that it only works on standard clog substances like soap scum or, um, digestive waste, not on hair, feminine hygiene products, or LEGOS®.

1.  Close the shut-off valve by tightening it all the way.  If you don't know what that is, look for a slender pipe that goes into the toilet tank.  It should have a turn-y faucet-y looking thing on it, like this:

Turn the faucet-y looking thing all the way to the right (lefty loosy, righty tighty!).  This will shut off the water supply to the toilet tank so the tank won't refill and the bowl won't overflow when you try flushing.  Because the tank will empty.  Because you flushed, get it?  If your toilet doesn't have its own shut-off valve, you may have to shut off the water supply to the house or apartment.  If you don't know where that shut-off valve is, ask your landlord or apartment manager.  If you are the landlord and you still don't know where the shut-off is, make sure you have a supply of towels at the ready.  Note:  if the clog is in the sink or bathtub drain, you can skip this step.  Lucky you.  But not really.

2.  Fill a tea kettle and bring the water to a full boil.  Pour the boiling water down the drain, trying to get as much of it as possible directly on the clog.  Wait a while.  If you don't much care for the aroma of um, err, poached toilet clogs, then lower the lid, close the bathroom door, and wait elsewhere.

3.  Follow through with the standard equipment you keep around the house.  Note:  if the clog is in the sink or bathtub drain, you might be able to skip this step.

To avoid grossing yourself out, it's not a bad idea to invest in a second (or third?) plunger just for sink or bathtub drains if you can afford to do so. 

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Got a Man?

My friends are sharing this picture on facebook today, and I think it says something pertinent to Father's Day, in memory of my husband. 


 Anyone who has a man like this in her life, let him know you appreciate him, and celebrate!