As a parent and a reading consultant I don’t always practice what I preach. Self-care and coming to terms with the truth is important for me so I had this revelation recently.
It came in the form of the dreaded reading log. I have a smart beautiful young daughter who is one of 5 children I share my life with. We are the very definition of the modern blended family. Most times I feel like I am in a blender…sometimes I’d rather shove my hand in a blender than do another load of laundry.
Back to the point, my youngest is in 1st grade and loves to read. Some nights listening to her read is like a beautiful song. My heart pours with gratitude and admiration as I listen and help. Then I watch in awe as she takes out her IPad from school and then accesses Google Docs. She begins copying the title she is reading and then writes a sentence. I can’t take any credit for any of this.
Then the other nights, I’m still bringing work home. My students need help. Every kid in my house needs help and listening to her read makes me want cry. It’s these nights when she gets the message that reading is extra. Reading is a hassle and neither of us want to sit through it. Then forget about the actual reading log and writing about what you read.
What am I to do? If we forget to fill out the log she doesn’t get a marble in the jar and doesn’t complete her homework. If we forget to read entirely then it’s a disaster in her little life. How will she feel at school? Do we fill out the log late, all the time. Do we skip reading? I am not really sure…I know we read something everyday because it is a habit and something we enjoy.
So my confession-after teaching for 19 years and parenting for 15 years…I hate the f@#*ing reading log. I am guilty of assigning to hundreds of families. I apologize. I give it up forever.
Here is why-The minute you assign the log as a teacher the love of reading dies. The minute you suffer through it as a parent you are not valuing reading as enjoyment. Assigning this reading as a nightly task for homework associates reading as work. For a struggling reader this changes a multidimensional process, reading into two dimensions. Can read, can’t read. Like the reading log, hate the reading log. Did read and didn’t read. As a parent it does the same-failed as a parent, succeeded as a parent.
In an act of self care-I am ditching the feeling of pressure from the reading log. My kid’s jar may not be filled with marbles either. At least I won’t loose all my marbles as a parent.