Post photo: child reading | © Pixabay
It's half past six and a full day is coming to an end. Actually, we should slowly come to rest and bring the day to a comfortable end. But that's not possible with us, on the contrary: At around half past six at the latest, we become somewhat hectic. It still has to be eaten in the evening, the children have to brush their teeth, wash themselves, put on their pajamas and all of that quickly. Because the sooner we finish, the more time we have to read aloud. We are keen parents, have done our homework and follow every educational discussion with great interest. That's why we know how important reading is for our children. It not only promotes the reading and language skills of our loved ones. No, we also know that there are time windows in the human brain, and once they are closed, well then "Good night"!
Seriously, this may all be true, but should I tell you why we read to our children? Simply because we enjoy it! We enjoy the cozy evening hour when we make ourselves cozy and immerse ourselves in the realm of books. They have accompanied us for many years: the hungry caterpillar, Findus and Petterson, the little raven and what they are all called. As time goes on and our children get older, our repertoire changes too. And the stories that make the evening hours so valuable to us are filled with heroes from our childhood days: feeling as strong as you once again Pipi Longstocking, With Jim Button Go on an adventure trip or get a little spooked with the little ghost. This experience justifies the hustle and bustle of the evening. I already mentioned that we are eager parents, and so we always allow the reading to be interrupted by the shared conversation. In this way, we promote our children's ability to communicate and secretly harbor the hope of perhaps raising an eloquent star lawyer...
But even if nothing comes of these career hopes, we will have wonderful memories. That reminds me, do you actually know Mr. Nett? His name is Nett, but he is a very grumpy, grim man who makes life difficult for the children from Bullerbü. He is a shoemaker by trade. Having arrived at this story, I sense a certain insecurity in our children. And so I ask if they know what a shoemaker is.
After a long silence, our daughter's face begins to shine and, fully aware that she can give the right answer, she says: "But he drives racing cars."
Maybe we need to reassess our priorities after all, not letting any windows of opportunity close with our kids before we've provided them with the knowledge they need...
This blog post first appeared on November 15-16, 2003 in the newspaper's "Family Ties" column Trier folk friend, in which changing authors commented on everyday family life.
Ursula Schaffer is a teacher at the Realschule Plus Bleialf in Rhineland-Palatinate, lives in Bitburg and more than that, my favorite sister. Among other things, she wrote several glosses for the above column. I liked these so much that I asked her to publish at least some of them on my weblog.
