Reading Week is Over - So What?

We all know that Reading Week is celebrated March 2nd, when we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss, aka Theodore Geisel. I was even lucky enough to be a guest reader at the Early Childhood Center here in Johnston for my daughter's Kindergarten class for their reading week, which was held at the beginning of April.

I read a favorite of my children, No Mail for Mitchell, but my very close runner up choices were Make Way for Ducklings and Pizza Pat. The kids loved the reading, probably just because it was a different face and voice reading at school. Many schools choose an entire week in early spring to promote reading. But really, what good is one week?

Hopefully, we also know that reading with a child is one of the best and most memorable activities we can do with a child. My Local Area Representative (LAR) counterpart in Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE, knows this too. Meredith Feldman wrote a short piece about it a few weeks ago.  She makes a great point - reading is for every day!

Let's make an effort to do one more healthy thing for ourselves. Everyone is trying to eat better, exercise more, relax the stress from our daily lives. Why not do one more awesome activity for ourselves and our kids? Reading is an activity which stimulates the brain, builds relationships, encourages conversation and curiosity. Reading opens the world to our kids, and us.

When your au pair reads to his or her host family children, it is even better! He or she gets to practice their beloved English language, at which many au pairs desire to become completely fluent during their stay. They also get to develop that closeness and one-to-one relationship with the child, which in turn makes a strong bond of trust and friendship. When your au pair goes to the public library to borrow new books, he or she may meet other parents with children or other young people, making him or her more comfortable in his or her new town or city.

I know you may have hundreds of books on a bookshelf. I know I do, and my kids have not heard every single book, although they may have heard a few of them dozens of times. Going to the library serves as a social outing for the children as well as your au pair. Opening a new book is like cleaning out the cobwebs in the corners of your mind.

Best of all, it is free! You spend enough money on insurance, household bills and groceries. Why should you spend extra on new books? Only when my children become totally obsessed with a certain book, begging me to take it out every week, or renew it rather than return it, I might consider buying our own copy. We do have a huge Dr. Seuss collection, but as they get older, my collection will have to morph into teenage series like Divergence, which I just bought my 13 year old for her birthday.

Once your au pair has arrived and settled with you and the children, one of the first trips out in your community can be to the public library. Get him or her their own library card, introduce them to the librarians, and encourage them to seek out story hour or other library programs to engage the kids.

Au pairs help RI families navigate difficult schedules and activities all the time. Why not join the fun? As always, contact me, Joan Lowell, your LAR for au pair childcare in Rhode Island and surrounding communities, at jlowell@goaupair.com or 401.309.1925. I will be happy to answer your questions about hosting an au pair to meet your childcare needs. Happy Reading!