Andrew & I have signed up for the summer reading club at our local library. Readers & listeners of any age are welcome to track the hours they spend reading to earn certain prizes. We are working towards tickets to the Ringling Brothers circus. We try to sit for 10 minutes each day and read. At first he did not want anything to do with it (not a fan of sitting still these days) but I set the timer and have encouraged him to sit next to me until he hears the bells ring. The other day we made it to twenty minutes. I think having books about subjects he loves (planes & trains) helped me keep him occupied. Let me just say this, if your kid is not a reader and you want him to be do two things--stick with it and turn off the television. Set your timer for 5 minutes and work your way up to a certain time limit. It truly does work! :)
Our visits to the library aren't just about reading. We play with toys in the back and say hi to every single librarian while we are there (even the ones upstairs). I swear by the end of the summer, he will be on a first name basis with a few of the libraians. One even took him on a tour of the children's wing and is also the one who introduced us to the Summer Reading program. She also gave me a book to read to him at home about Library Manners. God bless her because now when we walk in the doors, he says "Shh" and starts to talk in a whisper. Until he gets to the back part & starts to play with this contraption--it's laughter and excitement the whole time.
