For the love of reading

One of the benchmarks used to gage a country's development status, other than economic indicators such as per capita income, is literacy rate. In simple terms, it's the percentage of the populace who can read and write, two of the three Rs (the third being aRithmetics).

With increasing affluence and the advent of video games, it seems that the passion for reading is waning, being replaced by avocations that pander to sense pleasure. Hence the emergence of many efforts such as the Reading Month, the Literacy Week, Newspapers in Education, Bookathon, etc., in an effort to revive the reading habit. But the best place to start cultivating that is at home, in the same vein that charity starts at home, through inculcation and immersion.

Speaking from personal experience, I have to say that the luxury of a spontaneous development of reading habit in a child nowadays is non-existent, not if it has to contend with so many “distractions” that were absent during my younger days.

In the 1960s and 70s, TV had just appeared as both a novelty and status symbol. So none of today's incessant TV bombardment and the term, couch potatoes, was not even in the lexicon, as yet. Computers? Nada. So none of the video games that glorify sensual escapades. Granted libraries were few those days, but the dearth of competition for the children's attention meant that parents and children would gravitate toward reading to fill up the available time. By the time these children grow up, the reading habit is already ingrained in them, one that is not easily dislodged despite the later invasion of TV programs and computer games into their lives. I was one such beneficiary of the early environment.

Then along came my children. It was a nagging problem for wify and I on how to sustain the family tradition: reading. Two developments worked to our advantage as parents. Wify was a teacher. So having books was a given. And I was more than an avid reader. I collected and stocked up books. So the most popular piece of furniture in the house was the bookshelf. It was in the living room, in the dining room, in the bed room, even in the bathroom, within easy reach of anyone going about his/her business of answering the call of nature.

This ubiquity of books in every nook and corner of the house meant that the most natural thing for our children to reach for was a book. And through habitual action, instilled by our leading by example, our older children took to books like fish to water. In turn, the younger siblings learned from them. And soon reading just became second nature to everyone in the house.

Perhaps I should clarify that my children spent their formative years in Gainesville while I was a grad student at UF. Being a university town, bookstores were a fixture. We used to frequent Barnes and Nobles and Books A Million (those days there was no Borders), either to browse through their book collections or bringing the children to participate in all kinds of book- and literacy related activities.

We also frequented the downtown Public library en masse, checking out books that could last a lifetime for some people. Then there were the used book sales where we literally carted away boxes and boxes of heavily discounted books of all genres.

And yes, it does take investment, both time, and fortunately, limited financial outlay, to keep the reading enterprise afloat, at the family level. While the proliferation of easily accessible bookstores and libraries may help, I think parental role is instrumental in keeping the reading passion alive and burning. Parents who love reading beget children who would do likewise.

So if any parents are lamenting about the ebb of the reading tide, look no further but themselves. Personally, I think the greatest ability that one can wield is the ability to read. And by extension, the greatest legacy we can bequeath to our children is to help light up their fervor for reading, one book at a time. So why not start today? Pick up a book and read to your child. Better still, swamp the house with books if you can help it.

(This blog post has been inspired by People Reading.)