Good night, sweet dreams!

The bed time reading ritual is a treasure!  Sitting on your child's bed snuggeled up, with just the night stand light on creates a wonderful atmosphere of comfort, warmth, and connection. Reading to your child at night gives you time to relax, be present, unwind, and relate to your child.  Share  your favorite stories from your childhood and discover new ones together. As a parent the fun comes from using different voices for the characters,  working on your inflection, and just immersing yourself in the moment. You are modeling for your child the joy of reading and all the fun and pleasure it brings.    I loved to read Dr. Suess's  Sleep Book  adding in the yawns, changing my speed, and even talking as if I were falling asleep. Of course anything Dr. Suess is  entertaining. From early political, think Sneetches and treating others different, to the Lorax and it's environmental message.  So many of Dr. Suess's books are wonderful early readers like Fox in Sox, The Foot book, and Green Eggs and Ham.  Take turns (you read one page your child reads one page) it is a fun way to help your child learn to read.

We read My Father's Dragon, and had an excellent adventure through three books! As my son got older I read to him from Rudyard Kipling's, The Just So Stories he loved the story of The Elephant Child, and I loved to read the words "oh Best Beloved" and "great, gray, green, greasy Lippopo River all set about with fever trees."  It just sort of rolls of your tongue, try it!

Keep reading through those upper grades too!  We read the Hobbit, (J.R.R Tolkien)  Night, by Elie Wiesel, and other stories that were required in middle school.  This was significant because reading out loud helps one remember details - perfect for schoolwork.  The added benefit is, as a parent, you know what your child is studing and have a very natural way to relate and connect to them about school.

Go to your local library, talk to the librarians, get their suggestions based on the interest of your child.  You will be modeling for your child working with a libraian  (self-advocacy),  create a community friend, and find out about programs taking place within your library, a win-win experience!  Reading with your child is an adventure - share and inspire the joy!

The original.

A wonderful adventure!

A wonderful set of stories, fun to read! 

Perfect bed time story.

This book will capture your interest with fabulous word play. 

If you give a kid a map...

One of my favorite things to do when my son was young was to give him the map.  It started in a museum, the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH to be precise.  The Currier gave out a scavenger hunt of pictures for the kids.  The map consisted of a detail from paintings or sculptures through out the museum.  The kids were delighted to be looking for something and the adults had an opportunity to follow and look at the whole museum. A win-win!

So look for the tourist map, campus map, museum map and give it to your child and ask: “what do you want to see?” or "where should we start?" With the follow up question: “Great! how are we going to get there?”  My son became very good at reading maps, and figuring out ways to get to the sights.  To this day he is now my ‘go to’ guy in directions. He surpassed me when he “owned” the subway system in New York City.  He got it, he get’s it and I am so lucky to have someone to rely on when visiting.

Maps are fun they can take a little time to figure out, read, and follow. This is a great opportunity to explain the grid of numbers and letters to your child, it has real meaning when you are walking and exploring.  When you are on vacation a map is a scavenger hunt looking for the fun sights, museums, restaurants, or even the closest restroom.  This is not just fun, reading maps feeds into higher thinking and problem solving skills. All natural, non-contrived, fun manner. Let the adventure begin! Below is my favorite city tourist map, and a picture of  one of our favorite finds.

The Seattle Tourist Map

The bridge.

The troll under the bridge.

The Public Market. 

The beautiful ferry system, a must do!