Feed your kids

As a teacher, I consistently told parents, "The most important thing that you can do for your child's education is to read with your child." I still think that is true. However, I now see that it is inadequate. It is like saying, "Feed your kids," without giving any nutritional advice. So one parent will take the children to McDonald's for every meal, while another will provide a healthy variety of foods. My exhortation to "feed your kids" is not helpful in the health of those children, because I didn't say anything meaningful.

A more helpful admonition than "feed your kids" is "feed your children a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, protein, and fat in moderation." The parent who heeds my advice will be truly helping his or her children. In just the same way, rather than saying "read with your child," it is far better to say, "Read books with your children that communicate truth, goodness and beauty, that inspire your children to virtue."

However, just as a trip to the vegetable aisle might be daunting to the parent who is accustomed to exclusively processed food, so will a trip to the children's section of the library be frightening to the parent who is more comfortable in front of the television. For that reason, I think the good teacher or friend must go farther than commending the reading of great literature to provide examples of that literature so that the novice can learn to identify great literature by immersion in it.

In Honey for a Child's Heart, Gladys Hunt does precisely that: encouraging parents to take up and read great books with their children, describing the characteristics of such literature, and offering lists of such literature for each age of a child's life. She is a much better teacher than I, and I highly commend her book!