Lessons Learned
Please
Read To Me This Christmas
I have
always contended that reading a book is to the mind what being on vacation is
to the soul; a brief, delightful, adventurous respite from the status quo and
daily routine. It allows, no invites, us to disengage from the rat race pace
which seems to swallow up our joy and drive up our blood pressure. It is
a place where the lockstep of life is temporarily replaced with wandering
wonder of imagination and relaxation. Reading fully engages the imagination. As
one journeys through the pages of a book, the encountered printed words paint
vivid pictures seen clearly in the imagination and catch one completely in the
creative swirl of plot, scenes, settings, and characters. Engaged. Captured.
Enthralled. Have you ever been read to? Do you remember the magical feeling of
being lost in a story, happily tangled in its moods and actions and relational
webs? Do you remember not wanting the story to end? When did you last read to
someone, whereby offering them a self-less, generous gift of a vacation to
imagination? If we desire to foster imaginative development and creativity in
children we must read to them. We must let them play, to be sure, but we must
also read more than regularly to them. Their minds must practice the art of
imagining, seeing the pictures made by words, and resting in the stillness of
attentive listening. To build creativity, to stretch attention spans, to revel
in the happiness of sitting side by side on the couch and sharing the adventure
of a story, this is a deep and lasting treasure that costs nothing more than
time. When there is not enough money for a family vacation, travel together to
the library and check out a large stack of books to read together. When the
busy-ness of the day has exhausted all reserve energy, sleep has been a bit sporadic,
and tomorrow and the next day are looking to be more of the same, sit together
on the couch and read, read, read together. When it rains the entire month of
June and three little boys are longing to get outside to play, pitch a tent on
the porch, bring snacks, a flashlight, a few toys, and a large stack of books,
and travel imaginatively together to exotic, exciting places far and near.
Between the infusion of excessive screens and the cultivated
impatience of continual demands for extreme immediate gratification, the quiet
creativity of listening to a story has become desperately endangered. The gift
of being read to is indeed priceless and needs to be high on everyone’s list
this Christmas.
