Ten Days of Blessings — Blessing 8: Read aloud today.

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10 Days of Blessings

Children are never too old to listen to a parent read aloud.

 

It’s been more than twenty years since I read Honey for a Child’s Heart, first published in 1969 and now in its fourth edition. That book made multi-generational changes in our family’s life.

The lessons I took away from Honey for a Child’s Heart are these:

  • Families should read aloud together.
  • Couples should read aloud together.
  • Children are never too old to listen to a parent read aloud.

I had read aloud to our children a great deal when they were very young, but I needed to hear what this book said about middle school and high school. I don’t agree with all of the book suggestions that Mrs. Hunt offered, but I applaud her philosophy. After reading Honey for a Child’s Heart, reading aloud became a top priority for me and for Ray, too.

Artist Adrienne Adams created this 1963 Book Week poster for The Children’s Book Council, Inc. Courtesy Library of Congress.

I had the thrill of meeting Gladys Hunt when she spoke at the Indiana Association of Home Educators convention several years ago. It was exciting to tell her face-to-face: “Your book changed our family’s life.” She told me that when she and her husband saw a child having trouble in life, they would say to one another, “That family must not read together.”

Some of my favorite family memories from the time our children were teenagers were the evenings that the five of us gathered in the den to listen to Ray read David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, or some other tale. Bethany, Mary Evelyn, and I embroidered or did another handcraft. John built with Legos. Read-alouds continued well into our children’s adulthoods. Precious, precious memories. And you can imagine my joy when I hear about our children reading aloud to their children — and to their spouses!

The Lord will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 146:10

 

 

 

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2 Comments

  1. I’m not sure if I had read your recommendation or if it was someone else but I purchased Honey for a Child’s Heart Years ago and it has been a blessing. I’ve always read aloud to my kids, I do all our reading aloud during the school day and my husband would sometimes read to them at night. I only have 1 at home now but I read to her everyday. It’s a priority. My other 2 girls will talk about our read aloud time, usually with fond memories, sometimes asking me why I chose a certain book or they’ll talk about how books moved us all to tears. We’ve read in the car, in the living room, snuggled together in bed or snuggled outside on our porch swing. We’ve read aloud in hotel rooms and in our back yard around the pool. Some of my most precious memories.

  2. We read aloud often too; some years its every day, some years only occasionally, but we are all enriched by it!

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