By Sarah Shrader
Guest columnist
Courtesy of Sarah Shrader
Sometimes, we make time for what we have to do. And sometimes, we make time for what we love to do. I think what always surprises me the most is when something I have to do turns into something that I love to do – like nightly reading with Reagan.
Since before she could talk, I have been reading her books. Sure, she would listen to them, but she never fell in love with the stories like Maylie did. In fact, reading wasn’t really Reagan’s thing at all. She would rather just not do it. That doesn’t mean she didn’t do it – especially as she started school, and it became homework. If she was supposed to read for 20 minutes, I would set a timer and tell her to go read.
It was just another check mark on my to do list – yep, she read for 20 minutes. She always got her reading points that she needed in school for the class parties, but I couldn’t help but notice the roller coaster of scores when it came to her individual reading tests that show where she ranked. Sometimes, they were below average and she would get extra help at school, and sometimes she was right on track.
While it never worried me greatly because her grades were always good, I did ask one of her teachers about it. And her advice at that time seemed more like a homework assignment for me than anything, “Just read with her as much as you can – even if you read to her.”
Oh, good. Because that’s all I need is another event in my evening that requires my full attention. She isn’t a toddler anymore. She can read herself! Also, do you know what all we have going on? How many kids we have? Homework, sports, dinner, showers. Our evenings are crazy. If there is one thing I did not want, it was another task to add on my list.
Of course, I said none of those things out loud and definitely did not relay them to Reagan. Instead, I started asking Reagan if I could join her while she read — which, to my surprise, seemed like the coolest request in the world to Reagan.
I am not going to lie, when our reading sessions first started, it was difficult to keep my brain from wandering to the list of items I still had to complete for the night. But I was there with her — helping her sound out words and reminding her to pause at periods so her sentences didn’t run together. Reading to fulfill a time limit and reading for comprehension can be two totally different things. We were definitely just completing an assignment — at first.
However, the more I started talking about what we were reading, the more she excited she got about it. Instead of just filling a requirement, she started to dive into topics and series that she really enjoyed — sports, dinosaurs, animals, my weird school, and most recently, robots. As she improved her reading skills, the books got longer which meant more to remember to score her points for school.
This worried me a bit. Sometimes, she struggled with passing reading tests on short books because she wasn’t taking in what she was reading. How was she going to pass tests on chapter books?
Ah, but what I didn’t think about was our recaps. You see, at school, she has to read as well, which means she has to fill me in every night on what I missed before we even start reading together. I mean, I need to know if the robot scored a touchdown — and believe me, I ask.
But not because I am trying to test her comprehension (although inevitably that is exactly what it does), but because I genuinely want to know what happened next. And she is always eager to give me all the details.
Effortlessly, this has become OUR thing. Now, I look forward to our book snuggles and the break from my nightly to-do list. And she soaks up our time – just us two – in the middle of a crazy, chaotic life where I am not always able to give her my undivided attention. When we read, it is just her and I lost in the adventures between pages.
Recently, we finished our biggest book yet — over 300 pages! We read six extra chapters on the night we finished it because neither of us could wait to see what happened at the end. Then she went to school the next day and aced the test.
To say I was proud would be an understatement. But I was a little sad that our book was finished. That is, until she pulled out the next one in the series for us to start – willfully and ready. Not because we had to, but because it truly has become something that we absolutely love to do together.
Sarah (Pitson) Shrader was born and raised in Lima. She is a Lima Central Catholic and Tiffin University graduate. Sarah is a full-time working mama who enjoys writing about her somewhat crazy, always adventurous life as a mom and bonus mom. She lives in Bath Township with her husband, Lee Parsons, and their seven kids.
