So, I've been learning about the Read for the Record campaign started by Jumpstart. On October 2, everyone who is involved and cares about this (I do) will read the same book with their children (The book is Cordouroy, a favorite of ours)..and we'll break the world record.
And, this weekend, Magnolia and I are going to count the age-appropriate (4 and under) books we have.
I think everyone else should do the same and we can compare our numbers.
Then, we can all be astounded together that in economically depressed areas, children, on average, have 0-2 books.
I'd like to see what our (babble blog readers) average is.
We try so hard to read every night to our kids, even when we are cutting it close to show time. Sometimes we read in her bed and other times we sit anywhere she wants to read. We've also found that she sits down and eats better if we read her books. Lately I've been really into getting Mem Fox books from the library. Her books can make adults cry, and Mags loves them too.
Anyway, as quoted by Jumpstart, "The home environment, specificaly the availability of reading material is a stronger predictor of later academic achievement than socioeconomic status." And for us, I guess the home environment means on-the-road.
Count your books!
Also, maybe we can do a music nerd study later and count our vinyl records.