Today's highlights include a whole lot of misbehaving, a whole lot of reprimanding, and fifteen minutes of sheer bliss. In the middle of the afternoon, I asked both of my kids to select a book. I set a timer and we all read silently. My five-year-old does not read but she studiously leafed through the pages. When they each tried to interrupt the silence, I actually shushed them. I took a deep breath and finally relaxed. Surprisingly, I read an entire chapter of my own book. It was magical. I plan on repeating this throughout the summer.
As a former English teacher, I know that classrooms encourage independent reading and even have specified times for it during the week. In fact, I know my son's first-grade class had it. Your kids know the routine. Those few minutes changed my entire mood and set a tone for the rest of the day. Better yet, at bedtime, I found my son sitting in his room, quietly reading a book to himself.
Maybe the educator in me is re-surfacing, but here is tomorrow's challenge . . .
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