Some memories stick with you.
My wife and I were traveling and stopped into a pizza restaurant for dinner. As we entered we saw a dad and his daughter, maybe 4 years old, sitting at opposite sides of a booth. Because both were leaning over the table, their heads were pretty close together. They looked as though they might be whispering secrets or telling each other jokes. Who knew? But it was a dad and his daughter obviously sharing a special time together. My wife turned to me and said, "This reminds me of you on one of your daddy-daughter nights."
It was only as we walked past them to our own table that we saw the full picture. The dad and his daughter were both leaning over the table they shared......and each was intimately involved with a personal digital device. The father was typing on his ipad and the daughter was watching a movie on her portable dvd player.
I suppose it’s the missed opportunity that I remember.
Right now I am on an airplane sitting two rows behind another dad and his daughter - maybe 3 years old. (Mom is across the aisle.) There has been LOTS of talking, LOTS of laughing, plenty of books, and even a bit of active "hugging and crashing" play that was, the mom thought, too rough for an airplane.
My wife and I were traveling and stopped into a pizza restaurant for dinner. As we entered we saw a dad and his daughter, maybe 4 years old, sitting at opposite sides of a booth. Because both were leaning over the table, their heads were pretty close together. They looked as though they might be whispering secrets or telling each other jokes. Who knew? But it was a dad and his daughter obviously sharing a special time together. My wife turned to me and said, "This reminds me of you on one of your daddy-daughter nights."
It was only as we walked past them to our own table that we saw the full picture. The dad and his daughter were both leaning over the table they shared......and each was intimately involved with a personal digital device. The father was typing on his ipad and the daughter was watching a movie on her portable dvd player.
I suppose it’s the missed opportunity that I remember.
Right now I am on an airplane sitting two rows behind another dad and his daughter - maybe 3 years old. (Mom is across the aisle.) There has been LOTS of talking, LOTS of laughing, plenty of books, and even a bit of active "hugging and crashing" play that was, the mom thought, too rough for an airplane.
And I am smiling at an opportunity that is being taken full
advantage of.
I’m flying back from Colorado where I led a concert
sponsored by the Denver Public Library.
They take the American Library Association’s Every Child Ready to Read initiative very seriously and, I’m
honored to say, arranged a concert with me as a developmental play experience
for families.
Every Child Ready to
Read is research-based, but remains wonderfully simple and straightforward
with its message. Five simple
practices are recommended that prepare a young child to succeed at reading and,
of course, succeed in school. For
this type of success, the American Library Association recommends that parents,
caregivers and young children:
Talk together.
Sing together.
Play together.
Read together.
Write together.
The idea behind my concert in Denver was to engage children,
parents and grandparents in a joyful experience of singing, playing and even
playfully reading together in the hopes that this kind of play will continue at
home. I had a wonderful time…….but
I’m having just as much fun watching this dad and his daughter on the plane.
It’s unlikely that the dad, sitting two rows ahead of me, is
familiar with Every Child Ready to Read.
I’m sure he’s talking and reading and playing with his daughter because
it’s a way to pass the time. And
when you have an opportunity to have your 3 year old on your lap giggling and
cuddling, it’s a great way to pass the time. That’s the beauty of the library initiative. It’s not a set of chores to “add on” to
our already busy lives. It’s a set
of practices that fit into a joyous life with a child.
And, for the record, I doubt that the child in the
restaurant is doomed to school failure.
It doesn’t work that way.
But, sitting on this airplane, I can see that the dad in the
restaurant missed two
opportunities. He missed the
opportunity to do a few things that, research shows, promote development. And he missed the opportunity to have
as much fun as the dad ahead of me is having.
For more information on Every Child Ready to Read, visit: http://everychildreadytoread.org/
And here is some footage of children, parents and
grandparents singing and playing together at a recent concert of mine:
