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Hey everyone! It’s Keely here this morning.  On Tuesday the kids will be back in school and the fun, carefree days of summer break will be over. I’ve been feeling like this summer has been a wash, no family vacation, few events, even our usual daily pool trips were far fewer than usual.  The list of things I’d wanted to do and accomplish is almost as long as it was when I started it. I’m blaming  the heat,  63 days of triple digit temperatures so far, my brain is fried, I’ve had little motivation.  As I was mulling over my failures I realized I did have one small success. That’s what I’m going to tell you about this morning.

I am the mother of a thirteen year old girl. Need I say more? She’s actually a pretty great kid, but also great at confounding me. I’ve been an avid reader from before my school days. As a parent, it’s always been high on my priority list to expose my kids to books and reading. This particular child loved books as a little kid, unfortunately after several years of school, reading lost it’s charm. So it’s been an ongoing thing. I make her her read and hope she’ll find a little of the magic that I’ve found through books. I know her, I’ve been recommending book after book for years to no avail. She’ll enjoy a book once she’s reading it, middle school has introduced to her to several books she enjoyed. It’s the starting and picking it up on her own that doesn’t happen, or reading a minute over the required time.  When she was in about 4th grade I’d suggested the Little House On The Prairie series, repeatedly, but it wasn’t until her grandmother’s hair dresser recommended them that she decided to give them a go. Guess what? She loved them. I thought I had won her over a little bit at that point but I was wrong. And this has been how it goes, I recommend, she ignores me. I nag her, she reads. Not exactly how I’d like it to play out.

This spring I wore her down some, I got her to read To Kill a Mockingbird.  Did she love it? Yes. Did it speak to her? Yes. She even offered to read another of my suggestions. So she began Little Women. When she kept asking for spoilers (I’m well known to be anti-spoiler) I knew she was crossing over. After Little Women, she picked something else. I’m not saying she’s been buried in books, but she’s always got something going. I’ve found her reading on her own, and often times when I ask if she’s read the answer is, “Yep”.  After the To Kill A Mockingbird episode, I’d introduced her to a few Edgar Allen Poe poems. She decided she wanted to read something scary this summer. I gave her The Shining for her birthday. She stayed up late reading it, she got scared, and hooked on this one too. When redrum finally made sense to her, she literally ran out of her bedroom and jumped up and down to tell us. It made my week! She’s a freak for pie, it’s her signature dish too, so I gave her Thinner to read after that. And so it goes.

The summer wasn’t a complete wash after all, at least for me. I’m aware that you can’t force your kids to like what you like, I married a guy that doesn’t like to read, so I know those people aren’t all bad (kidding!). But I’ve always hoped that my kids would share my love of reading. After this summer I feel like there’s a much better chance of that happening.

So if you’re in a similar situation, “Never Give Up, Never Surrender!”