Reading to Build a Future
I was in a book store today and saw the table of required reading for High School. I looked over titles like “The Stranger” and “A Lesson before Dying.” I thought about the opportunity to meet new people and places through these books. There are so many experiences and lessons that are taught through reading that it is possibly the single most important thing you can learn how to do.
“How are you doing in school?” I ask this of all the teens I see. It is not just about grades because research has shown that you need more than grades to succeed, but the interest to learn. Curiosity. With curiosity, you can be interested in another person’s take on an issue or life. This knowledge can change you and influence your compassion towards others, and this can cause such a ripple effect that you can change the world around you. Great examples of this are seen through the lives of Nelson Mandela, Malcom X and Barack Obama.
If we can interest teens in reading about other people’s lives they will see that they are not the only person who struggled with their racial or sexual identity, had a difficult life experience, or lost a caregiver due to cancer, divorce or substance use. Reading opens the mind to the possibilities of what they are capable of despite their financial or social resources. It is the key to freedom.
During slavery, slaves could not learn to read. The ones who did were in the best position to read a contract that was not to their advantage. Later in the sixties, they could vote. Reading is the key to making informed choices rather than falling victim to whatever someone wants you to know. This is some of the difficulty parents have with teens. A teen’s brain develops from concrete to abstract thought and with that comes critical thinking. Teens begin to understand that a parent’s negative comments about a divorced parent may not be true or there is nothing wrong with people who are different.
Summer is a long break and it is time that once you get into the “real world” you simply never have again. It is really such precious time, encourage your teen to use it wisely by reading. Some creative ways to do this are:
1. Special Interest: Gather book on your teen’s special interest or subject. This will ensure that they at least peruse through the book.
2. Community Service: Have them volunteer reading to others or teaching other how to read.
3. Reward: If there is a special item or thing that your teen has requested for the summer, a new skateboard or ipod, give them an academic way to work it off by reading a certain amount of books for the summer.
4. Reading Time: Instead of or alternating with a family movie or game night, have a family reading night and discuss the books that members are reading and why they like or dislike the book. These types of discussions also develop critical thinking and problem solving skills that will encourage your teen to make better choices in different types of situations.
Reading empowers our teens to determine their own future. It ensures that they will lead themselves rather than follow others blindly. Reading is the foundation of a successful and self-sufficient adult.
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