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Early On: Go Dog Go and reading to children

Our love of books went to the dogs
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Lynn Easton.

Our love of books went to the dogs

Bet you an armful of Robert Munsch books that you’ve never heard of the underwhelming 1960s children’s book called Go Dog Go.

It was never a ‘kid-lit’ best seller. It’s not on the curriculum anywhere. It’s certainly wasn’t written by much-loved Dr. Seuss, although the author seems to have borrowed many of the master’s tricks.

Truth is, it’s not a good a book. Instead, Go Dog Go seems to have been created for the sole purpose of teaching preschoolers – who couldn’t care less – about the use of apostrophes and contractions.

Still, this little gem was one of the first books I ever read. I introduced it to my kids before they could complain and it quickly became a family favourite. And I’ll fess up – it’s not the first not-so-great book that my children learned to love. There were plenty of just plain bad books my kids clung to for inexplicable reasons.

I admit to my poor judgment in book mentoring because September was back-to-school month. It has also included some hefty capital letter literacy events like Raise-A-Reader Day and National Literacy Day that can weigh heavy on parents.

I know, I know, you’ve heard it all before.

You understand that you’re supposed to read to you kid every day. Maybe you’ve heard about the popular program where you can strive read 1,000 books before Kindergarten. You have learned that it’s helpful if your child can decodes the alphabet early. Still, with all this literacy talk, it may be easy to believe your little one should have already memorized Goodnight Moon in the womb.

There are endless studies that tell young parents about the important role they play in their children’s future reading success. Early literacy is vital – don’t get me wrong.

But I have shared my secret love for the not so impressive Go Dog Go not just to humiliate myself, but to share one of the few truths I have learned in this parenting game – it doesn’t always matter what you read to your child.

Really.

You can read the cereal box with your kid. You can make up a story out of words your toddler made up today. You can read Hamlet to them. You can put a sock on your hand and talk in a funny voice and call it a story. It just doesn’t matter. The most important part of any book is you.

I discovered this secret when I hauled home armloads of books from our local library in a self-serving attempt to stay sane. My kids read classics and comics, plays and picture books. In truth, they read whatever they wanted because I was too tired to complain.

Instead, I’d bring my two kids and their pile of books into our family room. I would hoist my girls onto my lap where I could feel their heartbeats slow and their breathing become soft. I knew they were safe and happy and I would nod off in quiet moments of desperation and contentment. They were blissful as they made up their own stories to go with the pictures with no one around to correct them. They would wake me up with their laughter and I would join in the fun. As an exhausted mother, I had stumbled on the use of books for the delivery of joy.

Teachers and literacy experts tell me this joy really is a secret weapon in developing the parent-child reading bond. Seems the best way to create life-long readers is not Baby Einstein or the latest phonics phone app. The secret is to have fun.

Eventually, they will find their own books to love. My daughters have moved out. They text me names of new writers and offer me glimpses of genres I would never know without their voracious love of the written word.

If we haven’t talked in awhile, we text each other lines from Go Dog Go. The simple and silly words have become a secret code to let each other know we are okay. Safe and happy.

Sometimes, I get lucky and get to hear them read in person. This summer, while in the wilds of Banff, I lay inside a tent laughing while my youngest read to me.

Don’t ask me the name of the book. All I remember is that I fell asleep under the stars while my grown daughter read to me just as she did when she was beginning to decipher the written word. Her heartbeat was warm and close beside me – it was pure joy.

• There are plenty of places this autumn to get close to your child with books, including the library and several Parents as Literacy Supporters (PALS) programs, including two new Aboriginal Pals programs. Check them out in the RMECD newsletter.

Lynn Easton

is with

the Ridge

Meadows Early Childhood

Development

Committee.