I heard that expression for the first time when my mom was teaching me to drive. She has a bit of a lead foot, and had gotten a spate of speeding tickets when I was a teenager. The new driver that I was, I stepped on the gas to reach the limit as quickly as possible. She turned to me and said, “Do as I say, not as I do, especially when it comes to driving!”

I find myself using that same expression these days as I talk to parents about reading to their kids: Do as I say, not as I do. Yes, it’s true…I haven’t been reading to my girls.

But don’t take that to mean there isn’t any reading going on at our house — there’s plenty of that! Our trip to the library last week ended with both girls challenging the media specialist’s rule: You can check out as many as you can carry. They both walked out with an armful of books they couldn’t wait to read.

The problem (?) at our house is that now that both girls are reading comfortably on their own that’s all they want to do — read on their own. They’re really not interested in listening to me read to them.

I’ve faced this problem before — really not knowing a good book to use for our family read aloud. Our last dry spell catapulted me into the library to discover read alouds that we could read as a family. We’ve ready many, and it’s tons of fun to have a family book going. We just finished James and the Giant Peach , which they loved, (maybe not as much as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ) but now we’re between books. And I’m not reading to them.

I know the value of reading aloud to them. I long to be the one to introduce them to some of the classic books they’re not able to read on their own yet. I want to share new authors and genres, longer books with interesting …but we’re in a dry spell.

What have you read aloud? What chapter books have left your kids begging for the next chapter? Any recommendations would be MOST appreciated!

About the Author

Joanne Meier has more than 20 years of experience in the field of education, including serving on the faculty at the University of Virginia for six years where she trained reading specialists and future classroom teachers. Dr. Meier was Reading Rockets’ research-to-practice consultant from 2002 to 2014, where she wrote the Page by Page blog — sharing best practices in supporting young readers at home and in the classroom.

Publication Date
February 5, 2008

Related Topics

Children’s Books, Parent Engagement
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