Just 4 Fun

Part of my becoming more balanced this school year, includes doing things just for fun.  My husband is teaching me this one.  I am a total cheap skate, so much that he can hear Lincoln screaming from the penny.  I budget to the point that I'd rather eat ramen noodles for lunch rather than order out for a birthday celebration.  But this weekend, my family had the privilege of walking/running the Color Run Houston, seeing a movie, and spending time together.  I realize that not everything fun has to cost money, but this weekend it did.  And we had a blast!  Doing things just for fun might be different for you and your family, but I'm learning that we all need things that are just 4 fun.  

I didn't become an avid reader until I was an adult, already in my career of education for 5 years.  I know this may sound crazy, but it's just the honest truth.  I read because I had to, because there was an assignment attached to it, a grade with it.  You get the point.  My middle daughter who was due in early May, leaving me plenty of time to rest and then teach summer school that year, didn't arrive until May 24th, so I was instructed by my district that I was a liability so stay home.  So, after having her, and buying and moving into our very first home 2 days later, what was I to do?  A former teaching partner of mine recommended a young adult book called The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake and I was hooked.  I went on to read Money Hungry by the same author that summer.  And when I was done with those two, I became very restless.  I've already said that I have a really hard time just sitting still, so I gave this friend a call and said, "What else do you have?  What do you recommend I read next?"  She recommended Janet Evanovich, who writes mystery/romance and I spent that summer reading everything she had written up to that point.  See, I had just not found a genre that really connected with me or a book I liked.  It wasn't that I had more time on my hands, having my second child and my older one being 5 years old and moving into our first home, I certainly had plenty to do, but this joy of reading became something to me that was just for me, just for fun.  Nowadays, I'm an avid reader who consumes nearly 100 books a year and I love every minute of them.  I'm grateful for someone taking time to listen to me, find out what I like and recommend stories to me!

Tonight as I sat at dinner, my oldest, who is now 16, relayed the same feeling I had all those years ago.  She loves to read.  All my girls do, and for that I'm grateful!  They always have a book nearby and usually carry one when we go places so they can sneak in some reading time on the road, waiting in lines, etc.  But she told me that she hates it when it's attached to an assignment or has a grade dependent on it.  Makes me sad that this is what reading has become so often.  It reminded me of an article I read this summer that I discovered through Twitter, called "At Any Given Moment We Have the Power to Stop the Hatred of Reading" by Pernille Ripp.  I hope you take some time to read her blog post and reflect on our teaching practices of reading and find ways to help kids LOVE reading.  And I hope you take time to discover something for yourself that is just for you, just for fun!