No Lights Out Rule!

In Literacy: A Beginnings Workshop Book, Leah Curry-Rood writes about how she encouraged her own children’s literacy development:

“Over the years, talking with teachers and parents about reading, I have often shared one of our family secrets – we never had a ‘lights out’ rule for children or adults! People respond with looks of disbelief and questions pour forth. ‘How is bedtime managed?’…

Establishing a bedtime based on the age and development of the child was the first part of the rule. The second part was that you could read until you were ready to turn off the lamp on the bedside table. (Many adults are not aware that children need a reading lamp on a table next to their bed!) Once you were in bed with your books, you never had to get out again. With this rule, reading is the only activity – not telephone, no television. Interestingly enough, even young children are capable of assuming this responsibility, and it makes them feel wonderfully good about themselves.” 

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