Hi Dr. Laura!

I heard you talk the other day about the value of reading with your children. I have three: ages 16, 13, and 9. I read to my kids a lot when they were younger, but when they reached about 3rd grade, I tapered off and allowed them to read on their own.

My older two are voracious readers; the youngest, not so much. I was talking to his teacher about his difficulty with comprehension and doing poorly on the tests they take after reading a book.  She gave me the book "The Reading Promise" by Alice Ozma. WONDERFUL book! The book was for me to read, not for my son and me to read together. It's the true story of how Alice and her dad (when she was in 4th grade) decided to read together for 100 days in a row. When it was all said and done, he read to her every day until she graduated high school and moved away to college! So I took that idea and asked my son, "How many books do you think we could read in 100 days?" And he RAN with it! So much so he printed off calendars for Oct-Dec 2011 and all of 2012! We then set up our "prizes" for each 100 day milestone we reach. I have now read to him for 33 consecutive days. Our first book was over 500 pages. And he got a 100 on the comprehension test! It has been such a special time and I can't encourage parents enough to read with their kids, no matter how old they are! Incidentally, my 13 yr old loves to sit in on our reading sessions! We have also added in ice cream trips for each 25 days reached. Totally love it!

Thank you for all you do to encourage strong relationships between parents and their kids. Your name is a 'household name' around here!

Kathy