#13 of 15 Ways to Teach Your Child to Write Using Books -- Relax and Enjoy Yourself

I just got a book in the mail yesterday. And, I asked the kids if they wanted to read it with me. They were less than enthusiastic.

You see, as I said before, we just finished reading "Alice in Wonderland" -- required reading. And, I looked at my list of books I wanted to read with the kids and I saw E. Nesbit's "5 Children and It," which I chose because it was one of JRR Tolkein's and C. S. Lewis's favorite books when they were children. But, 16-yr-old Mimi damped everyone on that by making a disgusted face and saying, "that was just weird." So, the kids were not in the most receptive state of mind for reading a book.

But, then, I explained to them about this book. It was called "The Whispering Mountain" (that sounded promising) and I had been trying to find it for years. It wasn't at the bookstores, though Joan Aiken is still having books printed, and it wasn't in the Southwest Wisconsin Library System. So I had to order it. I think it had to be shipped from England! And, I assured them that not only could we stay up late, but there was absolutely nothing educational about it! That got them very excited.

So, although the little boys were playing with their new velcro ball-and-plastic-mitt game, and Anna was looking at manga pictures on the internet, and I was quilting, and we weren't able to finish the chapter (it was 34 pages long!), we read around and were relaxed and Mom wasn't scolding, "Now, pay attention! This is important!" And, you can read all the greatest books in the world but, as Prof. Rosalie de Rosset said so long ago, "If you don't enjoy it, you won't get anything out of it." So, have fun!