01/08/2026
Are you a reader?
Parents: do you still read as much as you did before you had children? Pre-tech age (if you're a Gen X/older Millennial like me), did you read books; magazines; comics; newspapers? Do you read to or with your kids? Has technology had an impact on how much you read?
The biggest challenge we are facing as teachers, not just in English but across every subject - even Maths is much more sentence based problems now - and area of cognitive development is the effect that a lack of reading for joy is having on literacy; communication; and critical thinking.
It can be hard to make time in a busy family routine but if you do set aside 20 minutes each day, you will be making a tangible difference to your child's understanding of the world; empathy; imagination; vocabulary; expression; confidence (I could go...!) and even your relationship with them. It will benefit you too.
And, story/reading time is a great way to signal wind down to the brain and bedtime to the little ones 😜
Read anything and read often!
I was defiantly anti-kindle for years but now I wouldn't be without it. I have hundreds of books on the Schoolroom shelves which I've yet to part with but the space they take up!
Kindle books are definitely less expensive and the font and night shift background have been a game changer for me.
I just hate that it's Amazon and Bezos profiting from my literary habit.
