Bring back an old family tradition, the trip to the library, to save money and help your kids achieve.
With time alone during COVID-19 Quarantine, I’ve been reflecting on memories.
Although we can’t go to the library right now, I’m looking forward to going soon. I remember those old summer days when my brother and I would complain to my mother that we were bored. She would be all too eager to hand us a shovel and a dish cloth and a list of chores to complete. Needless to say, we did everything we could to entertain ourselves and not complain.
We climbed trees, hammered nails into old pieces of wood, made forts out of dead tree branches or out of couch cushions in the living room if it was raining. We rode our bikes everywhere, fished in the river and played ball in the vacant, weedy field across the street. But on Monday afternoons Mom would take us to the library. We were very strapped for money, but my mother made us feel like it was Christmas by letting us check out the maximum number of books allowed, as long as we could prove to her that we would take care of them, read at least one in its entirety.
We were really physically active kids. We weren’t voracious readers but we read consistently, every day for at least 30 minutes when we were younger. As we got older we would read for an hour every day. Being disciplined to read every day creates good habits and a goal achievement mindset. By being successful disciplining ourselves to read every day, it made other tasks and habits also easier to accomplish. All you have to do is set your mind to something, and do it, every day.