Honestly, I don't feel it's expecting too much of her to read a few pages in a book.
I get she's really little but, she's perfectly capable of reading. It's not like I'm expecting her to do complicated mathmatical equations. It's reading an age approrpriate book - that she picks out herself.
I also don't think I need to cut her any more slack than I already do - I already cut her a tremendous amount of slack by not even worrying about getting the required 15 minutes. I've told her any reading is acceptable to me. It's simply not acceptable to me that she never reads.
And I know the statistics on reading to your child. That's why I read to them both. Every night. What I said was that I don't think that counts towards her reading assignment, not that reading to my children doesn't count in the big picture of life.
I guess my parenting and educational philosophy is different. I don't think children just get to not do assignments because they're boring or they're feeling lazy or they have to poop or they have a headache or they're too tired or their toenails hurt or they lost an eyelash.
It's definitely not a power struggle either. I'm simply putting the responsibility on her. I've let her know what the school's requirement is. I've told her I'm not remotely interested in following her around documenting every minute she's reading so if she's setting aside some time every day to read, that's good enough for me. I've also told her, however, if she makes the choice not to read, that's her choice and it may come with consequences.
Either way, we've had a couple really good talks about it. I've told her that we're going to look at her reading log together each night and figure out how much she's read. I've told her I don't want to put zeros down but, I'm also not willing to lie for her so I asked her to help me figure it out. She liked the idea and came up with the solution to bring her book in the car every morning to read. Of course this morning she forgot. But, she asked me to bring her book when I pick her up so she can do her reading on the way home. So, we'll see.....
I get she's really little but, she's perfectly capable of reading. It's not like I'm expecting her to do complicated mathmatical equations. It's reading an age approrpriate book - that she picks out herself.
I also don't think I need to cut her any more slack than I already do - I already cut her a tremendous amount of slack by not even worrying about getting the required 15 minutes. I've told her any reading is acceptable to me. It's simply not acceptable to me that she never reads.
And I know the statistics on reading to your child. That's why I read to them both. Every night. What I said was that I don't think that counts towards her reading assignment, not that reading to my children doesn't count in the big picture of life.
I guess my parenting and educational philosophy is different. I don't think children just get to not do assignments because they're boring or they're feeling lazy or they have to poop or they have a headache or they're too tired or their toenails hurt or they lost an eyelash.
It's definitely not a power struggle either. I'm simply putting the responsibility on her. I've let her know what the school's requirement is. I've told her I'm not remotely interested in following her around documenting every minute she's reading so if she's setting aside some time every day to read, that's good enough for me. I've also told her, however, if she makes the choice not to read, that's her choice and it may come with consequences.
Either way, we've had a couple really good talks about it. I've told her that we're going to look at her reading log together each night and figure out how much she's read. I've told her I don't want to put zeros down but, I'm also not willing to lie for her so I asked her to help me figure it out. She liked the idea and came up with the solution to bring her book in the car every morning to read. Of course this morning she forgot. But, she asked me to bring her book when I pick her up so she can do her reading on the way home. So, we'll see.....
It is so important to model good behavior for your children, and while it would be so easy to "lie" on your daughter's log, I really applaud you for your stand. Your daughter is going to see the importance of honesty. And I think it is a good sign that your daughter asked for you to bring a book for her. It sounds like she really wants to work with you on this. GL.
