Honey For My Honey

I have always been a "book-reader". My mother taught me how to read at the early age of two and I never looked back. From then on, my nose was always buried in a book. I was even a top library aide in middle school. I cringe as I type but I still relish the memory of walking through aisles and aisles of books knowing there was adventure waiting behind every title. (Yes I was and am still a dork!) Granted, my reading material was not always of high-caliber. (Anyone else alternate the Baby-Sitters Club series and Fabio Romance Novels aka Bodice Rippers? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) In spite of my preference for *ahem* light "summer book-reads" as opposed to classics, I still garnered 98th percentile Literature and Vocabulary mandated test scores every year of middle school and was automatically placed in Honors English classes all through high school. (How I did in those Honors Classes, however, is a whole different story. Party Girl rears her ugly head yet again!) Nevertheless, I attest all this (the positive stuff anyway) to my early exposure to reading.

Now that I'm a mommy, I am excited to share my passion for reading with my daughter. Amaya and I have been reading books together since she was 3 months old. I have countless pictures of us at different libraries browsing through board books, playing with puppets from story-time, and choosing a DVD or two from the extensive and always overwhelming collection of Dora, Barney, Elmo and more! (Lots and lots more!) We visit the library at least once a week and I am proud to state the fact that even though Amaya loves to play with the children's library smorgasbord of toys, she never fails to bring me books for us to read together and take home. She even has her very own book-bag to carry her special choices in. As we navigate through aisles and aisles of adventure waiting for us, I want to make sure I help her choose quality material that will expand her mind, entertain her personality, and nurture her soul.

Honey For A Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books In Family Life by Gladys Hunt is the best book I've read in a while. The author quotes Eric Fromm in the Art of Loving, "Children have two basic needs; they need both milk and honey from their parents. Milk symbolizes the care given to physical needs: brush your teeth, drink your orange juice, eat your vegetables, get enough sleep. Honey symbolizes the sweetness of life, that special quality that makes life sing  with enjoyment for all it holds. Most parents are capable of giving milk, but only a minority of giving honey, too." Honey For A Child's Heart has lists of  high-quality books for any age range. It is never too late to start reading to and with your child! As I strive to always give honey with milk to my daughter, I pass along this great book for you and your children, grandchildren, parents, ANYONE! May we always remember that, "To give honey, one must love honey and have it to give."

 

Golden Gate Library Oakland CA 12/2009

Reading Mother Goose 11/2010

Honey For A Child's Heart, Fourth Ed.

 What are your favorite books to read? What are your favorite books to read to your child? What were your favorite books to read as a child? I would love to know!

Love and Light (And A Lil Honey), MARS