Evoto
Twenty minutes every day. Doesn’t matter if it’s in the car, the grocery line or snuggled up on the couch, reading with a child makes that child a lifelong reader and learner.
“No matter the location, it’s that engagement time with the child. And I stress the word ‘with’ in that sentence,” said Kristin Norell, CEO of The Children’s Reading Foundation. “And, yes, we recognize the time constraint because everyone is so busy right now with their lives. But it doesn’t have to be a 20 solid minutes. It can be a minute here, two minutes there. It can happen while sitting at the breakfast table and reading the back of a cereal box or stopping at an intersection when you’re in the car and asking your child what the sign says and then talking about the color of it. Any moments throughout the day count.”
Now in its 29th year, the foundation’s mission remains to ensure all children learn to read early and well, specifically on grade level by the end of third grade.
“After third grade, a child is reading to learn, and if they don’t have those skills by grade three, they are already behind,” she said. “Reading every day during a child’s early years creates the necessary brain connections that are essential for all future learning.”
Headquartered in Kennewick, Washington, the nonprofit delivers national programs like READY! for Kindergarten a program that instructs and empowers parents to be the child’s first and most influential teacher. The lessons in the program are based on 26 targeted development markers for children ages 0-5 in areas including math, reading and social skills.
Participating school districts host in-person and online seminars for parents, educating them on how to read to their child. The foundation and its affiliates distribute more than 30,000 books annually through its First Teacher Libraries, the READ Up: Stop the Summer Slide and Books for Babies programs, among others.
“Parent engagement lies at the core of our programs, so they are a participant in their child’s success,” Norell said. “So everything we focus on is with that engagement and empowering the parent to play with a purpose.”
Norell said while some parents, uncomfortable with their own literacy skills, find reading to their children intimidating, the foundation’s programs are designed to provide essential learning tools to make the experience that much more rewarding.
To encourage parents, caregivers, teachers and family members to read to their younger charges, the foundation is hosting its annual Read With a Child Week, Sept. 14-20. Nationwide reading events are planned throughout the week to emphasize the importance of reading to children 20 minutes each day.
To learn more about the Children’s Reading Foundation, please visit .
