Reading, Learning, Playing

Reading books is not nearly as prevalent of a thing as it used to be. It is much more common to see a child playing with an iPad than reading a picture book. For me, that was never the case. I learned to read when I was four years old. I fell in love with reading. I was fascinated with the way that books brought words to life, and quickly began reading longer and more complex books. By the time that I was in fifth grade, I started giving writers like John Steinbech, Margaret Mitchell, Jane Austen, etc. That is when I truly fell in love with reading. My classmates always poked fun at me for reading such ridiculously long books, and even for the fact that I enjoyed reading. It was not from a rude place and it did not bother me, they just did not understand. I finished Gone With the Wind in two weeks and, still to this day, it is my all-time favorite book.

Another thing that I really enjoy to do is play. I know--it sounds vague, but it explains me well. When I say playing, I do not mean playing with toys or video games by myself, it represents one of the most important things to me: children. I am a huge advocate of children. I believe that all children have huge potential and they will succeed based on how much we believe in them. This also connects with my love for reading. I have worked in a Montessori school for about six years now, and I am so thankful for the emphasis they put on reading. I worked late stay there every day after school, and almost an hour of my time there went to reading with children. It is so fun to see their faces light up when you turn the page and they are shocked by what is next. Children can also often relate to the characters in the stories they read about, and that helps them to understand they are not alone.

My love for reading started at a young age--and thankfully I improved from there!