And we can always do our part by reading to him as much as possible and by surrounding him with print materials of all kinds and with a wide variety of opportunities to begin using print himself. Books are the most obvious of the printed materials. At our house, we look at books as being just about as important as food to eat and air to breathe. We are not, in general, very careful with our books, the house is cluttered with them piled here, there, and everywhere. So is the car.
Kids fall asleep with books in their hands nearly every night.
Over the years, though, we have collected certain favorites that are treated especially tenderly, read carefully and never in the bathtub. Many of our books have been purchased at garage sales and thrift shops, by the way. We also subscribe to lots of magazines. Every year the Girl Scouts sell magazines subscriptions as a fund raiser and we spend hours poring over the list and each child chooses a couple of magazines. Some favorites over the years have been Ladybug, Cricket, Highlights, Ranger Rick, and My Big Backyard.