Summer Reading
How I’m Making the Most of This Season
In my experience summer reading has always been a hit or miss. June starts creeping in and visions of beach reading and sitting poolside start dancing in my head. Especially since I’ve moved to the East Coast and the ocean is only a 15 minute drive away. So, here are the things I’m keeping in my mind to make the most of these three months of summer reading time.
Summer Reading Programs
One of my biggest brags (I’m only slightly joking) is that I regularly won the summer reading challenges at my local library when I was growing up. Summer reading for me evokes very specific memories of sitting on the back porch with an alarm clock I moved from my bedroom to keep track of my reading hours. I filled in a quarter of a circle for every fifteen minutes I read and would receive stickers and other prizes for every hour. Alas, I am now an adult and these programs are no longer available to me but I’m still craving the same sense of accomplishment each little rainbow quarter of a circle I colored in provided. My favorite way to do this is carving out time for long stretches of reading. My kids, for example, are going to be at summer camp for the next three hours so I’m going to spend at least one uninterrupted hour of that with a book in my hand. And instead of coloring in circles, I keep track of pages and books read in a journal.
Unplugged
In the same vein as uninterrupted reading time, it is so important for me to put my phone/computer/tv remote/iPad in a different room. The speed with which I will put down my book and pick up a screen is something that I am generally not okay with. I have to create physical space between myself and my devices and once I admitted that to myself, and took steps to address it, my time spent reading skyrocketed.
Getting Your Kids Involved
It doesn’t matter the age, I’ve always included my kids in my quiet reading time. My oldest is now 6 and she is able to sit with me and actually read a book. My youngest is 4 and his “reading time” looks different every day. Sometimes he is flipping through a picture book, others he is pulling all of his books off his shelves and making a race track out of them. I am completely fine with either of those things. As long as they see me spending time reading, and letting me do that, I’m doing my job. Maybe they’ll turn into readers and maybe they won’t but either way I’ve laid the foundation.
Curating Your Space
When you have a “reading space” that you consistently use only for reading, your body will remember that. I have two, my bed at night with my Kindle and the front room of my house. Every single night, after I’ve done all of the pre-bedtime stuff you have to do as a 30-something year old woman, I get in bed and reach for my Kindle. I’ve done this for so long that it is hard for me to go to sleep any other way.