This post is part of YummyMummyClub.ca‘s support of the TD Summer Reading Club program and other TD Children’s Literacy initiatives.
I’m looking out over a quiet lake as I write this post, the sound of water lapping against the dock and laughter carrying across the water from a far-off boat. There are tall trees and blue sky as far as I can see and the children run free.
This is not my cottage. Tomorrow we pack up and head back into the city where we’ll stay for most of the rest of the summer. My kids aren’t in any sort of camp or daycare either. Instead, they will be lazing about the house in desperate need of physical and intellectual stimulation while my own work commitments and deadlines hold strong.
How on earth am I going to manage? Well, I have a plan. Sort of.
The crux of my plan is to maintain a loose routine that will take care of the children’s basic needs while I work late into the night and during kiddie downtime, and call upon occasional babysitters when that’s still not enough. Basically, we will have lots of free play at home with daily outings to the park, the pool, t-ball practices and t-ball games.
Oh, and we will read.
Our entire family loves reading. Three floor to ceiling book shelves are the dominant decor feature of our dining room. It’s such a pleasure to read chapter books with Colum and discover far off worlds or solve mysteries. We love both the classics like My Father’s Dragon and Alice and Wonderland and newer series’ like Nate the Great. He also likes comics, of course, but I let him read those on his own.
Irene is just starting to learn to read on her own, so we’re all about the rhyming books. Lots of Dr. Seuss and anything lyrical so she can “read along” by remembering what comes next. And Mary loves both flipping through board books by herself and crawling into my lap to read. I try not start crying when I realize this is the last time I’ll have a little munchkin to read Goodnight Moon to.
And sometimes I make all three of them lie quietly in their beds while I read A.A. Milne’s poetry out loud. That’s mostly for me, but it must be good for them too, right?
We are always on the prowl for more quality children’s books. Reading is the number one activity for family bonding around here and we read and re-read books until they come undone.
So of course the library is one of the cornerstones of my “get through summer” plan. This summer we joined the TD Summer Reading Club for the first time and the kids are super stoked.
Signing up was ridiculously easy. The library gave them each a TD Summer Reading Club Passport and they’ll earn a sticker for each book they read. When they fill up the passport, they can enter a draw to win a gift basket too. There are also lots of activities on the website for the kids to engage with if that will make it more exciting for them. My kids log enough screen time as it is, though, so we’ll be sticking to the bricks-and-mortar experience.
So far, we’re loving Alphabeep, Fast Food and The Miraculous Journey of Eward Tulane.
I love that it includes a recommended reading list because it gives me an excuse to say, “No, maybe not a third Pokemon book in a row, pal.” I also like that the theme this year is Go! which is nice because if you can’t go anywhere you might as well read about it. (And let’s take a moment to acknowledge that last year alone, TD donated $4 million to children’s literacy and reading organizations in Canada. Amazing.) But mostly, I love that it puts pressure on me to make sure we get to the library once or twice a week. I can’t think of a better activity to structure our summer around.
The kids love it because, duh, stickers.
Irene said, “I’m excited because I like you and we always go together.”
Aw.
Colum says, “I like it because I love to read.”
True ’nuff.
Mary didn’t offer a comment but when I asked, “Who likes to go the library?” she yelled out, “Meeeee!”
I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. This post reflects my personal opinion about the information provided by the sponsors.
Want to inspire a love of reading in your children? Check out some great ideas and more stories by moms on YMC’s Get Kids Reading page. And to find out more about TD’s Children Literacy initiatives visit tdreads.com.