Every year since 2003 I have helped facilitate a push to encourage dads to read with their kids during the month of November. Fathers Reading Every Day (FRED) is a four-week program originally created at Texas A&M University that encourages fathers, grandfathers and other male role models to read to their children on a daily basis. In any given year our post-survey responses reveal that at least 75% of the dads who participate in the program believe it:

• Improved the quality of time spent with their child.
• Led to improvements in their child’s vocabulary.
• Increased their satisfaction level as a parent.
• Improved their relationship with their child.

I love this simple program, but I am not alone with these sentiments. Listen to what some of the dads who have participated in the program over the last several years have said:

[More]

Some of my favorite parenting memories are reading with my children. Whether I was holding them on my lap in a rocking chair, laying prostrate beside them on their bed, sitting leaned up against their bed, sitting in the hall way between their rooms voicing the characters of the Narnia or Harry Potter series, sitting together in the family room or using a flashlight in a tent on a mountain side – the location and posture didn’t matter – what did matter was the bond we created by being together in an imaginary or real world of story. I believe that reading together has a magical way of drawing people closer, especially if those people are parent and child. I’m not sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with sharing our words and imaginations. Unlike visual stories, reading out loud requires a personal voice and expression, it also allows for more individuation of thought, imagination and sharing. I enjoy watching a good movie, television show or even a short You Tube clip now and again with my kids but none of these compare to my enjoyment of reading with them. A recent edition of the comic strip Rhymes with Orange drew this to my attention. The October 13, 2009 strip has a family seated together on a couch with popcorn and soda watching television. The caption reads, “The Barretts settled in for another great episode of ‘Read to your Children.’”

[More]

I write this post on the evening of a full moon. I have always anticipated and enjoyed full moons as they rise in the evening, stand guard through the night and set in the growing light of the dawn. I anticipate this evening a little differently since reading a research article by Suzanne M. Flannery Quinn. Her article is actually on the presence and depictions of fathers in best-selling picture books in the U.S. and is published in the Spring 2009 edition of Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Men as Fathers. As more of an aside than anything else she notes the presence of the moon in a number of children’s books focusing on father-child relationships. This may simply be because many of the stories take place in the evening or nighttime when traditional dads are more available to their children, but Quinn wonders if it is also possible that the moon is a second-order sign related to fathers.

[More]

A recent study of 2,000 parents carried out by CITV (the children’s programming arm of ITV, the biggest commercial television network in the UK) revealed that three quarters of Britain’s parents are too busy to read bedtime stories to their children. “Mums claim they are distracted by cleaning or cooking while dads blame late nights in the office or sheer tiredness when they do get home,” read the lead in a story published a couple of weeks ago by the Telegraph. The study also found parents seem content with allowing their children more screen time than reading.

[More]

If you love to read with your kids I encourage you to check out and subscribe to the Book Dads Fathers Who Read! website and blog.

The creators of this site believe that reading together is one of the most important things a parent can do for a child. But more often than not, they found themselves reading books to their son that always talked about moms but rarely mentioned dads. Book Dads grew out of their search for books to share with their son that emphasized fathers and the importance of fatherhood in children’s lives. If you’re a father who cares about reading with your children - no matter how you’re parenting - then Book Dads is for you.

Each blog entry includes a review of a book and sometimes an interview with the author. Reviews are archived under the following headings: About Dads, Any Parent, Dads Only, Divorce & Separation, Family Diversity, Fatherhood & Parenting, Grandpas & Uncles, and Other reviews - other stuff (books, audio books, music, movies, etc.) they like as guys and as dads.

Here is an excerpt from a recent review of Rocket Man by William Elliott Hazelgrove:

[More]

One evening, author Neil Gaiman's son was angry. Neil had said one of those things that parents say, like "isn't it time you were in bed." His son looked up at him, furious, and said, "I wish I didn't have a dad! I wish I had . . ." and then he stopped and thought, trying to think of what he would have instead of a father. Finally he said, "I wish I had a goldfish!" That conversation gave birth to Gaiman's book, "The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish." Superbly illustrated by Dave McKean, the book is a hilarious adventure of a son searching for the dad he swapped. The story line takes the son from friend to a friend of a friend to a friend . . . as they each swap his dad for something more interesting! This particular father reads his newspaper throughout the entire escapade.

“The Day I Swapped My Dad . . .” is a fun read for fathers’ and their children with the added bonus of the opportunity to talk about the importance of relationships over things, and what you enjoy doing together.

[More]