Grandparents – read to the grandkids, even recorded if necessary

Many families are less than ideal these days, often with only one parent or both parents employed with less time to spend with the their children. Many kids are left to watch TV or use their gadgets with little or no supervision.

My father was unique in that instead of putting a television in the center of the living room, the center of our living room was the couch where he read books to us every night after dinner. (I am seated on the right.)

He also used an old reel-to-reel tape recorder to record stories for us to listen to the next day when he was at work. We would rush through breakfast and choirs to listen to dad read stories on the old tape recorder, often telling jokes inserted in the story.

My own four children LOVED stories. We have hundreds of special family memories of me and Janet reading great books and novels, which not only entertained, but helped build character and personality and a profound sense of morality and virtue.

Now I am reading aloud with my iPhone recorder running. I upload the audio files and the grandkids can now listen to “Papa” read to them. We are building a small “audio library” so they can hear me read books long after I am gone.

What are grandparents doing with their leisure time today? It is incumbent on us to help the next generations grow up with truth, character and virtue.

READ TO THEM!

12 second video — Some grandkids listening to me read and laughing while eating breakfast. We are reading one of our all time favorite “read aloud” books — The Summer of the Monkeys.