My wife and I have been encouraging our only son, Zachary, to read since he was only one month old. It is inspiring to see him, now age 5 years old, to select a book from his library to read on his own. Zachary loves reading, and he always brings two to four books to accompany him in bed at night. He enjoys reading more than watching TV or playing with the computer.

How did we encourage him to read? It helps a lot that my wife and I read a lot, and our home has a huge library of books. Zachary is growing up in an environment of books, so he must have sensed the importance of books in our lives. Moreover, my wife and I do not often watch TV. This “lack of TV presence” must have left an important imprint on Zachary because he will become bored, restless, and tired with any more than an hour of watching TV.