It’s also a great time for bonding
Ocean City Primary School librarian and computer science teacher Deepa McCabe practices what she preaches.
“I always say that if you can read, you can learn about anything. It empowers kids to get excited about something that will open doors for them forever,” she told me while dressed as children’s book character Amelia Bedelia for the school’s recent Read Across America Day.
The Linwood resident loved having her mother read to her when she was young, a practice she enjoyed when it came time for her to read to her children.
“I had a book called ‘Let’s Be Enemies’ that was one of my favorites when I was little. I had my mom read it to me over and over again and I memorized it,” she told me. “Years later it wasn’t popular but when I had my own kids I found it online and I bought it and made sure to read it to them.”
McCabe’s kids enjoyed it as well.
“It was kind of a silly book about somebody who said he wanted to be enemies with his best friend but by the end of the book they were best friends again.”
It is easy to tell she also loves being a school librarian, passing that joy on to countless children.
Having a library in the schools “is amazing,” she said.
“I have kids come in every morning to trade books even if it’s not their library day. It gives them access and free rein of trying new books and trying new genres without spending money. It makes books accessible to everybody.”
Books for everybody: what a great concept.
I loved having books read to me when I was a kid. I still have a few tattered Dr. Seuss books from my childhood. They’re on the shelves with the Dr. Seuss books we got for our children, some of the same we have gotten for our grandchildren.
Reading to my grandchildren brings back the wonderful memories from when my kids were little.
I loved reading to my children. One of my favorite times was when my wife was working second shift at a hospital in Vermont, across the border from our home at the time in Massachusetts. Because I worked from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. in those years, I would pick up Keaton and Kelsey from their preschool day care, make them dinner and spend the evening with them. At bedtime, we would go into this little sitting room off our bedroom, where I would read them stories before they went to bed. That was more than three decades ago, but I can picture it as vividly as if it were yesterday.
Reading to them, and later to their little brother, Ian, was a special time. My wife loved reading to them just as much.
Those times, as McCabe explains, are great for bonding.
“It helps you spend some time with your child every day no matter what if you make sure you’re reading with them every day,” she told me. “It lets them communicate with you sometimes through books, sometimes through a story in a book. If it is something relatable, all of sudden you’re hearing about their day because the character in the book went through something that resonated with them. There are so many opportunities.
“I recently had a student check out a recipe book and the mom emailed with pictures of the recipes they made from the book together. It wasn’t just reading. It created more memories than just reading,” McCabe said.
In our family, books for children (and adults) are popular gifts. Now my wife and I get to read to our four grandchildren. It is that time to be as close to them as with our own children.
McCabe has a piece of advice for parents.
“I say read to your kids about all different things until something clicks. Sometimes it’s a funny book that will click with a child and sometimes it’s a book about a historical event that will click with a child.
“Once you find what they love, get them more of that. And if you run out of material, usually by then you’ve created a reader. And now they’re hungry for more books.”
David Nahan is editor and publisher of the Ocean City Sentinel, Cape May Star and Wave, Upper Township Sentinel and The Sentinel of Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield.