Parents who make it clear that children, especially their own, are valued and valuable for who they truly are.
Community values youth • Youth as resources
Service to others • Safety
A Story of Empowerment
In The Fishing Summer, the storyteller remembers the time his three uncles turned him into “a real fisherman.” At eight, he yearned to be counted as part of their crew. Falling overboard, the eight-year-old thought his mistake was “stupid.” His uncles, however, did not and focused on his strengths, not his weaknesses. They assured him that he brought them luck.
“He’s a natural,” brags one uncle. It was “the purest praise I ever heard,” the narrator tells the reader, “he was saying I was part of the family.”
At book’s end, the family fishing business has ended. The fish are gone now. Times may have changed, but children haven’t. They still long to feel a part of the family, within a circle of supportive grownups. Authentic praise still thrills and empowers them. When they can feel useful, children thrive.
Some lucky kids get what they need to become successful readers. Others, even before they enter school, are at high risk. In one study of a wide range of families, all the parents wanted the best for their young children, including success in school. Recording everyday interactions in each family for years, the researchers discovered powerful predictors of success. Three factors in particular added up to what one might call the right stuff!
One involves parents’ attitudes about reading. In some places, without bookstores or adequate libraries, reading for pleasure may add up to hours in a year instead of a week. Even in these communities, however, parents can model a change in attitude. They practice show-and tell. These parents show their kids in different ways that reading is an essential skill. Repeatedly they tell them that they admire their efforts to become readers. They read and talk daily.