Catching My Kids Reading

It's International Book Week! It's so timely because just recently, I caught my son, Badger, reading my book, Beauty and The Beast. It's no accident. I introduced the book to him. What's so special about it is it was my book from childhood.

You'll still see my childishly written name on the fly leaf!

I read it to him the other night and we pointed out words that were unfamiliar to him like: harbour (explained that it's where ships dock just like what Pearl Harbor was to the battle ships in the movie, Battle Ship), exhausted, beast ("Moomoo?" he asked and I said yes, in a way, but more like an animal, like a tiger or a lion) and many more. It was even more fun because he pointed out that there were badgers in one of the illustrated pages. We laughed over that. I noticed that he has such a compassionate heart because he immediately knew that the beast was crying in the picture. "Why is he crying, Mama?" I notice that Badger loves to comfort people when they are in pain.

I thought that he wouldn't be interested in the book after I read it to him. It just happened to be there at the time and he would go back to his Dr. Seuss books. But no. This morning I saw him look for it and sit down on the floor with it. It was a warm and memorable moment for me. Yes, it was no accident because I introduced the book to him. But it was just really special for me because he looked for it on his own.

There's just really something heartwarming about knowing that the book that I read as a kid is still appreciated by my own son. That he sees the same magic that I saw while flipping through those beautifully illustrated pages.

Reading is something that I want my kids to catch from me. Here's to more of those wonderful, magical moments!