This was a blog about my adventures with Joe. Then, along came Nia. Four years later, along came Stage 3 breast cancer, and nothing -- not even the blog -- was ever the same again.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you like what you see here. Feel free to
leave a comment or to simply visit quietly. Looking for my cancer-specific posts? My "Cancerland Timeline" is a good introduction. And this link will take you back to my first post. (By clicking the right arrow at the bottom of each page, you can read my journey chronologically from March 2012 forward.)
I recommend
subscribing to this blog by entering your email into that box to the
right so that you can easily get updates on my posts. I promise I'll
never abuse your email address! If you're interested, I have a second
blog, Green Tea & Chocolate in which I write about my post-cancer wellness via nutrition & fitness (food is my pharmacy!). Thanks! ~April
I never thought I'd be writing about Angelina Jolie on my blog.
Beyond us both being mothers, there are few people I have less in common with than the actress. But after her announcement this week that she had a proactive double mastectomy to avoid the breast cancer that killed her own mother at the age of 56, well, here we are courtesy of cancer, the great unifier.
Jolie wrote about her decision and the radical mastectomy-followed-by-reconstruction procedure in an OpEd piece for the NY Times. After it went viral, Facebook and Twitter were full of people discussing her & her decision -- people with a cancer connection, as well as the general public. I even turned on NPR at lunchtime yesterday and heard Tom Ashbrook discussing it with callers (again, some with a cancer connection, and some without).
Some people were shocked she'd undergo such a radical procedure. Others applauded her for not only taking the step, but also sharing her decision publicly. Still others thought her move highlighted the divide between those with money and those without.
A few people asked my opinion, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to react.
First and foremost, if your family has no history of breast or ovarian cancer, you don't need to consider this surgery anymore than you'd consider removing any other body part. Jolie writes that her decision to remove her breasts was motivated by testing positive for the BRCA1 gene. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35, this was one of the first tests my oncologist ordered. It would be nice to have a smoking gun, to say, "There! That's why I have cancer so young!"
But for me, the test (a simple saliva swish test) came back negative. It doesn't mean that I don't have a gene mutation somewhere in there that caused me to have cancer. After all, we all have cancer cells in our bodies, we just won't all develop cancer. I suspect that probably some day down the road, a test will be developed and the gene mutation I do have will be discovered.
And then my daughter may find herself facing the same decision Jolie faced this year: Would removing her breasts give her a better chance of survival?
Would I recommend she do it?
Deciding to remove a body part is drastic, and not to be taken lightly. Jolie writes that removing her breasts reduced her chances of getting breast cancer from 87% to 5%. It doesn't mean she is no longer at risk for another type of cancer, but at least she can cross this one off her list.
I suspect that her mother's fight with cancer and her subsequent death has haunted her. I bet that every day she looked into her childrens' eyes and felt the shadow behind her, wondering if she'd be alive to see her children grow up, to see her grandchildren. If that was the case, then removing her breasts has given her back an immeasurable quality of life. And you have to weigh that in this decision. Everything with cancer is balanced against quality of life, not just quantity. Tests, treatments, procedures -- and even the decision not to act -- it comes down to, what can I live with, day in and day out?
For comparison, your chance of dying in a car accident today is 47% higher if you are not wearing a seat belt. I'm betting it is a no-brainer for you to buckle up. But buckling a seat belt doesn't cost us anything. A mastectomy, particularly with no personal cancer present, is a hard decision and involves body image issues, sexual function (remove the breasts, and you remove a large erogenous zone), childbearing concerns (done breastfeeding forever?), the risk of the surgery itself, the added risk of complications with the implants (though not all women who undergo this surgery will opt for reconstruction).
And there is the cost to consider, however I think this is one of the most misunderstood pieces of the Jolie story -- insurance will cover the cost of the BRCA test if you have a higher chance of having the gene (breast cancer history in your family, for example). And insurance will help with the cost of a mastectomy due to BRCA results and/or cancer. Insurance will even help with reconstruction.
In the end, it is a very personal decision.
I considered it myself. I considered removing my healthy breast at the time of my single mastectomy. But for me, the time was not right: I still hope to need that breast to feed another child. However, once that possibility or opportunity passes, I will be back to considering it. If removing it would mean I don't feel like I have a ticking time bomb strapped to my chest, then I'll do it.
And if Nia faces this choice one day, and asks my opinion, I will tell her this:
It is a deeply personal decision. You have to weigh both sides -- how you will feel with your breasts, and how you feel without them. If removing them, no matter how important they are to you, makes you feel safer, do it. Maybe it is something you do at twenty because you are more terrified of breast cancer than you are of not being able to breastfeed. Maybe you have your own children, and remove them at forty. Either way, it is completely up to you. And if you choose to keep your breasts, that is your choice too. I would not judge you for either decision.
For more information about BRCA and more analysis of Jolie's decision, go here.
And for a beautiful photography project collecting images of women who've had mastectomies, visit the ScarProject.
Actually, it was just one fake boob. Foob I've dubbed it. (Or "shoob" seeing as how it is actually a second-hand boob, but more on that later.)
The fact that I only needed one contributed to my decision to go with a prosthetic; I opted not to have reconstructive surgery after my mastectomy last September.
The reactions I get to this are mixed.
Doctors understand for the most part, but the general public (and my daughter) are a little confused. Wouldn't I want to look normal again? Totally. And while they would have put spacers in immediately following removing the cancerous breast, I was skittish about all the follow up surgeries (at least two additional) and the risk of complications.
Also, a little known fact: If you only need reconstructive surgery on one breast, they still cut and shape the healthy breast in order to better match the fake one. Anther obvious-if-you-think-about-it but seldom mentioned fact: If your weight changes over the years following your surgery, the fake one stays its same perky self, while the other one changes, which can lead to lopsided-ness -- which I already have, thank you very much.
By the time I walked into the little store in Los Gatos with the foobs and the wigs, I'd been walking around with one breast for more than six months. I was surprised how little this asymmetry bothered me. Before the mastectomy, I'd imagined I'd want to have a prosthetic ready and waiting for immediate use. It turns out, though, that having something pressing on that area when it is healing and during radiation treatments is unpleasant. And so time went by and my incision healed, and so did my feelings of discomfort.
And honestly, I didn't really feel like people noticed the mismatch.
Two things led me to the prosthetic shop: 1. The same radiation treatments that delayed my getting the prosthetic -- radiation causes the skin to contract and want to pull the shoulder in toward my sternum. Putting pressure on that area via a prosthetic reverses the contraction. But more than that was reason number 2: My daughter.
A month or so ago she and I were walking to the park when she stopped to pick a dandelion. She blew the seeds and almost immediately went from happy to sad. After a bit of prying she told me that her wish would never come true. I pried a bit further and she finally blurted out that she always wishes for the cancer to go away. I quickly told her -- somewhat relieved that this was all that was bringing her down: "But honey, I don't have cancer anymore! It's all gone!" Phew! Crisis adverted! But she was still sad. She mumbled, "But your boob hasn't grown back yet."
While I was comfortable being lopsided, there was an E-cup shaped hole punched in her universe.
So I made the long-awaited appointment at the foob shop. I got two special mastectomy bras -- they have little pockets in the cups for prosthetics (which range from silicone breast "equalizers" to light-weight foam breast "forms"). Some people need full prosthetics, some need fillers. Either way, the pocket keeps the thing from sliding out and plopping on the sidewalk.
In addition to the bras, I walked out with a two-pound silicon equalizer.
And equalize it did. I was really surprised how similar the fake one looked to the real one. So surprised, I just keep staring down at it all afternoon.
See?! You can't even till which one is fake can you?
And it wasn't as hot and heavy and awkward as you'd expect a two-pound blob of silicone stuffed in your bra to be.
But was Nia sold? We had friends with us in the bra shop and she seemed happy enough. Later at the park, she was over the whole foob thing and just ready to play. I tried to ask if she liked it but she didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't until we got home and I took it out of my bra to show Joe that she got really excited. She wanted to hold it and when she did, she literally lit up. For about an hour that night she walked around with it, cuddled it, slapped it (?!), played dress up with it (it looks like a little pregnant belly on her), laid it over one of her stuffed animals and declared it "pork." (Later when I was looking for it, she said it was cooking...??!)
The foob made her really, really happy. Now she wants to hold it all the time.("No, honey, you can't hold it now. Because I'm wearing it!")
I never in a million years expected that.
Nor did I expect to like it as much as I do. Like I said, I was pretty comfortable being lopsided. I had no idea what I'd gain by strapping that thing on. But the thing is, nature favors symmetry. It's obvious: My clothes look better with two matching boobs. But what was less obvious was how confident I'd feel wearing the foob. I feel... visible again. I thought that people didn't notice the asymmetry before, but maybe in our society that is so breast-centric, not having two matching breasts (and two big ones at that) made me not so much conspicuous as invisible. People were not only not noticing, but I'd swung to the opposite side of the dial into a-sexual.
I'm not planning to wear it every day, but it sure is nice to have the option. It is pretty funny getting out of the shower and seeing my stack of clothes now.
Suddenly I'm 13 again with brand new boobs -- only this time I'm emotionally prepared for it, and my friends aren't jealous. And if they are, they can come over and take the foob for a test drive. Like Nia.
I mentioned on Facebook on Friday that I needed to try out a recipe this weekend. Nia has requested lemon cake for her birthday next month and lemon cake is not in my repertoire.
That is, till now.
This cake, adapted from Molly Wizenburg's always-a-sure-bet A Homemade Life, was moist and delicious, not to mention gorgeous, but also humble. Not over the top sweet, or over the top fussy. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon -- or a low-key birthday weekend with family in Tahoe.
The kind of cake that you can whip up when you need to make an ordinary day just a little bit sweeter.
French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon, adapted from Molly Wizenburg; serves 8
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup well-stirred plain whole-milk yogurt (not low fat or nonfat)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup liquified coconut oil
For the Syrup: 1/4 c. powdered sugar, sifted; 1/4 cup lemon juice
For the Icing: 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted; 3 TBSP lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper, and grease it too.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the lemon zest. Whisk.
In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring to mix well. Add the flour mixture and stir to just combine. Add the oil and stir well. At first, it will look like a horrible, oily mess, but keep going and it will come together into a smooth, pale yellow batter. Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake.
Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 min. Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan, and invert the cake onto a wide, flat plate or pan. Remove and discard the parchment paper. invert the cake back onto the rack so that it sits upright. Set the rack over a rimmed baking sheet.
In a small bowl, prepare the syrup. Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Spoon the syrup slowly atop the warm cake. Some of it will drip down the sides onto the baking sheet. No worries. Cool completely.
In a small bowl, combine the icing ingredients. Whisk well to dissolve the sugar completely. Spoon the icing over the cooled cake. (You may find you don't use all the icing.)
Serve immediately -- the icing will be soft and a bit juicy. Or wait till the icing has firmed up, about an hour. Which every way you like.
You know you should really get out there and do something this weekend, but what? Here's a little inspiration for you. (These are perfect for pinning to your Pinterest for later inspiration, too!)
My daughter loves to climb right now, especially hillsides & rocks. These rocks were especially fun for her because they were fairly easy to scale. This is the beach we now call Toshi Beach for a favorite four-legged friend -- 26th Street Beach, Santa Cruz.
More climbing. This tree was recently introduced to us and I think we visited it three times this week! Schwan Lake, Santa Cruz.
(Not sure why that text is so small on this picture -- annoying!) Anyway, there are so many fun places a kid can bike ride. This is Arana Gulch, Santa Cruz. There are enough hills to make it fun without it being a lot of work. This week we also rode bikes on the wooden boardwalks at Neary Lagoon.
Today we have the second part to yesterday's guest post from my brother, Kyle, who is both a tremendous
writer (The Birds and the Bees)
but also a bee-keeping hobbyist in Montana. Kyle is here this week to answer some
questions about beekeeping -- and to ignite the fires of inspiration! Enjoy! ~April
Part 2: 4 Steps for Getting Started
With Beekeeping
Step 1: Get some bees.
There are a couple of ways to aquire
honey bees. You can buy them or you can collect a swarm.
I was lucky enough to have a swarm come
to me, but that doesn’t happen very often. If you’ve come to know
a few beekeepers in your area, they are probably your best source for
bees. Talk to them and see if any are willing to sell you a colony,
or if they are splitting a colony they might sell you a nucleus hive.
A nucleus or “nuc” is essentially half of a hive with frames,
brood and bees. They may even be willing to sell you a few bee boxes
and take you along to collect a swarm.
Personally I
prefer collecting swarms to any other option. Mainly because it’s
the cheapest option and starting beekeeping is not cheap. Note, you
can expect to drop a couple hundred dollars on supplies even before
you’re ready for bees. Also, by collecting a swarm you know you are
getting locally adapted bees from a colony that is healthy and
productive. Finally, the act of catching a swarm and bringing home
bees is hugely rewarding. If these options don’t work out, you can
research bee suppliers in your area and order bees. They will arrive
in a package in the spring time ready to be housed in a hive.
Step 2: Meet and talk to beekeepers
in your area.
Step 3: Read.
READ READ READ. Beekeeping is a complex
undertaking with far too many nuances for me to describe in detail
here. Pick up some books, take a class and talk bees with people you
meet. You’ll be amazed at the places it will take you and the
people you’ll meet. I know I have been.
This brings me to my last point for
this post:
Step 4: Know your local laws and
ordinances regarding beekeeping, before you get started.
Unless you don’t mind being an
“underground beekeeper”, doing a little homework before hand
could keep you from getting into trouble. And don’t forget to talk
to your neighbors. A brief chat about honey bees before there is a
swarm in their backyard tree will go a long way, and may keep them
from reaching for the can of Raid.
The bottom line is, if you want to keep
honey bees, just do it. Jump in with both feet, and don’t be afraid
to get dirty (and stung). That’s what I did, and it’s been a
great experience!
Kyle Johnson and wife Whitney are professional Foresters in Northwest Montana.
They are avid hunters and gatherers, with a big garden, 20 chickens, 3
honey bee hives, a handful of fruit trees and two dogs on their mini
farm in a very small town. Life is good for Kyle and Whitney with lots
going on everyday. On their blog: The Birds and the Bees they
enjoy writing about all their adventures from hunting and butchering
venison, to canning and preserving garden vegetables, to beekeeping and
chicken farming, with a little responsible forestry thrown in on
occasion. Take a moment and check it out!
Also, check out Whitney's hand made jewelry and all natural lip balms at her web site Montana Wild Designs. Whitney's feather earrings feature hand-died feathers collected from
our chicken flock (with no harm to the chickens), and all of the lip
balms are made from our own beeswax! Enjoy!
It is with great joy I bring you a guest post today (my first ever!). This comes from my brother, Kyle, who is both a tremendous writer (The Birds and the Bees) but also a bee-keeping hobbyist in Montana. I know many of my friends are interested in learning how they might be able to keep bees in their own backyards. To this end, Kyle is here this week to answer some questions -- and ignite the fires of inspiration! Enjoy! ~April
Bees in the City, Part 1: Are You Ready for a New
Hobby?
Are you interested in getting more
fruit and veggies from your garden this year?
Are you interested in the role
pollinators play in our environment and food supply?
Do you like honey and love the idea of
producing your own?
Have you heard of Colony Collapse
Disorder and want to do something to help the plight of the honey
bee?
In this rotten economy, maybe you’re
simply looking for a hobby that can double as a home business...
No matter why
you’re interested in beekeeping, one thing is for sure: you’re
not alone. And as it turns out, that’s a very good thing.
Beekeeping is an adventure... and an
education.
Crazy as it sounds, (at least at first)
keeping bees in the urban environment is actually a better option
than having bees in a strictly agricultural location.
For many farmers today the pressures to
produce are so high they must rely on a wide array of chemicals to
control the many pests that threaten their crops. Even farmers that
market spray-free produce may be using crops that are genetically
altered to kill pests on contact. While there are many chemicals at
use in the urban environment as well, chances are they are not as
highly concentrated. Also, large farms are monocultures meaning all
the plants are the same age and species, and all bloom at the same
time. This leaves the bees with nothing to eat except for that 2 -3
week window when a crop is blooming. In contrast, in the urban
environment gardens and yards are blooming all season long, or
possibly all year long depending on your climate. This gives the
honey bees a vast array of blooms to harvest nectar from.
Since I first got started nearly two
years ago, keeping honey bees has changed the way I look at many
things from the food we eat, to the changing of the seasons, to
chemical use and our local community.
Agriculture in the US today is nearly
entirely dependent on the honey bee, which is not even a native
species. It is said, one in every three bites of food on the average
American’s dinner plate was made possible by the honey bee (and
beekeepers).
The honey bee (Apis mellifera)
originated in Europe and came to the Americas with the colonists
along with many of the foods we commonly eat. There are something
like 4000 native pollinators in the US also, but none produce honey.
And while they do pollinate certain crops, they do not generally do
so in enough numbers to support an agricultural operation.
While beekeeping was common on farms in
the past, the shift away from family farms to corporate operations,
and the population movement from rural to urban has led to a decrease
in small scale beekeeping. Beekeeping, like farming shifted away from
family based operations to large scale production based operations.
However in recent years with the growing interest in eating locally
and community based agriculture, many people are now becoming
interested in beekeeping, and not just in rural areas. Urban
beekeepers are becoming very active in our country and “Bees in the
City” is a common topic for many town hall meetings and online
discussion boards.
One of the great things about
beekeeping is that it attracts people from all walks of life for any
number of reasons.
In fact, the single best piece of
advice I can give somebody interested in honey bees: meet a
beekeeper and become friends. Join a beekeeping club, take a
class, go to the farmer’s market and chat with a honey vendor.
Having a beekeeping mentor will be invaluable if you decide that you
want to take the plunge and get into honey bees.
Why is knowing a beekeeper so
important? For several reasons: First off, honey bees are stinging
insects. For many, being surrounded by tens of thousands of flying,
buzzing insects with stingers is a very unhappy experience. No matter
how much you may want to like honey bees, the only way to
actually know if you can handle bees is to experience working
a hive. Once you suit up and open a hive with the bees flying up and
filling the air, chances are you’ll either love it or hate it.
Either way you’ll know if you’re ready for the second fact of
beekeeping: If you keep bees, you will get stung.
It’s a good idea to know if you are
allergic before putting yourself this position. You’re new
beekeeping buddy may not be happy if they have to take you to the
hospital in the middle of a hive inspection. Let me take a moment to
say that swelling, itching and discomfort around a sting are normal
and not an emergency. For me stings are generally gone by the next
day, but everybody reacts a little differently. Some people are
extremely allergic to bee stings. Trouble breathing, light-headedness
and extreme swelling are not to be taken lightly.
If you’re not uber-allergic and you
don’t mind flying stinging insects, you’re ready to consider
beekeeping. Tune in tomorrow for "4 Steps for Getting Started With Beekeeping."
Kyle Johnson and wife Whitney are professional Foresters in Northwest Montana.
They are avid hunters and gatherers, with a big garden, 20 chickens, 3
honey bee hives, a handful of fruit trees and two dogs on their mini
farm in a very small town. Life is good for Kyle and Whitney with lots
going on everyday. On their blog: The Birds and the Bees they
enjoy writing about all their adventures from hunting and butchering
venison, to canning and preserving garden vegetables, to beekeeping and
chicken farming, with a little responsible forestry thrown in on
occasion. Take a moment and check it out!
Also, check out Whitney's hand made jewelry and all natural lip balms at her web site Montana Wild Designs. Whitney's feather earrings feature hand-died feathers collected from
our chicken flock (with no harm to the chickens), and all of the lip
balms are made from our own beeswax! Enjoy!
I went to sleep in Santa Cruz last night and woke up in Montana!
Just kidding. Sorta.
I'm actually just there virtually, guest blogging at The Birds and the Bees. It is an awe-inspiring urban homesteading blog hosted by my brother and sister-in-law, Kyle and Whitney. They write about gardening, chicken-farming, and beekeeping in their neck of the woods in Wild Horse Plains. To fit in, I put on my chicken farmer hat and wrote a piece about our own urban homesteading venture, aka 3 hens in Santa Cruz.
A month ago we were in Tahoe for a week. A glorious wonderful, end-of-that-stinkin-cancer-year week. I'm finally getting around to pulling my vacation photos off my camera. Snow and winter already seem so long ago...
Trip highlights: Playing in the lake despite the chilly weather, learning to skip rocks (me & Nia), games, books, riding the tram up to the top of the hill at Squaw Valley, chocolate birthday cake, hand-crafted nature earrings, lots of movie-watching, and my friend of 31 years coming for birthday dinner -- we had so much fun I forgot to take any pictures. :) (Thanks, Megan!)
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no
words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special,
extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
I have to put in a few words... All the following photos are from today. This was a crazy busy day. An imperfect perfect day. It had so many wonderful moments both in the activities and between the activities, in the pauses... Nia & I started the day with a walk & tree-climb with friends. Then I zipped off to a doctor appointment -- lymphedema OT, which included the exam table getting covered in prosthetic breasts (foobs) at one point (I was so dying for the nurse to step out so I could snap a picture!) -- then I zipped home again to get as much work done as possible before zipping into the kitchen to make dinner. Midway through making black bean soup I realized my "black beans" were actually kidney beans. By then there was no turning back. The soup ended up being delicious and we ate it out on the deck in the beautiful mild weather. After that, Nia and I went down to the park on her roller-skates and happened upon a girl practicing her tumbling routine in the otherwise deserted field. By the time we got home it was bedtime. In the dark, we whispered about our favorite things. Her favorite thing about today was the Giants winning 1-o (!). After Nia crashed out, Joe and I had to sit down and do the monthly finances -- something we've finally figured out is pleasurable when done together and with wine and good cheese. It only took us how many years together to realize this?? I want to savor this perfectly imperfect day.
Peter Pan ran away the day he was born because he overheard his mother and father discussing what he would be when he was a man.
I kind of agree with his wanting to flee. Who wants someone else deciding their fate for them, especially when they are just a baby?
Except I've done just that for my own child.
From the moment she was born -- maybe even before -- I decided that she would be a Reader.
And I don't just mean one who knows how to read. I mean someone with a voracious appetite for reading. Someone who finds tremendous pleasure in books. Someone who curls their toes with pleasure at the sound of a new binding cracking open, or closes their eyes to savor the smell of ink & paper.
I've decided it & now I'm going about making it so. Here's how.
A lot of this has to do with Jim Trelease & his Read-Aloud Handbook. I've mentioned it on this blog before. It is my Bible. When new parents ask me for my top ten parenting books, it's on there. It is two books in one: The first half of the book is evidence and tips for reading aloud. The second half is treasury of invaluable book recommendations, cataloged by "listening ability."
Here are Trelease & my tips for raising a reader:
Read aloud daily. Read everything from cereal boxes to picture books to novels. Start your day by reading together in bed.You might have to set your alarm a little earlier to do this, but I promise it will quickly become something you both look forward to (so long as you are choosing books you want to read, too). Read throughout the day (waiting for your order at a restaurant, sitting in the car, at the park), and read again at bedtime. Combine reading with other pleasurable activities, like reading while enjoying a scoop of ice cream. (For older kids -- because being read to isn't just for those who can't read -- try reading to them while they are doing a chore, such as washing dishes. More on this here, plus a wonderful photo of Jim & his teen son.)
Book baskets. Trelease says raising a reader is as simple as making books available throughout the house. He suggests a basket in the bathroom, and another where your child eats. (Ever notice that people dining alone prefer to be reading?) I have book baskets in the living room and Nia's room as well as the bathroom.
Reading lamp. This is another Trelease trick. He recommends putting a reading lamp beside your child's bed and telling them. "You can go to bed now, or you can stay up another 10 minutes to read." Most kids will choose to stay up reading.
Fill your home with print. The literal number of books you have in your home matters (but you don't have to buy them -- don't forget the library!). It is hard to get good at reading if you're short of books. As Trelease puts it, "Giving phonics lessons to kids who don't have any print in their lives is like giving oars to people who don't have a boat -- you won't get very far." (More here with a graph showing the average print climate in three California communities.)
Model reading. Children want to do what their parents do, so Nia sees a lot of reading in our house from novels to cookbooks to the newspaper. (I know a lot of people read on devices these days. While I do a lot of reading on the computer, too, I don't do this in front of Nia. I prefer her to see me reading real books so that she will want to do it, too.)
Limit screen time, but say "Yes!" audio books. I don't believe a child will fall in love with books if they are already involved in a love affair with video games or the TV. But that doesn't mean that there aren't others who read aloud much better than me (actors, for example). Nia frequently enjoys "driveway moments" -- times when Joe or I have long since parked the car and her car seat buckles have been undone but she lingers in the car to listen to an audio book just a bit longer. (Next on my list is to get this one.)
Take your child to the library -- and get them their own library card. Who doesn't love a new book? Or a whole stack of new books? Libraries have audio books, too.
And what of Peter Pan and his running away to avoid his parents' fate for him? Well, he came back looking for a mother, which to him was someone to tell him and the Lost Boys stories. Everyone, it seems, loves a good story.
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