I'll always remember the cosy, magical moments when my grandmother used to read to me. I remember holding her warm hands, picturing the colourful characters in my mind's eye. The love of reading stuck with me for the rest of my life. When my daughter was born, right from the start, we had set a reading time before bed, and still do. It's so important to share a love of books at an early age, so it can turn into a lifelong habit. When we share our old favourite books, we can really help our child to develop a lifelong love of reading.
I really do feel that reading is a right, not a privilege, and that every child has the right to read not only in school, but at home, on holidays, in the park, on the bus, in a café, anywhere they want - because they need to finish that page, that chapter, that book. We can let our children be - and become - themselves through the books they choose to read, and give them the space to make their own choices, of knowing their own minds.
There is nothing more fulfilling than bonding over a book with your child.