For as long as I can remember I have wanted to grow a reading habit, but I just never had the tenacity for daily consistency. I read in spurts. I love to devour a good book, but it never became a part of my daily rituals. This is something I wanted to change. During quarantine I have spent quite a bit of time honing in on the habits I want to cultivate long term. In the fall I will be teaching middle school full time and life is going to be very different for our family, especially compared to the quarantined life we have been living. I know that if I spend the next couple months building the habits that I want to have when I begin to work outside the home, the transition will be easier. Still hard, but easier. Quarantine has given me the opportunity to play with my habits. I’ve been able to spend a lot of time figuring out what works, what habits I truly need, and how to make a habit stick for myself. I knew that if I was ever going to be able to say, “I am a reader,” this was the time to build the habit.
I realized the most important thing for me in growing a habit is to schedule it into my day. This is why I was not finding success up to this point in becoming a reader. I loved it if I got around to picking up my book, but most days there just wasn’t enough time or energy for it so it didn’t happen. Other daily habits I wanted to build were walking outside, building a mindfulness practice with yoga, journaling, and reading. This extra time in the past two months taught me that stacking these habits into my morning routine was the only sure fire way I was guaranteed to do them so now these things happen in the first two hours of my day.
Building habits is empowering and a vital life skill for success. It’s one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and for our kids during this season when we have been afforded extra time with our families. We’ve shown our kids the value of creating their own habits like when they wake up, when they will make their bed, when they will practice their instrument, and when we have snacks (so it’s not snacking all day long~ mamas, I know you know my struggle).
After about 3 weeks of quarantine and homeschooling, an idea came to me for how I wanted to cultivate a reading habit for our whole family and we’ve been doing it almost every single day (and even on the weekends because we love it so much). After lunch dishes are done, we come into the living room together and read silently as a family. My husband works from home so he’s able to join us the majority of the time, as well. This has created a beautiful space for us to be together in the quiet (usually we put the toddler down for his nap), each engaging in a life giving habit that will help build lifelong readers. I don’t have to tell the boys what time it is. Lunch is over and they eagerly get their books and sometimes all the blankets and pillows from their beds, and we get cozy together in the living room. If their dad doesn’t join us right away they ask if he is reading with them today. They love the consistency, the predictability, the closeness it creates in our family. Sometimes my fifth grader will ask my seventh grader a question about the book he’s reading because it was a recommendation from his brother. Sometimes my kindergartener will ask me what a word means or how to sound out a word. Other than that it is quiet for 30 minutes. Thirty minutes of reading bliss.
I know that we are living in a strange time where a family has the opportunity to gather every day from 12:30-1:00 PM to read together, but this is one gift from quarantine that I will be forever grateful for. It’s also a gift that we will take into life after quarantine. Whether it happens at 8:00 at night or maybe just on the weekends, we will continue to build Family Reading Time into our lives forever because I want all my kids to say, “I am a reader.”
And as for me, I’ve finally built my reading habit. Not only am I reading at noon, I am reading in the morning and right before bed. I found out that reading leads to more reading. I counted the other day and I have read 5 books during this quarantine. I’m not sitting on my cozy chair all day reading, but I am reading 20 minutes here and 30 minutes there which translates to a lot of books! I don’t think I read 5 books in all of 2019.
Here’s a list of what I’ve read for those who are interested.
- Untamed by Glennon Doye
- Brain Wash by David & Austin Perlmutter
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- Get Out of Your Own Way by Dave Hollis
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
I’m currently reading When the Heart Waits and am about to start The Book of Longings, both by Sue Monk Kidd.
I’ve got a lot stirring in my head through all of these books (and highly recommend each of them!) so you can expect more blog posts based on their content. My goal with this habit and all the habits I am cultivating right now is I am doing them in a space of time that will still exist next year even when I am working full time. My hope is that these habits become so ingrained in me that I couldn’t function without doing them. For now, I am thankful because I can firmly say and believe, “I am a reader.”
