I considered naming this blog The Reading Dad, because one of my several goals involves promoting reading among men who influence their children — dads, stepdads, granddads, uncles, mentors, educators. Even though gender roles do not limit us as much as they did over 40 years ago, when I was born, many dads do not see reading as an essential activity to model for their growing children. I came from a reading family, filled with scholars, “creatives,” and people who practice curiosity.

My dad, Joe Readingparent, worked in construction through most of my youth, and knew many essential skills to be emulated (often with desperate gaps in success) as a young man. One of those skills is reading. I often saw Dad reading fiction, journalism, Eastern philosophy, and also magazines on his craft, such as The Journal of Light Construction. We often talked about what we had read at the dinner table. 

As parents, we can easily fall into a trap of “encouraging” reading, without actually modeling it ourselves. We convince ourselves that working adults just don’t have time for frivolous literature or erudite non-fiction. In reality, you don’t have to have a liberal arts degree, or even a lot of time on your hands, to read in front of, with, and for your children. Reading can be one of those things you just do, like watching hockey, tinkering with a car or an old clock, or purchasing useful apps for your phone. It’s pleasurable, purposeful, and reinvigorates us to do all the activities that support our families and our children on the path to who they will become.

Please, spend a summer reading a Chilton car manual with a young adult getting ready to drive for the first time, examine a book that demonstrates proper form before you shoot some hoops in the driveway, show your child a book about why YOUR job is important, or just read the same funny novel as your child, and laugh together. 

Or, for goodness sake, read that Avengers book to your little girl, or that My Little Pony book to your young son. The Reading Dad, first and foremost, loves his kids for what THEY love.