What is your passion or favorite Pastime?

Often, I was asked this question. And I, dumbfounded, always use to wonder. Is it that I enjoy dancing or may be taking a Nap (I think I have insomnia)? Or maybe I love to eat yummy Food. (Nah! Weight problems!). Or going out for a quiet drive? No, that’s not ME! Exercising-No, though trying to make it a hobby.

What is it then and one day I got the ANSWER.

I recently discovered my long lost love. Yes, that’s Reading. How could I have not been reading for such a long time? All throughout the years I was working hard, the reading took a backseat. I remember making an effort to read, whenever I could, however, gradually that fondness vanished. It disappeared under the heap of rising professional commitments and social responsibilities. Ever since the realization dawned, I have not let it go!

It is such a pleasure to know what you actually love doing. I love to read about anything that holds my interest- Lifestyle, Culture, Travelling, Biographies, Wellness, History, Fiction, Mysteries and the list goes on. 

One of the prime Task that I undertook after quitting my job was to inculcate the reading habit in my 8 yrs old son. A tough task at hand as my little energetic kid was extremely a Non-Book lover. Sitting and reading were words that Non-Existed in his brain dictionary. Often, I had suggested him to read his bundle of Encyclopedias (that we collected for him over a period of time).I asked him to seek answers he was looking for through the world of Books. However, he preferred Google.

Kids these days have a mind of their own They generally like to do what they believe in, rather than being told what to do. Both my hubby and me, have always been keen that our kids learn to Decide for themselves. So we always suggest activities/alternatives however never force them to undertake those. We let them take a decision on certain interests of their lives. Consequently, nagging would not have helped in our case.

We , then , started a new Activity- that is reading out to both the kids before they go to bed every night. Gradually, it became a routine. The younger one has always been fond of books and the elder one also started looking forward to such Togetherness time. What started as a reading session by us each night, quickly developed into both reading out to each other! At times, I use to pretend that I am tied up and requested my elder son to read out to us so that we do not miss out on our daily session. It was really heartening to see my younger one (who is too young to read) to frame a story based on the pictures in the book. The benefits were plentiful:

• Both boys now love to read whenever they want to relax.
• They have started developing the art of story-telling .
• They love to create original stories, using their visualizations and pictures in the book.
• The younger (who is 3yrs plus) can look into a book or newspaper and surprisingly have started understanding what the pictures depict. Not accurate though but quite close.
• No more the books are lying across the room. They are now stacked nicely in the shelves named as Library along with proper tags.
• We prepared and printed the library Tags. Helped kids to develop computer skills and also capture their imagination on paper.
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• The pronunciation and Vocabulary is improving.
• They have great collection of Ladybird series , Enid Blyton, Geronimo Stilton , Gruffalo series , The Jungle Book, Encyclopedias. And we all take turn in reading these.

BOOKS are now a part of our daily regime. Not to forget the bond we keep increasing through our daily reading sessions.

Read coz’ lot of unanswered queries could be answered through these Wisdom gadgets.