First, Read The Book

Disclaimer- I am uncertain when this idea occurred to me; I honestly believe it was my own, but truly apologize if I falsely take credit for one of my friends ideas :-)

"First, read the book." This is a phrase heard on occasion in our home, but more during the summer months when we have more unscheduled time. It seems that in the summers we have more time to make trips to the movie theaters or to borrow movies from the library. There are so many movies available, it is often difficult to curb a child's appetite for the latest and greatest adventure.

I wasn't a reader when I was young. I didn't grow up in a home where we read books each night or made weekly trips to the library. To be honest, I didn't even read most of the books that the teachers asked me to read in school. There was no passion for reading in our home and I had no idea that there was another way to live.

In high school, I read a few of the school novels and found that I actually enjoyed them. However, that did not lead to a new found passion for reading. Then in college, I was working hard and read what my teachers asked, but discovered that there was more. I was missing out on so much. You see I was studying to be an middle school teacher. In one of my literature courses they were talking about all these books that "everyone" had read in school. I seriously was the only one in the room that hadn't read most of these books. So I took the list and started my reading adventure.

Wow, there are some great books out there! I found that almost every book became my new favorite. I fell in love with Heidi; with the Rats of Nimh; and the adventures on the Side of the Mountain. I had no idea that reading could be so much fun!

I still wouldn't classify myself as a reader. Especially now that life is so busy, I read very little for pleasure. Most of what I read are devotion books and curriculum guides. But, I have learned the importance of reading, loving to read and loving the adventure that comes with reading. And this is something I desire to pass along to our children. I want them to have a passion for reading.

As a whole, our children are good readers. They read for enjoyment, not just for school. They enjoy our trips to the library and the new adventures that those trips can bring. However, what I found is that our children were getting into "reading ruts." For example, our oldest daughter has read the entire Nancy Drew serious. The entire thing, starting with book one and even moving into some of the newest versions. It is awesome, but she was reading very little of anything else.

This is when we started the rule: If you want to see the movie, you have to read the book. I have found that the books are almost always ten times better than the movies and if you see the movie first, it ruins the book. So, you need to read the book. Narnia movie, read the book....Ramona and Beezus movie, read the book....The BFG movie, read the book.... etc. Now sometimes I fail! Because I wasn't a reader as a child, sometimes I have no idea that there was even a book first, but we watch the movie together and the children really enjoy the fact that I let them watch a movie before they read the book. Live and learn. :-)

We have seen some great blessings from this rule. Aside from our children reading a larger variety of books, they are reading together so they can see the movie together. The older children are reading to the younger ones so they can see the movie too. It warms my heart! Now it is not all smiles and roses, but I have an easy answer for why we can't spend our entire summer at the theater and a great suggestion for when the boredom bug sneaks in. This is truly one of my favorite "rules."

What are some rules or guidelines that bless your family?

I pray that you might find this idea helpful and that your family will be blessed by many years of adventures in reading!

As a side note, I do not make them read the book if the movie was made first.