Read to your children,
twenty minutes a day.
You have the time
and so do they.
Read while the laundry
is in the machine,
Read while dinner cooks;
Tuck a child
into the crook of your arm
And reach for the library books.
Hide the remote,
Let the computer games cool,
For the day your children
Will be off to school;
"Remedial?" "Gifted?"
You have your choice;
Let them hear their first tails
To the sound of your voice.
Read in the morning;
Read over noon;
Read by the light of the
Goodnight Moon.
Turn the pages together,
Sitting as close as you'll fit,
Till a small voice beside you says,
"Hey don't quit."
by Richard Peck
