Reading together in the Grant household means a lot of things – learning, imagining, and exploring, among others – but what it boils down to is a feeling: love.
“When all of us are there, and we’re reading, it’s just a good feeling,” said Dr. Jennifer Grant, a Charlottean and mom to a 7- and 4-year-old. “It’s love.”
She refers to those moments reading together as a “golden time of day,” one that’s powerful for both the adults and children in the family.
“At its core, it says something to me about the inner workings of everything, and how everything intersects,” she said. “Not only is it therapeutic for your kids, and they’re learning, and it takes you on so many voyages; it’s also just good physically, for the soul, because you don’t realize you’re decompressing in that space.”
Grant typically reads with her kids before bedtime, but also at other moments in any given day, whenever the opportunity might arise.
“It can be in the car, it can be in the kitchen, on the floor. It can be anywhere,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be so formal. It doesn’t have to look traditional. So if I can catch them in their fort, and they’re happy to read in their fort, then that’s what we do. I think that kind of takes the stress off of people, thinking, ‘Oh, I have to do it at bedtime, every night,’ in the traditional mindset.”
Grant describes her own mother as an avid reader who instilled the belief that reading opens new worlds, taking you on your first voyages. And now, as a parent herself, Grant hopes to pass that on to her two young children.
“With my son, who now loves everything aeronautics, because he wants to be an aeronautic engineer, that voyage for him is outer space. And for my daughter, the fantastic voyage is a witty, figure it out, ‘who done it’, create-something-new type story,” she said. “I love that reading sparks where you’re going, and it unlocks so many things, and it leaves an impression. And in these tender years, things that leave an impression are often those things that fuel us later on in life. So that’s the biggest thing that I believe – beyond the love and the family togetherness, it’s the unlocking of voyages and careers and life values and ideals, and how they operate as human beings and global citizens – their little souls. Reading does that. It does all of it.”
Interests and book choices often differ between her 7-year-old and 4-year-old, Grant said, so they take turns choosing books. Some are misses, and they might stop halfway through. Others become family favorites and get repeat readings. Grant said she and her husband love seeing how their children respond to new topics, stories, and ideas.
“It’s a glimpse into the future, because we’re seeing how their minds work, seeing where their minds could go in the future, and being present for when it kind of sparks. Sometimes when it’s a busy day, the hubby and I might somewhat duel over which of us gets to do story time; our imaginations also unlock and oftentimes, the stories help ground us,” she said.
Grant hopes their reading time is laying the groundwork for her children’s futures in a myriad of ways, but most of all, she hopes they remember it as she does: time together, filled with love; golden.
“Reading is definitely the golden time of the day. It’s our magical time together as a family,” she said.
