{"id":7223,"date":"2019-12-06T11:00:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smama.blog\/decak-i-knjige\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T17:42:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T15:42:01","slug":"fostering-love-of-reading-in-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smama.blog\/en\/fostering-love-of-reading-in-children\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Reader Is Born"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a few days now, from the gallery of the small university library where I spend not just my days but, it seems, my years, I\u2019ve been watching something many would call an unusual sight.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a boy who\u2019s far too young (not to say little) to be a student himself. I never knew I could guess people\u2019s ages by eye, but I\u2019d say the boy isn\u2019t older than 10.<\/p>\n

His dad is a professor at the university, and we run into him very often, not only on campus but also at various cultural events, where, like us, he comes with his kids (he has three). I don\u2019t know the man personally, nor do I know what he teaches. But he\u2019s one of those people you see so often that you simply remember them.<\/p>\n

For several days in a row now, this boy has been exploring the rows of books in the library. He puts a few chosen ones on \u201chis\u201d table in the reading room and then just sits there, reading or leafing through them. For hours. Then his dad comes to get him, and they go for a \u201ccoffee\u201d together in the cafeteria (I know because I\u2019ve bumped into them there too).<\/p>\n

This sight delights me on so many levels, which is why I wanted to write down what I saw.<\/p>\n

I find it beautiful that the little one isn\u2019t \u201cglued\u201d to a phone or a computer, but simply finds fun (you won\u2019t believe it) in a library. Not that I think modern media are bad per se, but that\u2019s for another time.<\/p>\n

Watching from a distance like this, I can\u2019t possibly know whether he likes playing video games or how much time he spends in front of a screen, but I can see the enthusiasm with which he explores the books when he\u2019s here.<\/p>\n

In a way, I see myself at his age. I see Sofka in a few years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Children Are Our Future, but We Shape It<\/h2>\n

I\u2019d certainly love to bring my own daughter to the university one day to spend time there, and for her not to find it \u201cboring\u201d.<\/p>\n

I believe that with childhood memories like these, it\u2019s hard to grow into a bad<\/em> person, isn\u2019t it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maybe none of this makes any sense to you, but to me it\u2019s very emotional and moving.<\/p>\n

I just remember how much I loved going to the city library with my mom and dad, where there weren\u2019t nearly as many books, where you couldn\u2019t \u201ccruise\u201d on your own between endless rows of shelves looking for whatever might catch your interest, and where you certainly didn\u2019t have a place to start reading them right there on the spot.<\/p>\n

And I loved it anyway, despite all those \u201cshortcomings\u201d.<\/p>\n

And maybe that\u2019s exactly why I still love spending hours and hours among books today, here in the reading room and at home, and exploring the shelves of the children\u2019s library with Sofka at least once a week.<\/p>\n

Children are our future, but to a large extent we are the ones who shape it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And as I write these lines, the boy is leaving with his father, probably heading home to a warm dinner, to tell his mom and siblings all about his day. And he\u2019ll be back tomorrow, I\u2019m sure of it.<\/p>\n

S-Mama<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

P.S. I wrote this post last summer, while I was still working on my master\u2019s thesis. But it got lost among all the other unpublished and published posts, or maybe it didn\u2019t\u2026 Maybe it was just waiting for me to find it and publish it today of all days. And it makes me think, really think\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a few days now, from the gallery of the […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1056],"tags":[3649,3647,3650,3652,3651],"class_list":["post-7223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mother","tag-library","tag-love-of-reading","tag-parenting-by-example","tag-reading-culture","tag-reading-with-children"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy You Should Take Your Child to the Library | S-Mama<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A boy in a university library reminded me why you should take your child to the library, and how much we as parents shape who our children become.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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