Better Bedtime Bonding

According to “Reading Across the Nation,” a new survey of parents in all 50 states, the lights are dimming on a time-honored family tradition: the goodnight reading from a bedtime book. “Americans are busy, and many families are hard-pressed. But bedtime reading is a 10-minute investment that pays tremendous dividends — emotional and educational — for parent and child,” commented the Austin American-Statesman in a Dec. 20 editorial. Electronic amusements, the editors added, “can’t tuck kids in and kiss them good night, proving once again that not all advancements are improvements. The study makes important points about reading levels and education. But the real value of bedtime reading isn’t in the statistics; it’s in the heart.” Then, too, there’s good news about dimmed lights: They can always be re-brightened.