“The decline in SAT scores has a lot to do with not reading …  The ability to read is linked to the ability to process, analyze and comprehend information, … I guess that’s called thinking.”     ~Donald M. Stewart, College Board President

Michael Silverblatt of “Bookworm” uses an analogy that young people might find more persuasive: “Just as people who don’t work out can’t do certain things with their bodies, people who don’t read can’t do certain things with their minds.”

There is no way to cram for reading comprehension… just as there is no way to cram for stamina.  You may want to run a marathon, but you won’t be able to succeed without regular training that builds up to the culminating event or events.   You may want to squat 225lbs, but you will need to practice with diligence for an extended period of time to build up the required strength.  You may want to have $1 million dollars invested in your retirement account by age 30, but unless you begin the investment early and care for it over a period of time, you are likely to come up short.  And you may want to score well on the SAT exam, but in order to do so, you need to put in the time, the diligence, and the vested effort in growing your brain, your thought processes and your stamina for thinking.  You cannot build a muscle in a day, but you can choose to practice strengthening it every day.

So it is with reading.  It should be a daily practice.  Like eating… you don’t eat a week’s worth of food in 1 hour… so why would you try to do it with reading.  Take a bit each day and with each word, grow your stamina and your comprehension.  Yearn to learn and learn to read.

So… what is your Daily bREAD?  Instead of turning on the television, why not sit down for 30 minutes and read as a family?  At first, it may take more time and energy, but as with any good investment, it begins to grow with less input… and the payoff is well worth it.