A reading celebration

Celebrating steps toward independence

One of the values I hope to help them develop is independence: the desire to make their own decisions, to own their choices, to get to know themselves better, to choose their future, to invent themselves, really! So for me, it's essential to celebrate every step they take toward independence. The traditional rituals that marked the stages of my own growing independence have disappeared. In fact, we rejected them because of their religious nature, which didn't suit us. That said, my husband and I needed to reconnect with “educational” rituals to mark the new stages in our children's lives, the ones leading them toward greater independence. As Philippe Meirieu, a writer and education scholar I'm particularly fond of, puts it so well: “Modernity is characterized by the collapse of these traditional rituals. But the need for markers has not disappeared.” So we decided to invent our own rituals, rituals that would let our children know that, with each new milestone they reached, we now saw them in a different light.

The Reading Celebration ritual

That's how the Reading Celebration was born in our house! One of the milestones that, according to our values, truly deserved to be celebrated is learning to read. If your child has already been through Grade 1, you know as well as I do that this is one of the most amazing things they learn. First, it happens so fast, but above all, it gives children a whole new level of independence. Thanks to reading, our little ones can now decode the world around them and, in doing so, become more a part of it. They can understand the rules of the road, read a menu at a restaurant, follow instructions without our help, discover a wealth of information in books or simply escape into all kinds of stories. How liberating!

To celebrate this wonderful milestone on the road to independence, here's what we put together for our oldest, Louis, last year, and what we'll do again this year for his brother Laurier, and for the others in the years to come. Our Reading Celebration happens as soon as one of our little ones can read a book (however small!) from cover to cover. We carefully chose and wrapped about ten books based on his interests. We tried to include books from a variety of genres: novels, comics, non-fiction, picture books, “how-to” books, poetry and fables. To top it all off, we asked the important adults (grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, etc.) in his life to take a moment to write him a letter. In their letters, they told him how proud they were that he had become a little reader, but they also shared their own reading memories and the reasons they still love to read. We were so lucky that all these wonderful people played along. Every night, Louis got to open one package and one letter. It was so much fun for him to discover a new book, write his name in it and place it in his own little library. It was also touching to see him concentrating as he read the letter from his grandma or from his big cousin Malie-Ana. Who still gets to read letters these days? He did; through reading, he shared a special one-on-one moment with these adults who matter to him. But what was also fantastic was the way his siblings looked at him, thinking he was lucky to be so grown-up and to get all this attention. As he got older, Louis had more responsibilities: he was the only one leaving for school in the morning while the rest of us stayed home. This lovely ritual certainly helped him accept that separation, take on those extra responsibilities and feel proud of having to do more than the others. He now had a status his brothers and sister didn't have. As for the little ones, they saw growing up as something to look forward to and dreamed of their turn!

More rituals to come

Meirieu says it, and I agree with him: “too many rituals kill rituals!” So it's important to carefully choose the milestones you feel are worth celebrating. There's no need to celebrate every little achievement; you have to decide which events carry symbolic meaning and deserve special attention. With that in mind, we've also started the bike licence ritual, which I invite you to discover right here. There will surely be something to mark the first time they vote, too, or something else along the way! Stay tuned...

More printables to nurture children's love of reading:

• Reading tracker, to keep a concrete record of the books they've read and jot down the titles of their favourites
• Budding Readers Bingo, to motivate your kids to read anytime, anywhere and in all kinds of ways
• Super Reader's Notebook, packed with all kinds of tools to motivate your kids to read

*Comment aider nos enfants à réussir (in French), Philippe Meirieu, Bayard Éditions, France, 2015

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