Reading & Leading

By, Michael Earnshaw

January 20, 2021

@MikeREarnshaw

@PunkClassrooms

“No, it’s only 9:24! We don’t go to bed until 9:30!” was billowing from down the hallway, escaping my son’s room, reverberating off of our hallway walls. As soon as he was done his sister, the sidekick, backed him up. 

“Yeah, we don’t put them away yet, it’s not time.” 

Now it was time for the judge to lay out the final sentence, the one everyone in the courtroom knew was coming. 

“No, I want you asleep at 9:30. The books go away now!” my wife, mom, declared.

You read that convo correctly. We were having a discussion in the Earnshaw household about having my kids put away their books and go to bed. Now if you were to ask me what we were prying out of our kids’ hands before bed two weeks ago it would have been a different blog. Their nights concluded with them setting up shop in my daughter’s room and watching The Simpsons on Hulu. Yes, there were the arguments that they pleaded to let them watch just a few more minutes longer. But these last few weeks my kids have chosen to go back to a habit they had for such a long time, every night before the pandemic hit, reading. 

My routine was thrown off greatly when the pandemic hit. It’s like those cartoons where a character can move the train tracks and the cart containing their nemesis soars right off the edge of a cliff. One of my healthy habits that plummeted to the bottom of that canyon was reading. I read every night before March 16, 2020, and many times throughout the day, especially on the weekends. 

With 2021, I haven’t set resolutions. I haven’t committed to resolutions that I fail at for the past three years. I have adopted the #OneWord phenomenon and have never wanted to glance back! The #OneWord helps to keep me focused and grounded and something to return to once I get off track. For 2021 I have chosen the word PRISM. With living a year with #OneWord I also can set goals to help me improve. One of my goals for 2021 is to read more. I set the goal of reading 12 books for the year, that’s one a month. Starting slow, it’s been a while. You never start a marathon at a full spring. I’m ecstatic to say that today, January 20, I’m about to finish my third book for the year after I’m done writing this blog!

It’s said that we must model what we want to see in others. This holds true if we’re parents, school administrators, teachers, or anyone that wants to make our world a better place. 

Out of nowhere, my son approaches me in the kitchen. I think he’s going to ask for the Game Room remote to play Xbox. Instead, he makes a declarative sentence that is actually interrogative. 

“Mom says you read before bed every night.” 

Again, the sidekick is hidden in the shadows. “He does, I can see his light in my room late at night and hear the pages turn.” 

“Yeah, I do. Reading is good for you, it makes you smarter and it helps me to wind down and sleep good,” was how I replied. 

This unexpected conversation happened about two weeks ago. It was that night, and every night since then, that my kids have been choosing to read before bed. 

My wife and I have had numerous conversations the past few months about how our kids have not been reading and collaboratively problem solved  how we can get them to get back into it. We pleaded, stressed the importance, even bribed at some point, but it didn’t go anywhere. What our kids needed was a model. 

I never set out to model the importance of reading to my kids, I just wanted to better myself. Even when we choose for our personal interests, whether that’s positive activities or negative, others are watching, even if you don’t realize it. 

What do you want to see in others? Start making sure you are doing the same.