All of us love our children more than anything in the world. In their first years we feed them so they grow. We bring them to the doctor so they are healthy. But the most important thing in the first years of life is the growth of the mind and spirit. This is when a child learns to love and trust, to speak and listen. After a child turns two years old, these things are very difficult to learn or teach ever again. Trusting, singing, laughing, and language are the most important things in a young child's life. And so they must come first for mothers and fathers, too. Because we can never have those years over again. Every day, make a quiet, restful place for twenty minutes. Put your child in your lap and read a book aloud. In the pages of the book you will find a tiny vacation of privacy and intense love. Reading to your little one is just like putting gold coins in the bank. It will pay you back tenfold. Rosemary Wells |