The Well Read Child, will become a well rounded adult

Although I no longer have little ones quietly tip-toe-ing around the Mansion (knew you’d get a laugh out of THAT one), I do remember the days and can’t wait until there are grandchildren sitting at our dinner table dining on the Rock Cornish Hen’s that cook’s prepared. As an aside – Ben & Steph – please wait until AFTER the wedding.

It is still VERY important to entire staff here at Champagne Living that children are exposed to as many experiences as possible. Be it theater, play, books, music, etc. The more we expose our children to reading and the arts, the more well rounded they will become as adults.

This morning as I was twittering away (feel free to follow me – @zipporahs), I noticed a tweet from Freenology about a wonderful program that Dolly Parton is offering to children. She has begun a program for children to recieve a book a month for FREE until the age of 5. Unfortunately, the offer is limited to certain areas, but her site: Dolly’s Imagination Library will let you know if your child is eligible.

In 1996, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income. So she decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under 5 in Sevier County. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could ™, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mail box. These moments continue each month until the child turns 5—and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come. Needless to say the experience has been a smashing success. So much so that many other communities clamored to provide the Imagination Library to their children. Dolly thought long and hard about it and decided her Foundation should develop a way for other communities to participate. The Foundation asked a blue ribbon panel of experts to select just the right books and secured Penguin Group USA to be the exclusive publisher for the Imagination Library. Moreover a database was built to keep track of the information.

Don’t forget the importance of reading to your children – this is the path to them living the good life as adults.