Reading With Your Kids: New, Fun Way To Do it For a Great Cause

I had a memorable experience this morning with my son & the NYC Dads Group that I wanted to share with other parents. This may resonate with many parents that enjoy reading with their kids as well as those who wish they spent more time doing it.

I sat at a small coffee table with a laptop under the shady trees of the outdoor, open-air Bryant Park Reading Room. My son was sidled up close in the chair next to me. Nope, I wasn’t blogging or watching Yo Gabba Gabba with my little guy. We were immersed in reading classic children’s books online. Instead of turning the physical pages of a book, my son had a blast clicking the mouse so we could read on. I realize that reading a book on a pc or an iPad may not sound like cutting edge stuff. However, on this morning, the NYC Dads Group participated in an exciting new charitable reading initiative called “We Give Books.” For every book you read online via their website, one physical book is donated to a child who doesn’t have any (through a high needs charitable organization). Basic concept: “Read a book. Give a book.” My son and I had the opportunity to read three short (maybe 8 or 10 pages long) read aloud books together today before his attention span turned to the adjacent ping pong tables. Either way, we had a nice bonding experience, and donated three books to a charity on our behalf. Pretty simple and cool concept! The other dads enjoyed the experience with their children as well – over a dozen books were donated based on our event today.

How did the NYC Dads Group get involved with We Give Books?

“WE GIVE BOOKS” is reaching out to dads groups in particular because the Pearson Foundation recently commissioned a study that shows that mothers were 5 times more likely to read to their children than fathers. So they’re hoping this site – and some exposure with groups like ours – will help fathers understand the importance of reading and give them an easy way to do so. And of course, the site is donating 1 million books to kids in need – one for every book read online. So the site gives parents a chance to talk to their kids about the importance of giving back too. Check out the We Give Books website for all details and to sign up.

Lastly, now that we have created our free online account, I can read books online anytime through We Give Books…and continue donating books for this great cause. My final two cents: we all know it is nice to join forces with a charitable organization. I found that it’s even more rewarding to do it with involving our children as well.

Special thanks go out to Nova, Darel, and their entire generous, helpful, and patient team. Also, thanks to those dads (and little ones) who came out on a brutally hot day and gave up watching the live, nail biter, USA Soccer Game. Go U.S.A!