When Timothy Uriel was born, I took it upon myself the personal responsibility of influencing him to read books. My main goal was simple – I wanted my nephew to become a passionate reader.
How do you do that?
Hmmm…
Honestly, I did not have any idea.
I did not have any background on developmental reading but was just confident that if he will get used to the idea of holding a book, sooner or later, he will ask me, his Nanay (which means Mother) or “Mommy” (his maternal grandmother) what a book is about and will start pointing at pictures and ask us what they are in words.
At three days old, I read to him a short story entitled “Si Bantay: Ang Munting Bayani”, a story of a puppy who worked as houseboy for a family of rabbits and saved the rabbit’s house from a burglar bulldog.
I also let him feel different kinds of book. I remember showing him a copy of the entrepreneurial book, GO Negosyo and he looked at the book – full of text and only one picture per feature – as if it was the most engaging book in the world.
- LIBRARIAN FOR A DAY. In one of his visits to my apartment, Timothy volunteered to help me arrange my mini-library.
I was conscious about my reading habits and made it a point that he saw me reading. He saw me laugh at hilarious lines found in comic books. He saw me cry when I was reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Timothy’s eyes and ears witnessed how I criticized the “Twilight” series, and he saw how “Mommy” scold me every time I refused a meal because I was rereading Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
I do not know how much of an influence I have been after three years of giving him books and telling him so very many stories coming from these wondrous pages. I am happy every time he visits me at the house; he runs to my mini-library (which I call Book Shelves and Tea Spot of Cris Evert) and gathers as many books as he can.
He already have some favorites including “The Mountain That Loved a Bird” by Alice McLerran. He also has a copy of a kaleidoSCOPE: Stories of Corporate-Community Partnerships, a booklet I helped write for the Strategic Corporate-Community Partnership (SCOPE) for Local Development program, where I previously worked with the Philippine Business for Social Progress and the German Agency for International Cooperation.
He likes the booklet because he knows it sort of “belongs” to me.
Today, three year old Timothy is a beautiful little boy who looks for books everywhere he goes. He is an active youngster, who plays, run, jumps, sings and dances like there is no tomorrow. But when it is time for storytelling – it doesn’t matter if it’s morning, afternoon, or night time – he drops everything to sit down and open a book. Can he now read? Not yet but he acts as if he can and that is good enough.
Plus, it’s funny when he “reads”.
Manoy Timothy is now the official storyteller of The Reading Ruffolos – Nicholas and Antoinette.
P.S.: I cannot post videos exceeding 10 MB file size here. If you would like to view Manoy Timothy reading a story to the twins, please check out my Facebook account, www.facebook.com/evert.lato.
Happy viewing!
