I used to get offended when people call me “walking encyclopedia”.
It’s not cool when you’re called like that in high school when Britney Spears was wailing “Oops, I did it again” and Justin Timberlake was part of a group named ‘N Sync.
Looking back, would I prefer to be a plain cheerleader and ditch being a walking encyclopedia? Nah, I think not. Whatever happened in the past is part and parcel of what I have become today. I don’t think I will be this passionate about my reading advocacy if I hadn’t experience the goodness that reading brings to a person’s overall development.
At 27 years old, I am married to an Italian American named Jeff Ruffolo.
- At La Maison Rose in Cebu City, Philippines after my French class.
Jeff graduated with a Journalism degree from Brigham Young University and started his career doing sports coverages. Later, he ventured into the colorful world of sports marketing and public relations which brought him to the Olympic Universe – Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008). I will share Jeff’s journey in a separate post for which he was able to write a book entitled “Inside the Beijing Olympics”.
Now what is the relevance of Jeff’s career progress with reading?
Jeff is not a nerd. He is not me. Not a walking encyclopedia. But he devoured comic books as a child, and I can say that has definitely shaped his skill in writing articles for several publications and crafting speeches for top officials in the world. How was that possible? I am of the belief that Marvel painted a very engaging web (pun intended) of stories that included Spider Man, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor among others that enthralled the young Jeff making him dream about intergalactic alliances and a parallel universe.
- Name the Marvel heroes in this photo from wallsave.com.
My marriage to Jeff has brought us two creatures, Nicholas Louis and Antoinette Elena, who made our lives more exciting and inspiring. As parents, we are determined to give them the best of what we can in all aspects. That does not mean treating them like royalty. Quite the opposite. Nicholas and Antoinette will learn household chores. They will be so good in washing dishes that they will open a store called “Wash Me If You Can” in the future. Haha. I’m kidding.
- Toni and Nick in one of those 5 a.m. giggle fest.
- Look up! Look up!
Going back… By saying that we only want the best for the twins, I mean to emphasize the importance of getting a good education.
Growing up, my parents would always tell me that I should do well in my studies because my education is my only inheritance from them. There are no vast lands, no stock ownership, no diamonds stashed somewhere. That’s very common for Filipino parents to say and I have taken that to heart. I treasure my years as a public school pupil in the small village of Libas in the town of Merida, Leyte Province, where I used to wonder why teachers prohibit the use of the library. I would stare at thick books from outside the window and would imagine how it feels to hold that big, black encyclopedia and flip through its pages looking for photos of the solar system. My high school years in a Catholic school, Saint Peter’s College of Ormoc (Leyte) made me appreciate the Bible as a great book full of stories from different genres.
There is so much that parents can do to start giving their children a good education. I personally think that it should begin at home and it should have the Mother (or anyone who serves the role of the Mother) as the main driving force of it all. I am a stage mother. I pray I won’t overdo it because I can be pretty intense. Jeff calls it passionate. I am more critical of myself and I call it “paranoia”. But when it comes to children, tell me the name of Mother who doesn’t get paranoid and protective? I would like to meet her.
The same thing goes with learning and education. As early as now, we are exposing the twins to books. Big books. Small books. Colorful books. We let them hold the book(s) – flip its pages, smell it, drool on it. It doesn’t matter. They’re only six months old! We are starting them early so they will be comfortable with the feeling of holding a book. By doing so, Jeff and I think that they will slowly get used to the presence of a book in their hands and would likely develop this as a habit. Is there any psychological study pertaining to this? I remember a quote that goes:
“Habit is formed when you do something 100 times. Or was that 10 times or 1,000 times?”
This is what we are trying to do with the twins’ reading journey.
For this entry, we are sharing photos taken by their godmothers (Payi Villar, Charmie Quiapo, Doreen Sy and Vianca Abellana) last Saturday (December 28) where we had them on top of a bed “swimming with books”.
Here’s hoping that you will find inspiration in the photos below and start your own version of The Reading Ruffolos.
- Pag-abot ni Kolor sa Lungsod, written by Susan dela Rosa Aragon, is one of the very first storybooks I introduced to the twins. It’s in Cebuano, my native language. Take note, it’s a language. Not a dialect.
- Nick’s first book: The Lion King
- Toni’s first book: Alice in Wonderland
- Nicholas Louis Lato Ruffolo
- Antoinette Elena Lato Ruffolo
- Toni: “You badly need a pedicure, Brother.”
- Nick: “Huh? Where?”
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