By Jeff Ruffolo
Guangzhou, China – Is it possible to become a good reader (and eventually a professional journalist) by reading Marvel Comics?
Well , I think, things turned out rather well. Reading Stan Lee’s stories, penned by Jack Kirby, gave me a special perspective about life among superheros. How important is reading to us as people, as a society? It means everything.
There is a company in America that is actually selling a high chair for children that is made specifically to put a iPad in their hands. Outrageous!
Why don’t we just turn our kids into little drones or minions as well? Not only will the Reading Ruffolos be reading in their youth but television will be exposed to them for only Sesame Street or National Geographic show for their first two years. If they are in a room in which adults are there – the TV must be turned off until the children have left.
Cris and I are old fashioned rebels. No, the Reading Ruffolos will not grow up in a plastic bubble – but they will never just be dumped in front a TV and left alone. The commercial messages fed to children are completely inappropriate and will lead them down a pathway away from reading and into a world where imagination and passion are stripped from them. We, as parents, have pledged to make TV a bonus – not a plaything – just like fast food that they will never go to. We will cook our meals at home and eat together as a family.
If they EVER go to McDonald’s, it may be once every six months and at that it must be a special “treat” as the food there is harmful and poisonous to all humans.
This is a challenging pathway to live as the modern media makes it so easy to turn off our brains and vegetate.
Cris will be a taskmaster at this and I fully support her in her efforts to passionately motivate the twins into the wonder of reading.
