I know this is true of me, and I'm pretty sure that two of my four older daughters, Alisha and Alayna, have this "problem" as well. I'm thinking that the way things are headed with Maddy and Kenna, they too will have an endless reading list. Which is a good thing!

When you teach a child a love for reading, you are doing so much more than just "teaching them to read". When a desire to read is developed, instead of a "have to read for the assignment" attitude, your child learns to see every detail in the world around them. You child will learn to hear the sounds of distant rainforests and the sounds of wolves howling at the moon. They will travel not just to faraway destinations, but back in time and into the future. As they experience new books, they will learn to see with the heart, hear with their mind, and smell the scents and odors with their imagination and memory.

Books can teach a skill (how to cook, how to build a treehouse, how to fix a leaking sink, etc.), entertain, teach about history, show how to do a science experiment, and so much more. Books open the world up and bring it right into your home.

Take your child to the library at least every two weeks (that's usually how long most libraries loan books out for). Challenge your child to check out books beyond his present interests. Looking for a particular book but can't find it at your local library? Ask your librarian to do a search and borrow it from another library.

When your child loves reading, they will absorb so much information. Without "studying hard" and probably without even realizing they are taking in so much knowledge. And that, my friend, will give your child an advantage in this world.