Reading Promise

I’ve recently finished a marvelous book detailing a young woman’s relationship with her father growing up, titled “The Reading Promise:My father and the books we shared.”  The author, Alice Ozma (literary naming alert), describes “the streak,” a promise she and her father made initially for him to read aloud to her for 100 straight nights.  On the 100^th night, they extended it to 1000 nights.  The final night of the streak, when she went off to college, came 3,218 nights after the first.  Though the book is only tangentially about books, it is about fathers and daughters, a subject near and dear to me.  As many of you know, I have a little girl, to whom I refer online as the princess, and I consider my role as her dad one of the top two priorities of my life (the other is husbanding, not to be confused with husbandry).

Like many dads, I read to my princess pretty much everyday, as does my wife, but I haven’t thought of going about it in a more formal way until now.  I’m not saying I should make charts, set reading times, and draw up a list, though those things do appeal to me.  I’m just wondering if I should make my own “reading promise” to my little girl.  If nothing else, I should come up with a flexible book list.  More to come on that.

I’d appreciate any feedback on the subject, and leave you with one of my favorite quotes on what it takes to be a man.  It comes from the movie ‘The Godfather”:

“Do you spend time with your family?” ... “Good, because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

Now, if you will excuse me, I’m off to be a real man.