[Reading Parenting] Parenting is halfway through—A note from Mom to you on this day as a bookmark🌸

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Being able to read is fun
Being able to read is power
Thump-thump, warm and cozy
Reaching deep inside yourself
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To my children.
Today is a rambling letter from Mom.
I'm sorry if it doesn't come together well.

Recently, I suddenly realized that perhaps
half of my parenting journey might be over—
that is how I feel.

My eldest daughter is 14. My second daughter is 10.
Even if the age of adulthood is twenty,
half has passed, hasn't it.
I knew it would happen, but
I am deeply moved.

🌺The one thing I decided I must do

The reason I feel that half has passed
is actually thanks to reading.
At some point, Mom decided
to gift you the "power to read."

I am clumsy in many ways, but
I had a goal that at least we would have books,
and now that reading has become a daily routine,
I find myself feeling more and more
that you have grown up.

📖The power that can become the foundation of life

"Reading with ease" can
become the foundation and skeleton of life,
and "reading properly" leads to the power to think and listen,
and the power to work
diligently on one thing.

In terms of sports,
it might be like basic physical strength.
As for which sport you choose,
you can decide that for yourself.

🧹What took Mom's hand and guided her

Such "reading parenting"
took Mom's hand more gently than I imagined,
visualizing your inner selves,
and guided us
into a parenting wonderland.

Do you like that?
Is that how you felt?

Through books, what became
even clearer was that
the two of you are completely different people,
and existences completely different from Mom and Dad.

Yes, that's right.
A sense of "letting go" in a way, and
the feeling that "I have been blessed with individuality full of potential"
—that realization
was given to Mom's parenting.

📚Each of you as if you were a book

You
are like a book,
encompassing completely different stories, contexts,
information, and possibilities.

The most Mom can be involved in
is the prologue... or perhaps
just the opening words.

I felt it from around the time my second daughter turned 10.
You suddenly became more mature.
Come to think of it, my eldest daughter was the same.

Children suddenly jump to the next chapter.
The discernment and realization
that the page has been turned is essential.

So Mom, too, is about to enter
the second half of intense parenting.

I intend to change my position
to "watching over and providing rear support."

However, I will always be ready
to hold you in my arms if needed.

🔔There were times we spent with books like friends, weren't there

Reading is a memory of the body.

No, isn't it something that uses the brain?
You're saying unique things again.

You might smile bitterly and say so, but
it is precisely because I have watched you both
that Mom has that conviction.

Both of you
learned to read with your whole bodies, didn't you?

You saw rows of books almost every day, didn't you?
You could touch them when you reached out, right?

You remember the texture, don't you?

When you touched them, they became familiar to your skin,
and when you turned the pages, they made a sound, didn't they?

Do you remember the sensation of the words and sentences you saw with your eyes
being converted into all the information you knew
and entering your mind?

As you imagined the scenes and feelings,
your hearts must have been so full
that you even shed tears, right?

🍫 A chocolate stain like a bookmark

Wrapped in a blanket on cold days,
sweating on hot days,
and sometimes falling asleep just like that.

In the morning sun,
if you realized, "Is today a day off?"
you would just keep reading.

You were told, "At least drink some water,"
weren't you?

Chocolate stains and
juice became patterns in our books at home,
and I wonder which one of you it was
that Mom scolded, saying, "Is this a bookmark?"

📑 Who will be the bookstore customers of the future?

In the not-too-distant future, I believe
you will become "customers" of bookstores.
Even when you are not with Mom,
you will likely drop by.
Books are worth spending money on

—that is what I intended to convey to you.
Of course, only as much as you can.

Who will be the bookstore customers of the future?
It is you—the two of you.
The children living in the present.

If someday
you find yourselves in a position to pass things on,
I want you to put your experiences into words,
saying, "Being close to them is everything."

I hope that
connects to someone else's experience of
"I tried reading it and it was interesting,"
and that the number of book-loving children increases.

Whether at home, in a bookstore, or at a library,
I would be happy if many people
smiled in front of bookshelves.
That future is Mom's dream.

You might think that
seems difficult in this AI era.

However, precisely because it is now,
the "power to read" is even more important,
and there is an opinion that those with "reading ability" can be more successful.

Above all, reading is fun.
For the ease of it,
there is no other entertainment that offers such a great return of accomplishment
(according to Mom's research).

🌳 Being healed by the library as if embraced by the great outdoors

And even when you become adults,
keep going to the library.

There is no place where you can feel the wonder of humanity
as much as there.
It is packed with the wisdom and entertainment
of all times and places in the world.

There are many difficult books, but
you don't need to stretch yourself
to read a vast amount.

Why? Because the benefit of a library
is the sense of security you feel just by being there,
as if being embraced by something great.

People are healed by nature
because they instinctively feel the sensation of being embraced by something magnificent.
I read that somewhere.

Mom sometimes feels that sensation
at bookstores and libraries.

Perhaps that is why reading has
the rare power to heal the human heart.

It is grand, warm, and like
a great mountain range that one person
cannot climb in a single lifetime.

Books are wonderful, aren't they?
Libraries and bookstores are great, aren't they?

💪 Because basic skills can sometimes lead to the strength to live.

That got a bit deep.
This is a habit of mine, Mom,
so along with a wry smile, let me share one more dream.

For example, what would happen if there were
a 'Reading' subject in elementary school?

A required subject on par with Japanese or math.
Learning skills for choosing books that suit you, for instance.

Mom loved Japanese class, but
experience is essential
to becoming a book lover.

It seems quite difficult, and
wouldn't it be semi-compulsory once it becomes a subject?
Isn't Mom's motto 'don't force it'?
I can hear you saying that.

But, for example, thanks to learning
the basics of math, which I was bad at,
I acquired the minimum numerical concepts
needed to survive as an adult
during my childhood.

Without that,
I wonder what would have happened.

I also hated P.E., but
because I did it,
I gained self-understanding, like
'I'm bad at ball games, but
maybe I can still run and jump.'

Things like that are relatively
the strength to live.

Regarding reading,
even before grades,
it makes it easier for the heart to be healthy.
It makes it easier to find clues to knowing yourself.
That's what I think.

Because that is
a very important thing.

In the end, I feel it's about
what has soaked into your body.

Isn't that true for everyone?

🍀 I can believe that children who read are children who think.

Well, it's about time to end this talk.

I never imagined 10 years ago
that the day would come when I could
talk to you like this.

Please continue to cherish your 'reading power'.
There will definitely come a time when it helps you.

Of course, parenting isn't over,
and there is still a mountain of things to do.

But I can believe it.
Because I think 'children who read' are 'children who think'
—no, 'people who think'.

And I also think they are 'people who can listen'.

Think a lot for yourself,
research, listen,
and if you think this is it, take the leap.

🔖 I thought I'd place a bookmark here today.

Parenting is halfway through—
It's not any special anniversary, but
today, the day I was able to write this,
is worthy of a bookmark.

Thank you for going along with Mom's 'reading-based parenting'
until you were 10.

From now on, I will casually enter the second half,
which is 'watching over and providing rear support'.

You who are living through your teens
are finally becoming the true protagonists
of your own stories.

I would be happy if you would
still go to bookstores and libraries with me
and show me
what kind of books you reach for.

-----------------☘️

Well, today, while I wait for you to come home,
I think I'll organize the bookshelves.

The boundary between my bookshelf
and your bookshelves
will likely disappear
within a few years.

Reach out and—.

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📚 I write various things about the relationship between children and books.
Please take a look if you'd like🌟

🔳 "Gentle Tricks" to Guide Children to Love Books (Magazine)

📚 Our family's "Reading Immersion Experience"—please check it out here if you'd like↓↓↓✨

・10-year-old's 6,000-page, 11-week Harry Potter journey📚When children catch up to reading [Reading-Based Parenting]

・Thank you for meeting me✨The book of destiny, "Ascendance of a Bookworm"📚 How our family's Myne was born [Reading-Based Parenting]

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📚By providing an "environment to encounter" and "securing time,"I believe most children can grow to be able to read books that are "text only"—this is our family's flow from "picture books to novels"↓↓↓

・[Reading-Based Parenting] Practiced in our home! How to help your child become a novel reader before you know itWhat is "non-magical book selection"?

・[Reading-Based Parenting] Why “reading first” acts as a deterrent to digital dependency—What happened as a result of organizing the “order of encounters”↓↓↓

・[Part 1] Why is “children’s reading” more important now than in the Showa or Heisei eras?📚 Does “paper books until age 10” protect parent and child?↓↓↓

・[Reading-Based Parenting] The secret to a bookshelf that makes children want to reach out—What are the five things there?↓↓↓

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📚 I also write about these things. Please take a look if you’d like.📖

🔳 Mystery love explosion🌟 I want to share it! The fun of mysteries! (Magazine)

🔳 Talking about “movies I’m glad I encountered” (Magazine)

🔳 [True Story] My sister with zero life expectancy, unable to see her child due to slow mediation, died in regret (Magazine)