Teach Your Baby to Read... Or In My Case, Bribe

I love how Dr. Pace and LeErin wanted to read to be able to have the same power that others around them had, or because there was a competitive spirit involved. My husband said he wanted to learn to read so that he could see and understand all the cool stuff that his parents and others were able to. When he did learn to read, he didn't want to read any of the "kiddie" stories or comics. I asked him why-- especially since that's still some of my favorite stuff. He said that since his parents wanted him to read the kiddie stuff, he knew that there must be some really cool, forbidden writing out there. Why would he want to read some stupid comic book when Hemingway was sitting around the house, and his parents were trying to distract him from it. I think that explains why he doesn't like fantasy, sci-fi, and comic book based movies.

I learned to read when I was about four years old. I liked the idea of reading and wanted to learn, but my mom is an overachiever, and was going to put me on the accelerated path to literacy. Even as a kid I loved art. And to a four year old, stickers were the best art I could buy. My mom knew this, and for every book that I could read out loud from start to finish, I got some really awesome sticker to put in my sticker album. One of my favorites that I got for a book was a fuzzy gorilla and a separate fuzzy banana sticker that went with it.

I guess that's where my love for the visual mixed with text began. The illustrations in the books were nice, but the stickers were better-- sort of like print compared to electronic media. There's a different kind of sensory experience and it is more interactive. I got a sticker about the size of a drivers license that had penguins on it. On top of the penguins was a blue liquid that I could squish around on the picture. The fall was a good season for stickers because there were lots of Halloween glow-in-the-dark stickers.

Then there came the holographic stickers that looked animated. The birds now flapped their wings, the pony bent down and ate the grass, the lion ran, and Spiderman swung on his web. Who wouldn't read for that? To make the sticker frenzy even better, scratch-n-sniff came onto the scene. There were stickers that smelled like different soft drinks. Strawberry Shortcake smelled like strawberry shortcake. Stickers with beautiful chocolate frosted cupcakes with sprinkles smelled like the real thing. There were even stickers where I could make my own scene with them, and put a picture together like the interactive-build your own- e-cards today.

I still like reading for the sake of reading and I like the idea of my mind creating the scenes from the book. But I really do like reading on the Internet where I can have the various sensory and interactive experiences along with the words.

(Liquid Disney sticker image from: http://www.scrapbookdiscountconnection.com)

(All other sticker images from http://smilemakers.com)