The Struggle is Real…
Our children were struggling to read…you know the feeling, the frustration more like, as you sit down one more time and it is a “hair-pulling-out session” for both you and your kid. Maybe you don’t know the feeling, maybe you are lucky. We were all struggling, they were in tutoring, but nothing was clicking. We (the parents, Tom & Cindy) love to read. And we just wanted to pass that love of reading onto our kids. But HOW???
Our great friend introduced our middle child to a book. If I remember correctly, it was a gift, for her birthday. It was a chapter book, Billie B. Brown. She did a great job of thanking our friend for her gift, but we could tell it wasn’t her favorite gift of the day. When we got home, she picked it up. We could see that she was getting into it. Maybe it was too easy for her, I remember thinking, but that’s ok, she likes and SHE’S READING….there is hope!
Pretty soon, she couldn’t put it down. And before I knew it, she had finished it. She was proud. I was proud. And she wanted the next one in the series….REALLY?!? Ok!
Hook, Line, and Sinker…
She was hooked. She loved Billie B., the main character in the series and her friend Jack. Billie B. save our sanity. We were thrilled. She wanted to read the next one and the next one. Then she wanted different books that Usborne had to offer. Our friend had a whole library. And it helped that our friend ran the Usborne book fair at our school, so we could REALLY check them out! We were buy and more and more. Quite the investment we were making, but it felt so right to encourage our kids in this way and feed their love of learning. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to share this love of learning and love of books with the world and it wouldn’t hurt to make some extra money (these sports are getting expensive!).
The Big Question:
Then one day, our friend noticing our increased consumption of books, asked “have you ever thought of doing something like this?” Of course I had, but I didn’t want to tell her that! What would that lead to??? But, I really trusted our friend and decided to ask her what it could lead to. What she talked about that day spoke to my heart. Sharing books to kids of my friends, at schools, libraries, wherever I wanted. Having fun while making a little extra to go on a weekend getaway or maybe an extra vacation this year.
Today and In The Future
That was over a year ago that the conversation happened. We talked about it as a family. The girls were excited. We decided to kick off the new year right and joined Usborne Books & More on January 2nd, 2019. An investment in our future as a family. The girls reading scores have shot through the roof. Tom has quit his side job of Uber because…wait for it…we don’t need it any more. The girls helps us with different parts of the family biz and they are showing quite the entrepreneurial spirit. We have been to Usborne events and met some incredible new friends who love books as much as we do.
Our future is exciting. Our kids are developing that hunger for new books. We are working towards a company paid vacation (say what?!?) We have met so many people on this journey and we are so glad that you are here, reading this, sharing in this with us. It wouldn’t be the same with out you!
