| I credit much of my success in grade school and now as an adult to the fact that my mom consistently and constantly encouraged me to read. She at first did this, when I was a toddler, by teaching me my ABCs and counting while she "did her bills"; I can't explain her accounting methods, but there were always dates and numbers and months and...well you get the idea. She would encourage me to tell her "what month comes next" or "what number is that"... Then, as I got older, she started to read to me; first, from a set of "animal encyclopedia" books my parents got from the grocery store as a "give-away"... (aside: they don't really do this much any more, but back then to get customers to come shop, grocery stores and supermarkets would run these giveaway things where, if you spent so much money, or collected so many "stamps", you could get "this month's book", or dishes, or utensils or whatever - so you'd build up a complete encyclopedia set over the course of a year or so) ...then later from similar encyclopedia books about science; she would read to me about "the brain" or "the lungs" or "the heart" - then other subjects, and I would "read along" with her - she'd ask me "what does this say" and I would read it. One other thing I remember my mom encouraging me to do was recognizing car models and makes; I'm not sure why or if that even fits in here - but it was something I recall. As I got older, both of my parents would buy me books on any subject I desired. I also had several magazine subscriptions (I once had three different computer magazines coming in - Family Computing, K-Power, and the Rainbow, plus Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Omni). They purchased and I had access to two different sets of Encyclopedia Brittanica. I had my own library card by the time I was in the second grade for the city library system. At one time I recall I had some problems with reading and spelling - and my parents got one of those "hooked on phonics" sets and worked with me on that. Ultimately I went from being an average student to doing much better work and having an easier time in school. But all of that ultimately led to my life today; their encouragement of reading, and of "finding out the answers on my own" ("Dad, what's this and that?" I'd ask - my dad would reply "Let's look it up in the encyclopedia!") also encouraged me to become a self-learner, among other things. They were always encouraging my education, and helping me however they could (when they saw how much I liked computers, they bought me one, and upgrades - this was in the 1980s mind you, and none of it was cheap). I wouldn't be the person or the software engineer I am today had it not been for their efforts and sacrifices. My parents weren't wealthy (my dad did road construction for the county, my mom was a "stay at home" mother who earned extra side-money by selling eggs from our chickens) - but they both knew the importance of an education, and were always involved in it for me. But it all ultimately started with reading. |