As a child, I don’t remember having a ton of toys, but I did have a bookshelf filled with books in my bedroom. Every night, my father would read to me before bedtime, and I would drift off into scenes from Peter Pan or some Disney story. As elementary school progressed, I would be transported into new territories while reading Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and solving mysteries with Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene and The Hardy Boys, which various authors wrote. The time my dad spent reading to me in those early years was a gift I passed on to both my kids. I have memories of taking my eldest to the library on a weekly basis when she was young and leaving with a rolling suitcase full of books. We’d get home and read fifteen books right off the bat. By the time she was in Kindergarten, the public school requirement for each student to learn and memorize 30 sight words had risen to 50. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for a child to meet the minimum standards of learning, let alone excel academically when parents will not take the time to read to them at home in their formative years. When I came across an article by Jeff Grabmeier from Ohio State University, I was further convinced that parents needed to “up their game” at home. According to Grabmeier’s article, “Young children whose parents read them five books a day enter kindergarten have heard about 1.4 million more words than kids who were never read to…” and “Even kids who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age five than those who don’t regularly read books with a parent or caregiver.” Teachers face many challenges, and there are shortages all over the country. No doubt, teacher shortages are due to many frustrations ranging from pay, policies, poor building conditions, and demands and expectations from parents who have abdicated their responsibilities in preparing a child’s way for higher learning – dumping it all on the teacher. My consensus: Read to your kids. Help them with their homework.