People Magazine and Captain Underpants

I don't read People Magazine. There, I said it.

I don't read it. I don't even pick it up in the doctor's office when I have finished my own reading material. I don't like the magazine. I don't care if Brad is with Jen or Angelina. I don't care who went into or came out of rehab. I think People Magazine is a colossal waste of my time.

I read The Atlantic. I read the Wall Street Journal. I read to engage my mind. Sometimes I read to drown out the world around me. People Magazine doesn't do either of those things for me. When I want something a little lighter, I read Bon Appetit or Backpacker.

If you want to read People Magazine, by all means, go ahead and enjoy it. You are not me. You might not care who Brad is with either, but you might enjoy the temporary break in you day. You might care about who Brad is with. Good for you. I won't judge you. I will just understand that we have different tastes.

I eat sushi and my husband doesn't. Different tastes. He likes his steak well-done and I prefer mine medium. Different tastes.

My kids don't read Captain Underpants or Junie B Jones. I think they are awful. As a matter of fact there are a few books other popular books that I would prefer my boys not pick up. I am not a fan of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. M. enjoys it, but J. thinks it is little to young for him. We own it, but we are not fans.

We are a reading family, and my two boys are avid readers. They will take any book you give them and give it a chance. I would say I am lucky to have kids who love to read, but I raised them to be that way. We have always read and we are always reading.

We love Percy Jackson. We are actually a bit obsessed. We can't wait for the next book by Ted Bell to be released. I rediscovered Call of the Wild in the fall when J. and I read it together. Such a beautiful book.

Now you tell me. If your child would read Call of the Wild, wouldn't you give that to him instead of Captain Underpants?

I made a decision a long time ago, even before I had kids, that I would surround them with good books. I thought that if the only choices in the house were classics then they would learn to love them. I was right. They do love the classics; but more importantly, they just love to read. They enjoy being taken away to different worlds and different times. They enjoy telling me about what they learned. I love to hear about it.

Stop with the, "You are a dictator" speech even before it gets our of your mouth. I do let them choose what to read. We take turns. The boys choose a book and I choose a book. (They have never chosen Captain Underpants by the way.)

They are also only required to read 50 pages of each book I choose for them. They have to give every book a try. The smartest man I ever knew once told me that there were too many good books out there to waste time on the ones you don't like. I have taught my kids that as well. When they are reading for pleasure and not for a school assignment, they can quit if they don't like the book. They just have to give it a chance.

Look, I won't judge you if you and your child love Captain Underpants. I get that some kids don't like to read, and I agree that a child who is reading is better than a child who isn't.

We have different issues and different tastes.