Editor,Please allow me to respond to Paul Ntambara’s article, “Poor reading culture begins from home”, published in The New Times issue of October 5.I strongly believe that reading is a habit that our children have to adopt when still young; like they say, it is difficult to teach new tricks to an old dog. In the same vein it may be difficult for adults to start reading in their old age.Parents need to set aside reading time in their homes; there is enough reading material out there, so that should not be an excuse. Schools too need to make sure that reading time is set aside and supervised.Maybe a reward mechanism should be established to motivate those who read more. There is a lot more that can be done and needs to be done to change this culture.I thank The New Times for raising this important issue; the more people talk about it, the higher the chances of addressing it.Molly, Kigali********************There is no doubt that the love for books starts at a young age.Our children are growing up in an age where there are many distractions – think of addictive facebooking and whatsapping.Gone are the days when parents, especially mothers, stayed home to look after children while the man was the sole bread winner. We are now faced by a situation where children are brought up by “absent” or “remote” parents.Whatever the challenges, it’s a parent’s duty to bring up their children in the best way possible. Our parents had different challenges but they survived and managed to raise us in the best way possible.As the writer puts it, the culture of reading has to start from home, if it is dead there then don’t expect to resurrect it in school. Yes, parents can’t do it alone but the primary duty lies with us.Kalisa,Kigali
