Reading Takes Precedence Over Other Activities

On Nov. 8, Times columnist Sandy Banks wrote of the need for parents to take seriously the teaching of reading to their children. Ms. Banks related her own experience of raising three children and the escalating difficulties as each child came into the world.

“It’s often a burden for parents,” she wrote, “to squeeze into already crowded days the reading practice our children need.”

This preceded her listing of what contributed to these crowded days, things such as soccer practice, Brownie meetings, homework, dinner time, walking the dog and taking a bath. It seems to me reading is more important than all but one of those, and it could be argued that homework should always include reading anyway.

PAUL SCOTT

Santa Monica