Mary Leonhardt > Quotes

“I always feel very sorry for adults I see who are not readers.”
― Mary Leonhardt, Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don't: How it Happens and What You Can Do About It.

“I’d rather imagine my own characters and places than see them on TV.”
― Mary Leonhardt, Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don't: How it Happens and What You Can Do About It.

“My children used to occasionally ask me to proofread English papers for them.  The difficulty, for me, was in just proofreading.  I could see all kinds of ways they could make the paper better.  But I didn’t volunteer my ideas, because I was afraid that then they would lose the self-confidence and sense of accomplishment they had gotten from writing the paper.  Better to let their teacher make the suggestions, if she was so inclined, since kids expect English teachers to make suggestions.  You need to keep your long-term goals firmly in mind.  Children who are enthusiastic about working will, sooner or later, do much better work than kids who just grind out assignments because someone is standing over them.”
― Mary Leonhardt, 99 Ways to Get Your Kids to do Their Homework (and Not Hate It) Updated and Revised

“My guess is that avid reading develops the student’s ability concentrate on verbal information.”
― Mary Leonhardt, Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don't: How it Happens and What You Can Do About It.

“99.  Remember to let your children know that, while schoolwork is important, it pales before the really important things in life:  kindness, helpfulness, love, respect.  Don’t ever make the mistake of allowing your kids to think that their worth to you somehow depends on how well they do in school.  Schoolwork is, in any final reckoning, only a very small part of life.”
― Mary Leonhardt, 99 Ways to Get Your Kids to do Their Homework (and Not Hate It) Updated and Revised

“The difference in ability to pay attention and follow lectures and discussion is so great between excellent readers and poor readers that I’ve finally decided the two must be correlated.”
― Mary Leonhardt, Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don't: How it Happens and What You Can Do About It.