There is much evidence that when parents read to their children, the child benefits, but so does the parent. As a result, by frequently reading with children we can improve the family, the neighborhood, and the whole community.

And the economy. Children who have been read to are more likely to do well in school, to go to college, to earn more, and to enter stable relationships. They are less likely to succumb to teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, crime, or other harmful activities.

The Acadiana Educational Endowment & the American Public School Endowments has begun a program to encourage parents to read with their children in several ways:

Step 1. Piggy-Back Advertising
First, We are requesting that advertisers add to the last 3 seconds of a broadcast commercial, or to the bottom of billboards and large print ads, the message “Read with your children every night, it will [insert advertiser’s preferred punch line].” Second, we are asking government, trucking companies, and other entities with vehicle fleets to add inexpensive signage to their vehicles, with similar messaging. This will launch the campaign and quickly promote the message to many thousands, even millions, of people.

Step 2. Medical Practitioner Reinforcement
We are asking physicians and nurses to encourage pregnant women, and parents of young pediatric patients, to read with their children every night. At the same time, we working with local hospitals to add to the Electronic Health Record a series of prompts for nurses and physicians treating young children and prenatal mothers, to ask if the parent is reading to the child, and to encourage them so do so.

Step 3. Volunteer Readers
We are recruiting volunteers to partner with schools and various nonprofits to go into the schools and even pre-kindergarten programs, and to read with the children there one-on-one. As that grows, we will encourage those students to read to their younger siblings and neighbors.