“Come on, Dad and Mom!” our daughter goaded us the other day, “You’re falling behind!”

With New Year’s resolutions still in the air, we’re reminded of a family goal that our daughter set
for us a few years ago. “We need a family reading contest!” she announced to all of us. After
discussing that the contest would track the total page count, we agreed and she quickly left us in
the dust.

Reading can be a prized jewel of family culture. There’s something special about families who
read a lot, who read aloud, and who talk about books. They seem to be better at the
increasingly scarce commodity of delayed gratification. While they may not agree with
Cicero—“A room without books is like a body without a soul”—they glimpse the deep link
between books and the soul, between the written word and the Word of God. They tend to be
more comfortable with silence, solitude, and going offline.

You don’t need us to tell you that it’s far more likely for parents today to find their child watching
TikTok then curled up in an armchair, buried in a novel by Jane Austen or Mark Twain. To have a
home steeped in a culture of reading is no easy accomplishment, especially when we can
effortlessly consume a stream of (addictive and even predatorial) online entertainment.

The family reading contest was the impetus we needed to get reading back into the rhythm of
our family life. Whether it’s overwork, distraction, or just plain lazy media consumption, many of
us have lost some ground in the past few years when it comes to the caliber of our family’s
reading culture.

As you consider building a healthy reading culture in your family, consider one or more of the
following five ingredients:

• It starts with us, dear fellow parents. If we’re not modeling this with our own reading,
  we’re unlikely to see a home full of readers.
• Consider a family reading contest. It might fire up some competitive juices that can help
  to counteract the all-powerful screens.
• Have lots of books around for your kids to stumble upon. We’ve picked up armloads of
  classics for next to nothing at the local thrift shop. In addition to family trips to the library,
  buy a few boxes of used classics and put some more soul into the rooms of your home.
• Over family meals, share what you’re reading and ask what your kids are reading.
• Invest in time reading aloud to your kids. You won’t regret a single minute of it. (Check
  out our post on “The Wonders of Reading Aloud” with your kids.) And don’t forget
  audiobooks in the car!

If you have any doubt about the power of reading, consider two giants of the faith, Doctors of
the Church, even: St. Augustine and St. Ambrose. In the fall of 384, a very secular 34-year-old
Augustine moved to Milan and happened to glimpse the local bishop, Ambrose, then 45
years old, deeply focused on reading Scripture.

“When he read,” St. Augustine recalled, “his eyes traveled over the page and his heart sought
out the sense, but voice and tongue were silent…when we came to him we often saw him
reading, and always to himself; and after we had sat long in silence, unwilling to interrupt a work
on which he was so intent, we would depart again.”

To summarize: Augustine’s friendship with and admiration of Ambrose would become a key
factor in his embracing of the faith. Ambrose’s ability to thoughtfully focus on the written word,
allowing it to form mind and heart, set the scene for fruitful encounters with the Word of God.
Ambrose’s wisdom and immersion in Scripture evangelized Augustine. And the rest is history.

Our homes may seem far removed from Milan in 384, but what if our children—future saints, we
pray—could one day look back and recall similar memories of parents who loved to read, who
loved the Word, and who introduced the Word in unforgettable ways?