Baseball and Books

Baseball and Books: Parents Make the Difference

Imagine a kid who practices batting and pitching a ball to his dad an hour every day all summer, from the time the child is three until he is eight. [May, June, July, August = 120 hours a year for 5 years.]

Imagine a second kid – no practice, no training, has never slipped his hand in a baseball glove, has never run the bases, has never swung a bat, has almost never seen a full game played. 

Imagine that they turn out the same day for Little League try-outs.
The skill level between these two young ball players is like the skill level in reading readiness of our incoming kindergartners.

Lynn Fielding, Nancy Kerr, Paul Rosier, The 90% Reading Goal (New Foundation Press, Kennewick, WA., 1998) 49