Thank You Genetics

   In an effort to get our kids to read more. We started up a system. We're gonna stick to this one I swear. The kids are keeping track of all the books they read. After five books they get a Slurpee, after ten books, they get a date with a parent. But only after they get an 'interview' from Pete where he gets to decide if they've really understood the things they read. 

   Jonah was the first to get to five books. So Peter called him into his office (in a very low and authoritative voice) for his book interview. They closed the doors. 

   About 30 minutes later, I went in to the office to sharpen a pencil. I walked through the door and Pete muttered, "Hey Ang, it's genetic" under his breath. I knew exactly what he was talking about. Jonah was recounting The Giving Tree in his own words.  It takes like 10 minutes max to read that hippie book. How in the world Jonah stretched his synopsis out to 40 minutes I'll never know. What was awesome is that Pete had to listen to the entire thing. And there are two other kids that he has to do this with. As I walked out the door, I said, "Nice work Jonah, next tell him about all the chapters of Frog and Toad Forever."

 Call it genetics, karma, whatever you want, but this is one system I'm keepin'.