Beginning With Books

Our Reading with Dads program began when Pam Little, Director of Parent Education, attended a joint meeting with Dwayne Barker, Chairperson of the Male Fatherhood Involvement Committee (MFIC) of the Pittsburgh Public  Schools Early Childhood Centers and father of six year old DeiMar.  Impressed with what he heard about the nonprofit organization, Beginning with Books, he asked Little if she might give him some books to hand out to kids through the MFIC.  “My short answer is no,” she said. “My long answer is this: whenever we distribute books, there must be a program piece attached to it.”

After a lively discussion debating a variety of goals and objectives, including Barker’s suggestion that he would like to see a stronger role for dads to play in their child’s education, Little outlined an idea that eventually became Reading with Dads where fathers are recruited to read in their children’s classrooms in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.  Each child takes with them a brand new copy of the book read to help build their own home library.  Leo Thomas, another Reading with Dads recruit (and father of Taliel, age 5 and Lea, age 2), Cynthia Taibbi, Associate Director of Development, and Dwayne spent some time one afternoon talking about the program.  The conversation went something like this.

CT: Tell me about your childhood relationship with books and how that led you to become involved in Reading with Dads.

DB: I always knew why Rudy Huxtable’s character was laughing at her TV dad because Bill Cosby is a funny guy, but I never understood why she was smiling when he read to her.  Nobody had ever read a book to me, so I never knew how magical it would be to read to my own child. Now, take that magic to the millionth power and that’s how it feels to read to a room full of children.

LT: My mom was a librarian, so my play time was spent among the stacks. She’d let me look at all the newspapers on microfiche. When I look back on it, it was a pretty slick way to get me interested in reading! My dad taught me how to be a man, but she taught me how to be a teacher. Together they taught me about community and that’s part of what I instill in my children. When I first began to read in my son’s classroom, I was simply known as Taliel’s dad; now I’m Mr. Leo.

CT: So, the children not only get the benefit of being read to by any dad, they are read to by the dad of one of their classmates. 

DB: Exactly! These kids are our best ‘commercial.’ They bring that new book home and tell their parents, “DeiMar Barker’s dad read this book today.” Hopefully, this will inspire them to become their child’s reader too. Parents have a unique opportunity to be seen by their child as the smartest person in the world if they just capitalize on it.

LT: It’s too easy to blame the school for a child’s failing grades; too easy to ignore the problems and then yell at the teachers. This is a partnership. I believe in the old saying, ‘education starts at home,’ and the Reading with Dads program allows us to bring home into the classroom.

CT: You seem to feel an innate sense of responsibility for this community of children. Does this awareness come as fathers or as men?

DB: Looking back, I now recognize the power of a man’s voice. I learned lessons from my dad that I didn’t even realize were lessons at the time. I’ll never forget the day he saw holes in my shoes and shook his head in frustration. He said to me “I’d rather have holes in my shoes than know you have holes in yours.” The simple act of being present in my son’s classroom may not seem like a big deal to the children today, but I’m concerned about their tomorrows.

LT: My dad taught me that he was my dad before he was my friend. ‘Team Thomas’ was what he called us. Through him I learned the importance of being a role model not only to my own children, but to all the children in my neighborhood. The kids in my son’s classroom don’t just learn about books when I read to them; they also learn about respect and asking questions and the joy of having someone from their community coming in to visit them. And, they may not know what to call it, but I also think they learn optimism.

CT: What are you reading right now?

LT: I’m reading a book by Tony Buzan titled Using Both Sides of Your Brain. It’s helping me to think outside the box.

DB: I’m reading more children’s books. Remember, the Reading with Dads program is my baby!

Tagged as: Allegeheny County Nonprofit, Education/Training, Family, Parenting, Pittsburgh Non Profit

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