Finding my voice (Week 15)
"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." Thanks for the great advice, P.J. O'Rourke! I think it's fair to say I followed that rule all week, with an added twist. I spent at least half an hour every night reading aloud. Sometimes in a silly voice. Sometimes until I knew from the evidence that my audience had drifted off to sleep. But why aloud when there are no children in the room? There are already so many great reasons for reading aloud to your kids. Now research into reading aloud is suggesting that we should keep on doing it long after the child-rearing years are behind us. The number one reason is memory improvement, which might even delay the onset of Alzheimer's. I'm all for that! We used to read to our kids all the time. My favourite was Winnie the Pooh, which gave me a chance to try out all my Disney voices. I flatter myself that my Eeyore is spot-on. But it's been at least 10 years since our ...