The answer to this question is a resounding “yes” according to a Forbes.com  article posted on May 31st.  It’s was said that those dads that spend a substantial amount of quality time with their children tend to be more educated.  And the trend held true across all racial groups, which I think is the most important part of the study cited in the article. 

But here’s what they dont say, so I’m going to say it:  education = reading.  There I said it.  It makes sense doesn’t it?  Educated people, black or white read.  They read books, magazines, blogs, manuals, you name it – educated people read.  Reading (and writing) is what makes people educated in the first place.  True knowledge is in the written word.  If someone wants to be a better dad there are hundreds of books out there to help.  If someone wants to learn how to change the spark plugs in their 1985 Nissan Stanza, there are books that can tell that person how.  I’m a big supporter of higher education, however I know that college isn’t for everybody.  That being said I think that reading is for everybody.  If I hear another one of our young brothers proudly telling their friends that they have never read a book in their life from cover to cover and they still grauated from high school I’m going to puke.  Nas, the greatest rapper alive, never went to high school, yet somehow he’s smarter than every other rapper alive because he reads.  Go figure.

Dads, whenever you can and wherever you can you should read.  If you are reading this blog then I am probably preaching to the choir, so you should then go preach to someone about reading that isn’t in our choir.  I read on the subway, on line at the supermarket, waiting for an elavator, on the toilet (a lot of reading gets done there), in bed, on my lunch break at work, and any other place that I would be wasting time if I did not have a book with me. 

And don’t forget the bedtime stories.  Trust me, your kids will remember all of those moments you spend with them reading a good book.   

  

 

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