Fnord wrote:
When a child sees that his or her parents enjoy reading, they will want to read too. The trick is to get them interested in useful topics, and not comic books, religious texts, or other works of fiction.
I think this may be true for you and not all.
I read non fiction in front of my kids, and have since they were babies, but the topics rarely interest them. One of my sons, followed my example and is a reader. He reads incessantly, he likes fiction and non fiction, Plato to Manga. My other son, raised in the same environment, won't read non-fiction to save his life, and will only read comic type stuff.
While with the first child , I thought my terrific parenting caused this love of advanced reading, then the second convinced me that we all are born with inherent "wiring" if you will, and parenting actually plays a fairly small role in the development of preferences.
The kids have the same parents, with the same parenting style in the same environment. There are no divorces, or major changes which would differentiate how they were parented. Same parents, environment.....only difference is the kids.
Boy are they different. I say the first is me, the second is my husband, there's no parenting (or modeling) that out of or into them! They are who they are, as unique wonderful beings.
Trust me on this one, little ones being interested in your college texts are special in and of themselves. While you may be a wonderful parent, it's not your amazing parents g which is causing that strength in your child, rather your child brought that with him, and you are nurturing it.