I was eating at a fast-food restaurant in Lincoln. French fries, fast food, and a playground meant that I would be observing parents and children. The indoor playground had a sign on the door -- "Closed for Repair."
A well-dressed father and his two children took the booth next to me. The children ran to the playground door and were disappointed that they couldn't gain entrance. The father looked up from his meal and told the children that the playground was closed for repair. The children returned to the table with sad faces, but no further comments were made.
A few minutes later a man dressed in work clothes, a hard hat, and work tools hanging from his belt entered the restaurant with his daughter. Of course, the little girl wanted to have some fun on the playground jungle gym, too. The door didn't budge for her, either. She called to daddy, "Why won't the door open?" 
A tired dad looked up from his meal and then got up and walked towards the closed door. He took his daughter's hand in his and pointed to each word as he read "Closed for repairs." When he finished reading the sign to her, she looked up at him and understood that there would be no play for her today on the jungle gym. They returned to the table hand-in-hand.
What did one parent do that the other parent didn't do? Both parents answered the question. But one man used the loving power of touch as he enclosed his daughter's hand in his hand, and they traced the words together, "Closed for repair."
Just as jungle gyms are closed for repair, children can become "closed" to learning. Children need a loving parent or grandparent that will take a child's hand in their hand as they trace words across an environmental sign or the words on the pages of a book.
A child understands what is going on in his or her world through the eyes of an adult. Reading is just a natural part of that world when we "take twenty minutes each and every day to read to a child."
