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Pregnant Teens Already Giving Their Babies Reading Homework

Posted on: Thursday, 22 December 2005, 06:00 CST

By PATRICIA NELESKI

BY PATRICIA NELESKI

CORRESPONDENT

BAYSIDE Baby clothes were not the only gifts at a recent baby shower at the Princess Anne High School Center for Pregnant Teens.

Books were in the gift bags each girl received.

The babies can chew on them, they can throw food on them but they cant destroy them, said Tracie Hamilton, a Kingston Elementary School teacher who volunteers with the Virginia Beach Reading Council.

Hamilton attended the annual shower to discuss the importance of reading to babies. She told the roomful of mothers-to-be that she was a single 20-year-old college student when she learned she was pregnant.

I was in a bit of a bind, she said.

Family and friends helped Hamilton become a teacher, and helped raise her son, she said. You can do it, too, she said.

For now, Hamilton warned, the girls have an important task preparing the children they carry for school.

I know it seems so far away, but the future is here, she said. This child is your responsibility and you have to prepare it for the world. Read to your babies.

Teachers are going to expect you to have done certain things when your child gets to kindergarten, Hamilton said. Your children should know their colors, how to spell their names, how to hold scissors. Its up to you to educate your child; to make him or her ready to read.

Sober faces met Hamiltons eyes as she spoke.

If a child comes to school four or five months behind the others, he or she will be a little farther behind, a little farther behind every year. Its cyclical, she said. Read to your babies. It does wonders.

Susan Vierra, registered nurse at the center, said Hamilton did wonders for the girls.

Without a doubt, this lesson will sink in, she said. There is a stigma to being pregnant in school. But when the reading council volunteers come in, the girls feel that someone is reaching out to them. Its very exciting.

Already one new mother is reading to her daughter. However her choice of books is not limited to nursery rhymes.

When I get behind on my reading for school, I read the textbooks aloud to her, said Amanda Rembecki, mother of 8-week-old Ramona.

It doesnt matter what you read as long as they hear it. So I read her mainly English books. Thats a class you have to do a lot of reading for.

Rembecki had been a student at the center through most of her pregnancy.

Ill read these to my baby, she said, eyeing the new books in her bag.

The books, donated by DK Publishing Co., have bright colors and chunky pages.

Laura Buckius, a member of the reading council, is also the local distributor for the publishing company. She selected the books with care.

Reading is so important. Its a passion with me, she said. Were giving the girls something to start their babies lives.

Buckius and Hamilton encouraged the girls to use the public library, and offered library card applications .

Read to them as soon as theyre born, Hamilton said. Read to them now. Theyll hear it.

Reach Beacon correspondent Patricia Neleski at pneleski@ yahoo.com

Source: Virginian - Pilot

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