Read a Good Book Lately?

It has been estimated the average person reads about nine books a year. It has also been forecasted this number will rise over the coming years due to the popularity of the Kindle, Nook, and other e-book readers. With the appropriate app, every iPad, Tablet, smartphone, or laptop can deliver books on demand. This convenience offers the opportunity to have one's favorite piece of writing immediately available, which, of course, can come in handy when trapped in the mall, waiting for the women to return.

With John Grisham, Tom Clancy and Stephen King available alongside our favorite non-fiction authors, we can experience all the benefits of a well-read man: sharper intelligence, reduced stress, improved analytical thinking skills, expanded vocabulary, enhanced grammatical comprehension and a more retentive memory. Now those are benefits well worth the effort! E-readers make books easy for men to get to, opening up the world of reading without the need for a physical book.

But a physical book an e-reader ain't! A physical book is a tactile, textured, savor-it-with-your-hands-and-eyes material object with hard covers, pages that turn and colorful pictures. In short, it's a child's wonderland.

There is nothing quite like the time spent reading with a child by your side. Psychologists and other academics have studied the benefits of reading to a child. They have found that reading to a child improves speech and communication skills, logical thinking, concentration and vocabulary.

But they neglect to point out the most important benefits reading to a child brings: laughter, bonding and lasting memories. It only takes a few pages of the Dr. Seuss' classic, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and the child is caught up in the story's fun. A well-placed "tickle fish" will bring on peals of laughter that can melt away the day's stress and insure mom will have a challenge calming her little one down for bed.

The time spent reading one-on-one with kids is prime time, if there ever was such a thing. It's a perfect opportunity for questions, teaching, stories and family history. The book Where the Wild Things Are can lead into the story of how dad was like Max and ran away from home, only to find out that life with mom and dad was really the best after all. Some of life's coolest, teachable moments take place over the vibrantly creative pages of a bedtime book.

The reason why a guy should read with kids is one of life's true no-brainers. We've got everything to gain from doing it. Think about it. We get to act out the story; we get to dazzle our kids with our humor and theatrical mastery; we get to share principles and ideals through the story's narrative and, best of all, we get to be their hero -- the one who took the time to read with them.

Read a good book lately?

If not, try dusting off the cover and get your kids ready to Hop on Pop.