The Competition

My boys will turn anything into a competition. So on Tuesday we headed to the library to sign up for the summer reading program with the sole intention of finding something to motivate my boys to read over the summer. The program incents kids to read by giving them prizes for every 5 hours read. My boys are now both really good readers, and can both fully participate in this program this year. But, it turns out prizes aren’t the only motivation! Out reading your brother is actually just as cool as getting a free pizza. So, they started reading and fighting about reading on the way home from the library!

By Tuesday night they were fighting over the validity of each other’s timers. It turns out that the timer bookmarks are perfect for the summer reading program, but do they keep less accurately the older they get? Is the timer slowed by its angle and therefore gravitational pull? Is it possible for first graders, excuse me, second graders to actually use a timer? Colin was convinced that Zachary’s Wednesday lunch total of over 5 hours had to be a miscalculation of the timer (even though Zach decided to choose reading over morning TV time could have nothing to do with it). Today we headed to the library with him 45 minutes shy of his second prize (he has read 9.25 hours in 48 hours! And despite Colin’s protests, he hasn’t cheated!)

Colin, who may have led his class in reading minutes for the year but is now losing to a second grader, is just behind his brother at 8 hours read in 48 hours! I guess a little brotherly competition isn’t always a bad thing!