RICHARDSON: 'No regrets'

I was standing in the back of the gym at Hartley Elementary School watching as children passed me with bright smiles filled with excitement. They were coming to participate in the school's fourth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

I know the school well. Just a few years back my grandson attended there. Elementary schools are all wonderful places. Children are natural sponges. They enjoy learning, until adults, usually their parents, start getting in the way.

They don't get in the way intentionally, but their actions make it hard for their children to stay on track. Most of those actions are rooted in unhealthy behaviors. At the top of the list is sleep deprivation. I could look around the gym and see some eyes slowly drifting off. What can we expect when we allow children to stay up late watching television or playing video games or texting? Young minds need more sleep, not less.

The next roadblock is insecurity, Some parents move themselves and their children multiple times in a school year. Children don't know which way is up, and there is nothing they can do about it. Due to parents' different work schedules, the child becomes the bouncing ball. Sometimes he or she is over at grandma's and sometimes at sister's. The next week, the schedule might flip.

Children don't know the difference between a stable home and what they are living. It all seems normal, but they end up missing a few things along the way. For example, video games, while entertaining, won't help a child read. It might help their hand-eye coordination, but it won't do a thing to advance their math scores. And while the child is shuttled between many homes, the one thing that's probably lacking in all of them is a book.

What's the cure? Watch out. This is really, really high tech. Consultants get paid big bucks to come up with this advice, so listen up.

1. Your child should get 10 hours of sleep every night.

2. Your child should read to you a minimum of 15 minutes every day (yes, even on weekends).

3. Your child should visit the library every week.

4. Parents should check in with your child's teacher or teachers every week.

These are all minimums, but does it sound too difficult? Here's what I guarantee. As a parent, you will come to love those 15 minutes of reading time. As they get better, it will be show off time for your child. It's also evaluation time. You will pick up by the way they read — and the questions you ask — how well they are comprehending what they're reading. That's where the teacher comes in. You two have to compare notes. It's a partnership.

You want to start early so you have no regrets. While it's never too late, children start developing their good and bad habits quickly. Putting them to bed early should be a habit developed long before they get to kindergarten. Sounding out words and learning to read, too, shouldn't be left to just day care.

When I was a child, a salesman came by and tried to sell my mother a set of encyclopedias. Even at that age I knew they were too expensive. However, I knew a work around. The library had a set and so did my school. I know it sounds pretty crazy reading an encyclopedia, but that's what I tried to do. I never did finish. Now we've got access to the world's greatest libraries on our hips and all we do, for the most part, is exercise our thumbs.

We should raise our children with an end game in mind. That end game is to have no regrets. We can't be prefect parents, but we can make sure our children get the proper amount of rest, have a roof over their heads and food in their tummies. They don't need the latest versions of tennis shoes. Keep the lights on instead. Make sure they have Internet access, and then watch how they use it like a mother eagle. Warning. They will not appreciate it until they appreciate it. That will take years, but you'll have no regrets.

Charles E. Richardson is The Telegraph's editorial page editor. He can be reached at 478-744-4342 or via email at crichardson@macon.com. Tweet@crichard1020.

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 9:43 PM with the headline "RICHARDSON: 'No regrets' ."