Tiffany Dickerson of Seven Springs, North Carolina, passed her love for reading on to her now 4-year-old daughter, Sydney. Creating a book club themed party for Sydney’s second birthday sparked what would become Tiffany’s non-profit organization, Sydney’s Book Club (SBC), dedicated to creating opportunities to engage parents and children in reading.
Established in 2009 and launched in 2012, the organization’s focus can be broken down into the acronym P.I.G.
P – To promote early reading and literacy skills in children ages 3-5
I – To increase the vocabulary of those preschoolers for kindergarten entry
G – To give books to build the at home libraries of those preschoolers
Recently partnered with the American Literacy Corporation of Harrisburg, Pa in the 13th Annual Children’s Literacy Festival, SBC local book club meetings are hosted throughout Central Pennsylvania as well as in North Carolina. Remotely, people can participate in the book club readings by visiting the organization’s website and social media pages for daily words, activities and contests. Tiffany’s goal is to bring back face-to-face social interactions, so she has created a way for families to host SBC events of their own with the help of the organization providing information and materials.
“With technology becoming more prevalent in everyday learning and with most families having working parents, children are lacking social skills and our children are being taught everything on the Internet. Although the Internet is a great tool for learning, it is also exposing our children to more than what they should be exposed to at an early age,” she said. “I believe that if parents are more active with their child’s learning that parents will have a little more control over what their child is exposed to. Overall, I have noticed that kids do become more excited about learning.”
As a stay at home mom and military wife, Tiffany found a means of connection and networking for her and her family while gaining knowledge on national reading and literacy statistics among children entering kindergarten. She’s also discovered business management skills she never knew she had and has become more in touch with her creative side.
“Being a military spouse, you are often times relocated in which you have to try to meet new friends, get your children use to a new routine, and find new resources to help provide the stability that was once available in your old location,” Tiffany said. “Having this book club helped me and Sydney to connect with other moms and children and it also provided that much needed social and educational experience for all the kids who aren’t in school or daycare.”
Tiffany shared that SBC will be distributing approximately 500 newly wrapped books this holiday season as part of their Wrapped Reads program. They will collect the books in time for Christmas via donations made through the website where a wishlist is available. Get involved, see what others are saying and stay up to date by visiting the main site and social media pages.
BMWK— Is this something you’d like to become involved with? How are you influencing reading with your children?