Why Parents Believe that Publishing is Important

While authors read their work at cafes or bookstores to promote their work, they and student authors alike feel proud reading their writing to larger audiences. What these experiences do for students’ self-esteem is immeasurable and long-lasting. As they stand before us sharing their writing, students touch our hearts and souls in ways they will never know. I have been there and have seen the glow of pride on their faces while the applause continues. At readings, both in and out of school, I have watched parents’ faces lit with joy and pride seeing how far their children have come and knowing how far they can go.

When teachers and parents attend a reading and listen to their young people read their stories or poems, they experience feelings similar to those described by Mr. Findling:

I always tell my kids that when they do well, they make my chest swell. That’s the way I felt tonight. Watching my son reading his story made me feel good. It made me feel like some of the things we’re doing are worthwhile. I think as a parent you go day by day, and you don’t know if you’re doing the right thing or not—to be honest with you.Tonight, perhaps, we discovered that we are doing some things right. I thought he did well and I was proud of him.

Mr. Cooper told me how he felt watching and listening to his daughter read her published story at a cafe.

The most enjoyable aspect was to watch the incremental levels of confidence that she gained as she went through the process. At first, she wasn’t very secure in her idea of being published. She worked hard on the work and submitted it. She was quite pleased to learn that her work was selected. Then we thought that was it until we had this opportunity to come to Deliah’s tonight and watch her read in public the work she did. That was really the crowning achievement for me, at least, and I think, for my wife, too because she was very nervous and we were nervous for her. I think for parents it was worse than it was for the children watching them get ready. She got up and did such a terrific job. We were so proud of her. It was such a tangible expression of the work that she did. It was a perfect cap to a tremendous program.

We were quite pleased to see her realize now that through the process of being published that it’s possible, that it’s achievable—it’s not just something that happens to other people because, like all parents, we think our child is special and she’s got some skills that we would like to see her develop. The fact that she’s already gone through this process and succeeded will make the next step a lot easier. It’s an opportunity that most children don’t have. We’re quite pleased that you’ve given her that opportunity and we’ll remember that for a long time. The level of self-achievement and feeling of self-worth that she gets from having succeeded at this is invaluable. It’s a wonderful thing for her at her age. She was only nine when she wrote this. It gives her a lot of time and the rest of her life to build upon that.

I thought tonight after having to stand up and make that presentation in front of all of those people, I was afraid she would come back and say, “Gee, Dad, I don’t think I want to do that again.” It was just the opposite. She was very proud of herself. She said, ‘You know I really wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was going to be. I’m really proud.’ It made her feel good. It was just character building and she learned that she’s capable of doing things that she might otherwise have thought she was not capable of doing tonight, and that’s what life is all about.

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