Children young and older watch everything their parents do. Parents can send their most powerful messages to their kids through their own behavior. This story is an example of the power of a parent’s influence.

When my son was a sophomore in high school, he had an assignment to write about his personal history as a reader. In his paper, he described his preschool and elementary years as a reader: how his parents had read to him, how he had learned to read and what some of his favorite books had been. He wrote about our regular trips to the library and how his mom would only let him check out a movie or videogame after he chose some popular children's books.

He then wrote about his middle school years, when reading became a chore. It was too slow for him; it was boring; there was nothing interesting to read. He hated fiction. He stopped reading unless he was forced.

But his paper also said that during that time, his mom still went to the library regularly and she always brought him home something to read. She brought him magazines, science books, biographies, horror, sports and more books for teenagers. He wasn’t forced to read them but he was expected to at least look each book over. He read almost none of them, but the steady stream continued. Meanwhile, everyone else in the family continued to read lots of books.

Next, his paper moved to his high school years. He described how his interest in reading began to grow again, and how he came to find reading a great escape from the stress of teen life - a wonderful, portable and inexpensive source of relaxation and entertainment.

And he wrote that the steady stream of library books all those years had a lot to do with him starting to read again. “Thanks, Mom,” he wrote.

I got goosebumps when I read his paper. But more importantly, I recognized how powerful we parents are in our children’s lifelong education, and in building lifelong learning habits. My influence on my son didn’t require taking any special classes or learning any fancy educational theories. I did more than talk the talk about being a lifelong reader -- I walked the walk. And because I did that over the course of many years, regardless of his response, my son noticed and it stuck with him.

Now he is a lifelong reader, too.

Parents are the most powerful influence a child has. We should be bold in using that influence to build a love of learning that will last a lifetime. All it takes is that we walk the walk and let our actions teach them. Remember, they are always watching.