Theodore Roosevelt was a big tough guy. He grew up reading about the greats of history, one biographer wrote, and decided he was going to be just like them.

Those greats were generals and cowboys, powerful leaders and athletes, explorers and knights, right? That’s what propelled Roosevelt to the “strenuous life” and to seek adventure? That’s what made him a war hero?

Sure, he did read those books and loved those stories. But do you know what else this future-tough guy liked as a small boy? He “greatly liked the girls’ stories,” he later recounted, that his sister Edith turned him onto. “I worshiped ‘Little Men’ and ‘Little Women’ and ‘An Old-Fashioned Girl,’” he recounted. He liked and read much of Louisa May Alcott’s work. His later self might have been reluctant to admit this—“at the cost of being deemed effeminate” he said—but his younger self felt no such shame.

He liked what he liked. He read what was in front of him. He read where his interests took him. Your kids should be allowed to do the same. But they need your help. They need you to give them “uncensored access,” as Jane Austen’s father gave his daughter. They need you to fill in the gaps, as Margaret Thatcher’s father did after he heard his daughter wasn’t reading Walt Whitman in school. They need you to help them find their people, as Michael Chabon did when he learned his son Abe was interested in fashion. So he brought Abe to a fashion industry event and watched as his son was possessed with a confidence and purpose he didn’t have before.

You never know what destination your child will reach once they’re off on their own reading journey. But first, they need your encouragement to start somewhere.

P.S. Nearly 100,000 parents read The Daily Dad each day, showing their kids what a good reading practice looks like. We even have a whole month dedicated to raising readers.

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