My Father Influenced My Reading Habit - Ramah Brew

Ramah Brew, a famous writer and actress, has strongly advocated the need for parents to do more for their children to cultivate the habit of reading. This comes at a time when research has shown that teens and adults are reading fewer books than it used to be.

According to Ramah Brew, parents play critical role in our quest to encourage children to cultivate the habit of reading. “When I was growing up as a child, no matter how busy my father was, when he came home from work, and after dinner, he would make me and my sisters read the newspaper for us to be updated with current affairs around the world; not only that, but also to introduce us to new words. So, I loved to read as a child and I used to get into any corner with a book,” she said.

Ramah Brew also decried the practice where some parents make excuses for their being not able to help their wards to read or engage in activities that would promote reading. “Some parents say, ‘I don’t have the time. I am tired and there’s a little time for me to do anything’,” she lamented.   She warned that parents who go on that tangent have their children’s future at stake.  She however encouraged parents to take interest in ensuring that their wards develop the habit of reading as they would reap the reward of doing that.

Ramah Brew made these statements in a documentary produced by the Ghana Book Development Council (GBDC). The documentary forms part of GBDC’s campaign, dubbed “Learn to read; read to learn” which has been initiated to create and increase awareness of the numerous benefits of reading, particularly to children. The documentary comprises prominent personalities and role models who still make time to read in spite of their busy schedule.

These prominent personalities and role models, who are people the children readily identify with, have been recorded reading aloud children’s books, particularly books written by Ghanaian authors. Ramah Brew read The Singing Tortoise by J.O. De Graft Hanson.