What if...

(This is my current article from the CBA Industry magazine.)

Over the past year, my life has been changed.

And now, as we move headlong into a general election for the leader of our nation, this thought that has changed my life grows even more apparent.

One thing that we have already heard many times from the various politicians that are running for president is a statement that I know we could all recite. That statement is…

“What kind of world are we going to leave our children?”

In this, we find a core reason for why these politicians are seeking the opportunity to serve. However, for me, this statement has taken on a whole different look and has challenged me both as a parent and as a retailer.

The only difference is this…

I believe it is time to change that statement around for it to read like this…
“What kind of children are we going to leave our world?”

As both a parent, and a retailer that sells and even features products for children, I find this new way of looking at this old and sometimes overused statement… challenging.

As I have had the privilege to visit many of our industry stores and speak to many of our vendor partners, I see and hear something troubling…

Why do our children’s departments not make any sense?

Now, this is not meant to be a sweeping statement. And, I do not claim to have perfect children’s departments in our stores.

However, if we truly seek to impact our world through what we do through this amazing industry called, Christian Retail. Then, it seems we need to move headlong into our children’s departments with one question in mind…

“What kind of children are we going to leave our world?”

What would our children’s departments look like if we looked at them through this lens?

This seems like something we could all work together on across the board as an industry initiative to improve literacy in children.

Let’s hit the pause button for a moment and check out these statistics covering the past decade on illiteracy in the United States.

•Low literacy is strongly related to crime. 70% of prisoners fall into the lowest two levels of reading proficiency (National Institute for Literacy, 1998).

•Low literacy is strongly related to unemployment. More than 20% of adults read at or below a fifth grade level – far below the level needed to earn a living wage.

•75% of today’s jobs require at least a ninth-grade reading level (National Institute for Literacy, 1998)

•Low literacy is strongly related to poverty. 43% of those with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. (National Institute for Literacy, 1998)

•Close to 37 million people live below the federal poverty level in America, and the majority of these are women and children (1997)

•In 1997, 47% of Philadelphia’s homeless were families with children who lack sufficient reading skills; 10,340 homeless children were deprived of good reading practice. (Office of Housing and Community Development)

•The adult illiteracy rate in the United States is 38.4%

•More than 4 in 10 preschoolers, 5 in 10 toddlers, and 6 in 10 babies are not read to regularly. (1998)

•40% of American children have difficulty reading or learning to read. (1999)

•The average family in Philadelphia has one book: the phone book
Matter of fact, as I write this article, I am meeting with a pastor in the deepest urban part of Portland, Oregon. The statistics he is showing me about the demographics within one mile of his building are astounding.

As I sat there and listened to him, I find myself getting very excited about the possibility of returning to our roots by seeking to transcend the methods of traditional retail, lead, or be a part of a some sort of movement that takes us beyond ourselves, and puts us smack dab in the middle of God’s work in the communities around us.

As we discussed in my last article, I truly believe that together with our communities… we can make a difference and we can be relevant.
Now, again, I do realize this is a merchandising column, so… walk with me a little bit through our kids departments and let’s ask these “what if” questions…

•As many of our vendors over the past few years have worked to offer retailers merchandising materials to better present our Bible departments to our guests… why not offer the same concept, but for the kids departments?

However, for the kids departments…

oSignage/Materials by age group

oBut, how about this for a twist… the top shelf of those categories will be parenting books for parents which have kids in those age groups.

•Now, again, I realize this is not rocket-science, and maybe some of you are already doing this. I know that some of the big box stores are at least breaking up books by age group instead of category. But, throw books on the top shelf for the parents to help them in their development of parenting skills… whoa!

Are you starting to see it? Oh how overwhelming our kids departments can be to a parent, and even an employee for that matter.

I don’t know about you, but when I read stats like I briefly mentioned, I get a sense of urgency to make our kids departments work and to make sense and to be meaningful. Certainly, we can add all the color we want and the fun posters and the kid’s movies playing, but…what are we doing to make the process easier and meaningful? What are we doing to get not only kids reading, but parents too?

But, let’s not stop here on our walk through the kids department.

Now that we have made sense of how we rack the books, ensure all kids product releases have recommended age groups on them, and have identified solid books for parents with kids those ages…

What about the good old summer reading programs? These are excellent and many of you are doing these, as it is critical to keep kids reading during summer. But, kids are learning to read throughout the entire year. Kids are getting tested on their reading skills throughout the entire year. Kids are doing book reports throughout the entire year. Why can’t they be reading our books? Why can’t they be learning to read, by reading our books and especially the Bible? Why not turn our summer reading programs into vendor/retailer/community/church sponsored reading initiative throughout the entire year?

In essence, we are then turning our kid’s book departments into a year round reading program for every level of reader and age group.

Have you ever been to Chuck E. Cheese? Yeah, only when you have to, you might say. But, those kids, [and me too] work hard to earn those tickets. Some even save them up for their next trip there.

Why are they doing this? They want to earn a really cool prize. I mean, have you seen how these kids covet those tickets? You would think they held the ark in their very hands.

So, why can’t we do this? Why can’t we reward both kids and their parents for year round reading? And yes, I said parents too. Part of this initiative needs to be challenging parents to read with their kids at least 30 minutes per day.
Can you imagine the impact on families, schools, communities, the economy, the future, and most importantly… the Kingdom?

True, we have worked hard together in this industry over the years to best integrate our operations. Sometimes, we have seen success, while others…
But, for me, I see no greater initiative we could and should unite on then improving literacy.

So, how well do you know the literacy rate in your community? Find out. How well are you connected to those in your community that are committed to improving literacy?
Now is the time my friends. As we continue to hear more and more dreary forecasts of the future and as we continue to be so focused on making that next payment to that vendor, let’s stop for a moment and get strategic.

Let’s remember two things…

A. Do our stores reflect the Greatest Story Ever Told?
B. What kind of children will we leave our world?

Between these two things… I believe a bright, no… make that… a very bright future lies straight ahead.

In this, will you join me? Can we join together? For more information on literacy, please check out a little site I built found at… www.togethernow.wordpress.com
Together, we can make a difference.