Hi J.,
I know the feeling, My mom NEVER bought books and my brother and I suffered tremendously, I didnt realize how important it is to read to your kids, I grew up just believing I was dumb, I couldnt really read until I started buying books for my son when he was born,I started out Reading Dr. Seuss which was a struggle, I made a commitment to always have a large variety of books and kids magazines around the house and I also print off cute things off the Net for me and my son to read before bed that bonds us, gives us something to talk about and is short so he doesnt realize I'm tricking him into doing more reading than what is required at school. I bought Hooked on Phonex for over 300 dollars when he was starting out because I thought he'd have the same struggle with reading as I did growning up, thats when I realized that the only reason I struggled Is not because I was dumb and couldnt catch on, but because I was never exposed to it. anyhow, I ended up giving my brother my expensive purchase of Hooked on Phonex to use on his daughter, he gave it to his daughters mother and she sold it on e-bay, now her daughter is struggling in reading and I see my brother and my niece having the same inseurities and beliefs that I had growing up, that we are dumb and cant learn, I'm so sad for that, so I buy books for her to keep at my brothers house, I try to never tell him what to do, rather I share my own experiance of what it was like for me and how I feared my son would be the same way and how I was so mistaken and what its like now. I feel in my heart thats all I can do, and of corse just keeping buying educatioal gifts for Birthdays, Christmas, and Easter, A great gift for the kids that doesnt require a parent necessarly is the Leap Pad, where kids point the pen to the words and the leap pad reads to them, or maybe give her kids a subscribition to Highlights for Children as a gift, you can tell her that it was only a little bit more money with the subscription of your own magazine. I'm sure there's more educational toys out there too that could help the child, maybe keep your eyes open. I did have an aunt that always read to me growing up and I will always remember her for that, we still talk to this day about how much that meant to me and how I want to pass that along to other children when they come over to my house. I think I hit a point in my childhood where I really wanted to read but the resources wern't there so I did what I could, I even stole a book of the Book-mobile and read it so many times I had it memorized, It was the only book I owned growning up, but it still wasnt enough and I fell behind, so I lost interest totally out of imbarrasement and decided it was easier to just hate reading, now I'm 34 years old and am finally realizing more than ever that I Love Reading, I never thought I would but I do, and I read books, Big Books! Its So Great, I Just think its so awesome that you care.
Good Luck on your Decision and with what ever happens.