No parent wants to hear that their child is not doing well at school, let alone that he struggles with reading and that his peers are ahead of him. My husband, Tshepo Sefotlhelo and I, Tina Sefotlhelo became those parents. We had to get extra lessons and dedicate extra time to help our son close the gaps. Reading was one of the highlighted challenges at the beginning of this journey and now it's one of his favourite things to do. He would skip words when reading and could not pronounce certain words, even words he had read before. The most difficult part for us was the fact that he could not comprehend or tell the story of what he had read. As a family we had to change the way we do things, invest more time with him in-between the day-to-day hustle and bustle. Reading had to form part of our family quality time. We had to find creative ways to make reading exciting for him as there were other 'fun' activities competing for his attention. I mean 'why read when he could watch TV or play outside with his sister?' We started from reading a paragraph, to reading three books on a good day. The joy we feel every time we hear him read fluently, confidently and reciting a story to his little sister after completing a book; is beyond words. He is certainly not perfect at reading but his improvement and transformation through this experience not only helped him with his development but, helped us as his parents invest more time in reading. This experience gave birth to ReaderLympics, an initiative aimed at making reading a fun social activity for friends and family, more so for children. Through ReaderLympics we hope to share our own experience with many other parents and care givers who share our commitment to helping children read.