Eight is NOT enough

We went to sign up for the summer reading program at the library. When I got home to look at the packets, I was pretty disappointed in the standards they have set. It's all pretty much left up to what and how you want to do it, and basically to meet the first goal you need to read eight books, eight hours, or eight hundred pages. Trust me, it was much, much more difficult to earn a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut and free ice cream from Dairy Queen when I was a kid.
I just get frustrated with standards being set lower and lower. And maybe if I hadn't required reading logs as a teacher and always gotten a ton of complaints, these low standards wouldn't bother me so much. But they do. Here is the one I heard the most, "Billy hates reading, why should he read for thirty minutes a day five times a week?" Um, Billy hates it because he can't read well, and he can't read well because he hasn't had enough practice. I always wanted to require Billy to read more, definitely not less.
There are sixty days to complete the reading program. And two goals of eight books/hours/hundred pages isn't enough for kids. Don't even say that summer is a time to relax- the requirements allow kids to read comic books, magazines, or even listen to books on audio. What about any of those choices aren't relaxing? Anyone who has taught will tell you that a child's ability to read and to read well plays into every other aspect of school and every subject.
We have been playing outside a lot and then realizing that it's gotten late and it's bedtime. I would rather skip bathing and forgo hygiene that short our reading time together. It's too important.
There, I've vented. I feel a little better. Think I'll go read a book and calm down a little more.