Reading with Kids

     How important is reading in a family?  Reading is an obvious help to kids intellectually, but it is also a great bonding opportunity. From the time you read to and with little ones right through the time you encourage their reading beyond high school, both of you benefit:)
     Babies: in and out of the womb, while cuddling, helping to recognize people, places, and animals, hearing rhythm and rhyme.

board books

Gyo Fujikawa...beautiful books for baby and beyond!

     Toddlers: great learning time. They suck up knowledge!! Repeat stories often, shapes, colors, numbers - and best of all, more time spent with you:)

another of Gyo's books

beautiful, inside and out

     Young ones (5-8ish): love humor and science - encourage both. Read stories about life skills: honesty, responsibility.

Berenstain Bears teach lots of values

read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books out loud to your kids:)

     Kids older than about 9 tend to veer away from reading or read like crazy. This is also when many parents discontinue reading to their kids before bed since the kids can read on their own, but if you find interesting books a little above their reading level you can continue to read a chapter a  night of great books to them and enjoy that "us" time so important at that age. Many kids heard the Harry Potter books before reading them themselves.

Harry Potter can lead to Stephen King later in life

     Every night at our house, I would read 1 or 2 books to the boys. They had decided when they were young that they wanted to stay in the same bedroom, so they were in their own beds with me on the floor between them reading. After books, Daddy would tell a made-up Hiawatha story, such as How the Skunk got its Stripe. The boys loved them! More great memories!

     Now, for a moment of truth: neither boy enjoyed reading in high school or college!! Yikes, how did that happen?? But once they were out on their own I would share books that I loved. I convinced them to read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code which led them to appreciate reading again. I suggested a few more that they liked and now they do read much more often. Scott likes nonfiction best, while Chad enjoys Stephen King and that genre.

a favorite before it became a bestseller

     I'm glad they have found a joy of reading, but even if they hadn't...I would have loved every minute of the time we spent with them reading together, telling stories, and enjoying our time together as a family!!

An all-time favorite Richard Scarry book, along with
Cars and Trucks and Things That Go!!

Enjoy your reading time:)

Happy Parenting!

D and C