And then, little Miss J came along. She threw books that were handed to her. She chewed relentlessly on the corners and pages of board books, destroying these precious jewels that we had in pristine condition from my oldest child's infant days. She ran around when I tried to read to her, and I was very, very frustrated. THIS was not fun. THIS was not relaxing. Reading aloud was like taming a wild beast into submission, and it felt somewhat forced.
My oldest fell in love with books just because they were books, patiently listening to me read for long periods every night, however my youngest pranced around the room as I read to the air. I worked really hard to find ways to engage my little wild thing, sometimes referred to as a toddler.
I assumed that she didn't care about our book reading before bed, until one night when I tried to put her to bed without books.
"Books!!! Books!!!!" my toddler screamed. "BOOKS!!!!"
So I obliged. And we read together. And she fell asleep clinging to her little collection of Gossie & Friends Board Book Gift Set
And so began my daughter's love of books.
Now, there is nothing I love more than catching her reading.
Caught reading in the rocking chair.
Caught reading to her horse.
Caught reading in the car.
Caught reading to Little Critters.
Caught reading with her sister.
I do believe the best side effect I have noticed thus far from reading aloud to my kids is catching them reading on their own free will.
And make sure to check out Pragmatic Mom's Series of sharing kids getting caught in the act of reading.
And make sure to check out Pragmatic Mom's Series of sharing kids getting caught in the act of reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I would love to hear your thoughts.