Read a book to your children!

[ShalShaw]

Hey,
I just had to come and say this. I have had a lot of things happen with my family that really have torn us apart! So I have applied several things to help me with my relation with my children. I think that books have been a big help for me. I think that there is nothing better than having a time set aside for my children to hear a good story rather than them having time in front of the tv. Where you can't control what they are going to see.

I have been reading harry potter with them and they just love it. The thought of reading to them came up when I was thinking about all of the special times that I had with my mother. She passed away when I was 14 years old. I remember her reading a penguin story to me multiple times.

I even have seen my 3 year old son loving a great toddler book. He has been a little crazy because he knows that he is going to have a little sister soon.

Do you have any reading stories in your life that just help you out with what you have to do? Please I would love to hear them

Thank You,
Shal Shaw

 

[JaneCash125]

Thanks for your openness and input. I wish I could relate to your hardships, but I can second that reading with your children and family is a great way to establish, maintain and further build healthy relationships with your family and children. As the kids ship off to school, you begin to realize how marginalized your influence is on them, as they begin to make friends and find teachers and other adults to look up to and admire as well.

We are lucky to live in the time we do because now more than ever, there are so many extra elements related to fiction to increase this interaction and bond. I love playing the Alchemyst online game with my son or the Fairy Godmother Academy site with my daughter; it is great family, intellectual, fun bonding.

 

[Sleepy]

We have a child on the way and I definitely plan to read to him early on. Except my grandmother I don't remember anyone in my family reading to me. I suppose my father would have read something if he'd been at home but usually he came home when I was already asleep. He took me to the library once a week so I got my reading most certainly from him. He always made me tell what I was reading about on the weekends and I loved it.

 

[abecedarian]

Our kids have always been read to. Usually I've done it, but once in a while, usually at Christmastime, Mr. Abc will read to us all by kerosene lantern. That's always special. He's strict too; they know to settle down and be quiet or he'll stop. His voice gives out, and he won't read if they want to talk too.
I read to the older kids too if they ask. Just last year I read aloud to my teenaged son. He's perfectly capable of reading anything he wants, but it's a bonding time, so I don't quibble. Besides, he chose a neat book I wouldn't have found otherwise. Really, even Mr. Abc and I read aloud to eachother..we just don't read whole books that way. Instead, we just share the 'good parts' of our current read. Bonding time...

 

[jasmine99]

I agree with you all. The time I have spent reading to my son is priceless. His dad and I read to him a lot when he was little and I really never stopped. Just last year he had to read The Grapes of Wrath for honors English. We had about a 15 minute drive to the gym every few days so I read to him while he drove. It was so much fun discussing different aspects of this novel with him (I had never read it before either) and getting to hear what he thought about it. We did the same thing with Ethan Frome this year. Lots of fun, lots of together time.

 

[SFG75]

This is a big time part of our family routine. Some nights we don't due to getting home late and that kind of thing, but I always try to make it a consistent part of our evenings. The current book the boys enjoy is called The April Rabbits where you have a few lines at the bottom of the book and you then count the number of rabbits on the page. It goes up to 29, which is of course, how many days there are in April. The book comes with a plush rabbit for the kids to hold. When we are done reading, they go to their room and count to 29 while I hide it. I can't tell you how much fun this is to wrap up the evening.:lol: It is also great to see the boys on their own, sit down and go through a book. THAT is when I know what we are doing is really taking hold.

 

[dele]

I was just thinking about this the other day. My parents used to read to me as a child, and now that we're expecting our first one, I'm planning on doing the same. I think it's such a great way to strengthen family relationships and foster a love for reading in the child. I know so many people who are proud of the fact they've never read a book in their lives... that's not the example I want to set for my child.