Reading to kids

Once upon a time, when I was expecting my third child (so before the birth of this blog), I used to read to my son and daughter one hour every day. Minimum.

Gabbers was just a year and a half at the time with a very short attention span. Mostly she was interested in eating the books. It was difficult to get through a book with her before she’d pull it out of my hands.

Reading time usually ended up being with just my three year old Pookie on my lap, or rather the side of my lap, and reading book after book after book, while Gabbers had usually hopped down at that point and was crawling around seeking and destroying and eating books.

Our home is filled with books. Before Pookie was born, I joined a book club to get him all the classic Dr. Seuss books.  One of the books we got from the hospital in our goodie bag when he was born was called, Read to Me by Jackie Leavitt (Governor Mike Leavitt's wife).  I got the message.  Reading to my child is important.  I still have that book memorized.  It has long since fallen apart from having read it several times per week through the first three kids.

Before Pookie had a single toy, he had a dozen books.

I started reading to him at less than a few weeks old. I was frustrated when he’d fall asleep while I read to him. I read him board books and Dr. Seuss books every day. And the last book of each reading session was a chapter of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web.

Did you know that children younger than fourth grade have an amazing ability to memorize?

Take advantage of it.

I found that when I read to my oldest and spent just a little time every day helping him memorize things like his planets, U.S. presidents, 50 states and capitals, scriptures, pledge of allegiance, etc, he had less tantrums and oodles of confidence.

I am particularly excited today because our school supplies just arrived. I’m jumping into full-time homeschooling again. Well, as soon as I figure out where to put all these new books. I can’t wait for the look on Pookie’s face when he comes in from the playground and sees what arrived.

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This post is linked to WFMW at We are THAT family.