Bed Time Reading

[Drusilla]

One of my daughters has a friend staying for a sleepover and this lovely little girl has never had a bedtime story. She adored it, but its left me wondering if I'm old fashioned. Do many other parents in AB land read to their children at night, or am I a dying breed?

[spudqueen]

My sons are now 14 and 11 but they ALWAYS had a bedtime story until a couple of years ago. My youngest son still reads to himself in bed before going to sleep (not highbrow stuff, things like Captain Underpants or The Beano). I know that two of my friends also read to their children (in fact one still does, her sons are 11 and 9). I can't think of a better way to get a child to sleep, plus you get to spend a lovely time of the day with them, mine were always happy to discuss the happenings of the day at this time when they were all snuggly in bed. Keep up the good work Drusilla!

[Jules001]

I used to read to my two, they are aged 17 and 13 now so obviously I don't read to them anymore, but when mine were learning to read by themselves we sometimes used to take it in turns reading a line or two each, other times I just read to them, but it was as Spudqueen says a good time to discuss anything that had happened during the day. I think it instills a love of books and reading in children as it is a pleasureable time rather than only having to read for homework or school etc.

[Gathorne]

Mine are 3 1/2 and 7 months old, and we read them a story every night. It's such a lovely cuddly part of the day - which is especially good if they've been neither lovely nor cuddly!

[stanleyman]

Stanleywoman has always read to our two and still reads to my son at 11 years old! It's a real shame this little girl is missing out on such a lovely time.

[Drusilla]

Thank you all for restoring my faith.

[gary baldy]

Me or Mrs Baldy read for about half an hour to our little one.
My brother (who isnt the sharpest tool in the box) came round the other day and said "Blimey shes got more books than me!"
She loves books but me and the mrs have always got books on the go so she is surrounded by them.
To be honest i think the sort of good people who a regular ABers are probably booky kind of people but sadly i think we are in the minority - the levels of literacy (just look at some of the spelling on this site!) are pitiful.

[JuliaSix]

Every night I read to my son and inspried within him a love of books and literature. He is now 26 yrs old and studying his second degree. Not only do I believe it created a permanent bond between us, but I feel I have set in place a future legacy.

Stories are so important to children and to adults, we never lose that ability to go within and remember or imagine. A child without stories is a child who lacks something magical.

[maximo]

I cannot remember a time when my mum or dad ever read to me, but I certainly remember my older brother reading to me ( we're 6 years apart ) ! He used to love comic books, and made me so jealous and impatient by reading them to me ( how boring is that, reading the bubbles out to your little sister... ), that I learned to read super fast! I was about 4 when I started reading the stories back to my mum, who of course knew nothing about it,and was amazed ! lol All of this was in french, of course, my native language...but I believe it gave me a taste for learning, reading and generally wanting to know more about the world ! I now have a master's in Politics, a great personal life and a wonderful family ! Oh, and I'm still a book-worm ! ;-) So please, please, read to your kids, and their friends, because not only does it bring you closer to them, but it gives them a start in life that any other kid is sadly going to miss. I know I will read to my child whenever I'm blessed with one ! Happy new year !

[maximo]

Obviously, it didn't teach me much about paragraph-making, spacing and such....lol

[Hgrove]

Yes I read to my 7 yr old, although some evenings she tells me she would rather have "talky time".

[Celtigra3]

I read to both of mine till they were ten. My daughter (now 24) is a voracious reader but my son of 26 will only read The Sun - where did I go wrong?!!

[WendyS]

Bequeathing to your children a love of stories, books and reading is one of those precious legacies that costs nothing except your time. I think it's a delightful way of arousing childrens' curiousity and encouraging them to learn to read so that they can eventually open a book and discover the answers for themselves. And what a delightful pleasure it is as an adult to delve into a good book. Somehow it catches the imagination in a way that a TV production of the same story never will because in our own minds we are creating something for ourselves, not something that somebody else has dreamed up.

[enigma]

Happy New Year Drusilla and fellow Answerbankers. My husband and I are both avid readers and so it naturally followed that we would pass on our love of reading to our children. They are aged eight , two and one so as I am sure you can imagine , they have varying tastes ! Our eldest daughter enjoys the Harry Potter and Narnia books , our youngest daughter enjoys stories about traditional characters such as Goldilocks , The Three Little Pigs etc and our baby son enjoys brightly coloured picture books too , although granted , he enjoys eating them more than reading them ! As well as reading them books , we make up our own stories and we visit our local library as a family at least once a week. It's very sad that some parents don't read their children a bedtime story because they are missing out on one of the most wonderful moments you can spend with a child , feeding their imagination and watching them hang on your every word. Sadly it's not just bedtime stories which seem to be dying out - traditional nursery rhymes seem set to be a thing of the past too. It's astonishing how many nursery aged children have no idea how many nursery rhymes and songs go. Perhaps this can be attributed to the over-sensitive PC brigade who seem to dictate to us what is deemed acceptable. My friend's daughter is not allowed to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep at nursery because it may be offensive to children of an ethnic minority grouping and may also stigmatise children with a low self esteem who may in turn believe that they are the black sheep of their family (???) Am I alone in thinking that the people who churn out ridiculous statements like this and actually get paid for this degree of lunacy , have completely lost a grip on reality ?

[cazza0310]

No Enigma you are certainly not alone.

It makes me reel to think of the stupid changes made in the name of being PC.

Who really has an issue with Baa Baa black sheep anyway??? No one I've ever spoken to (regardless of race)

I love reading to my little girl and she loves being read to I would encourage anyone to do it.

She also likes to copy the writing in her book on to her drawing pad-she hasnt started school full time yet but her writing, understanding of letters and basic spelling is excellent (although as her mum i am slightly biast that shes the most intelligent child ever born....and the most beautiful)

Reading to a child is a definate win/win - they learn from it, you and they enjoy it and you spend quality time together (a rare thing in hectic times)-sounds good to me!!

[AliJ]

I always read to my three girls when they were little, still reading to the youngest one actually as she is only eight. They were all early readers and have all developed their fathers and my love of books although they all enjoy different genres, this may be because of their difference in ages though. In answer to your question, yes, unfortuneately, we bedtime readers are a dying breed, I work in a local primary school and run the library and recently did a talk on books the children like, to all the different year groups. It turned out that only 1 or 2 children in each class have ever been read to by their parents. As for nursery rhymes they are dying out as well, I have worked in our nursery section and most of the three and four year olds coming in now don't know any of the traditional rhymes when they start school, I'm sure it's for reasons like this that we have so many children with speech problems these days, as no one at home ever bothers to speak to them, they just get spoken to when they are being told off.

[copippin]

Poor little soul to have missed out on what for many children is a favourite time of day;thanks to you Drusilla she may get a story at bedtime,she is bound to say how much she enjoyed it while she stayed with you.

Although it is many years ago since I was little,my Mum always read me a story and often it was with air-raids and all kinds of mayhem going on ;we lived in Wallasey before we were bombed out of our home.It is no wonder that in a lot of cases the standard of reading is so appalling these days,the children who feature in your other answers are the lucky ones and their literacy will be well above average as a result of the encouragement they have right from the start.

I still have all my childhood books carefully put away ready for my daughter to read to their children eventually,I think it is an essential end to the day for any child.

[Butty]

Our little daughter will be 3 in February and we've read to her every day and night from about 6 months.

She now gets 10 books a week from the library (half chosen by us and half by her) and if she really likes them (usually about 1 a week) we buy them for her.

She now has a laden bookcase and loves to choose 1 or 2 each night to have with her milk after her bath. She is also just reaching the age where she likes to take one to bed to "read" ie. to talk herself through well loved and remembered storylines.

One well priced range (usually 3 for the price of 2 and inexpensive) is the Marks and Spencers Early Readers set which are really well written and not too PC. Her favourite is the Three Billy Goats Gruff and the Troll is drowned, unlike in one ridiculous version we've got where he makes friends with the Billy Goats!

[Otrere]

My daughter was 3 in November and has had her own library ticket since she was 6 months old. She has a bedtime story every night and chooses herself which book she wants to read. She loves being read to and so we're often found reading to her/with her during the day too.

I'm now (only just) pregnant with my second but will definitely continue in this way with the new baby as well. I'm quite looking forward to the three of us snuggling up together to read a book!

Its certainly valuable and precious time spent with my little one.

[gaza47]

thanks gary baldy Im very dyslexic and my confidance in replying to some of the questions on here is a raither low because of my spelling, its coments like yours about spelling that make people with learning disorders give up , by the way I read to my kids every night and although two of them have inhereted dysexia from me they read to there children theres nothing better than seeing a 2 year old with a wide eyed look of wonder on his face when he hears about dragons and wizards

[mycatis]

I read to my son (not everynight anymore but most nights) and I have to agree, I LOVE it :-) I also kept (or re-bought) most of my childhood favourites, (The Narnia series, Gobillino, The Witches Cat, The Enchanted Forest ones, ah the memories) and love when he enjoys them as much as I did. He also reads a LOT now (he's 9) and I often find us cuddled up at night on the couch, tv off, both reading a good book. It's great!