I’ve always been a very avid reader. One of my favorite activities is getting lost in a story. While I’m also a fan of movies and TV (especially really trashy bad tv, don’t judge) nothing compares to the world I can create in my own mind while reading a book.
When I was pregnant, my grandparents surprised me with a huge box of my old books from my childhood. I had no idea they had saved them and I had a wonderful time going through them and remembering. I saved almost all of them for my own daughter and she had a full bookshelf before she was even born.
We started reading pretty much the day she came home from the hospital. Honestly, even though I had always planned on reading to her, those early days I read because I didn’t know what else to say to her. Newborns aren’t exactly conversationalist and thanks to a traumatic birthing experience we were all but bed/couch ridden. I wanted to talk to her and as a new mom I can also admit that I was terrified I wasn’t doing “enough,” but ya’ll, there’s only so much to say when you can’t even move.
She took to books immediately. I read anything and everything to her. She developed her own love of reading. She loves her books and her language skills have surpassed her age, which is something I credit to the vast amount of words she hears during story time.
Reading to your child has so many benefits including:
- Developing language and critical thinking skills
- Bonding time
- Determining a routine. We read 1 story before each nap and she gets 2 stories before bed. Goodnight Moon is always the last book she reads at night and is a great signal for bedtime
- You get to enjoy and relive some of your favorite childhood books!
Now that my kid is getting older, she runs around a lot during our story time. That’s okay! Keep reading and talking about the pictures. Even if they aren’t sitting and diligently paying attention the benefits are seeping in. Also you don’t really have to stick to “Age appropriate books.” What I mean by that is feel free to read children’s books that you enjoy even if they seem too long or too many words. You can always read a little at a time. If you seem like you don’t want to read the book your child won’t be interested either. The public library is a great resource for getting new material!
I have so many books that I can’t wait to share with my daughter. I hope all of you can find books to enjoy as a family as well!
