Reading with Mummy at Bed time

Why am I writing this?

I really really love reading and writing. I do it for a living, teaching English as a second language; I socialise via the forum on Simple Savings; I participated in a wonderful Mums gorup on line called Newtown Mums in the past. My idea of a great day at work is when I have helped students to conquer academic style in writing or to understand how to suceed in our challenging reading exams. I have two young children known as Dear Daughter (DD) and Dear Son (DS) for privacy reasons who both love to read but interestingly both are struggling to learn to write. My struggles to help them, with the support of their wonderful public school teachers are something I will include in this blog. My vision for this blog is to include book reviews and your comments, links to great sites and  other online resources about reading and literacy, and to comment on libraries and other reading and writing related community resources.

Reading with Mummy at bed time

I began reading to DS when he was about 12 months old, having read a great book about reading to kids, by Mem Fox. DS used ot be very distressed if I left him alone in the bedroom at night to go to sleep, so we soon ditched the controlled crying apporach. Instead I would lie on the bed, reading Good Night little Bear slowly and commenting on the pictures. DS would prowl around on the bed in manic circles until eventually he would look startled and then crash where he was, and fall deeply asleep. Eventually curiosity got the better of him one night and he looked at the page for about 2 seconds before returning to his wanderings. Gradually looking at the book became more frequent and each linger a little longer. Finally he would snuggle up for a few minutes at a time. At this point I began to askig him if he could see the Teddy bear. It was an exciting moment the night he pointed to the bear. From the teddy, who was brightly coloured, we moved to the shadowy bunnies and deer in one picture. I should add my son's speech was delayed too, though at this stage I thought he was still in the "normal' range. Pointing to the pictures reassured me he understood a lot of what I was saying. That wonderful little cardboard book, which we still have and I plan to keep in a treasure box for his children one day, was the start of a wonderful new habit- reading with Mummy at bed time.

When DS was 14 months old his sister was born. We are a cosleeping family so DS was moved into his own bed right next to mine and DD slept in the middle between her father and I. The reading naturally continued.
She was a bibliophile early and often. She would pick up a cloth book at tell a story to herself from about 6 months of age. Totally incomprehensible to us but very expressive. This habit continued, though in general she was a quiet child. Her favorite first book was about an Owl Family, which she was given by her Nanna. the first copy was sadly damaged in the hurly messy burly of life, a tragic victim to spilt milk. I have since bought a new copy. I think we still have the original cuddly toy owl though.

What is beautiful and amazing to me, is that now at 6 and 7 years old, my lovely children still enjoy reading these books. DD loves to take on the characters and has a voice for each. DD and DS will argue about which character they each get to be, reading aloud in bed at night.

We moved on to Dr Seuss pretty early. I think DS was about 2. To have a bit of variety I used sing (and I sing so badly I am practically flat and sharp at the same time) parts of One Fish Two Fish red Fish Blue fish. At least I did until my DS objected LOL. Hop on Pop, the Diggingest Dog, and my DS's personal favorite, the Bearenstein's B book have all been read so often we can chant them. I wonder how they would sound presented as Gregorian chants? These books too are still popular, with the kids enjoying reading pages themselves and playing with their voices.

DD has developed into a wonderful story teller. We often lie in the dark, playing the roles of the 3 little Pigs, incorporating best friend's names into the stories. DD who can cover her eyes and bury her head in my lap still, if she finds a cartoon too scary, is a ruthless wolf killer- in her version of Little Red Riding hood, the wolf lands in the pot of hot water and is boiled to death, in the process of making wolf soup!

I still read to or with my kids almost every night. I do occassionally delegate bed time reading to the dear husband who does a great job too. If I don't read to them in bed, I read to them while they are in the bath. I have been known to read to them while the DH (dear husband) drives.

If you have kids or know kids, read to them and with them. Play with your voice. It really doesn't matter if you perceive yourself to be a good,expressive reader or as being as dull as dishwater: kids LOVE to share books. If you have low literacy skills, read what you can. As the kids learn more they'll help you! If you are busy studying read your text books to your baby- they LOVE the sound of your voice. If you are broke join your local library- fantastic resources for free. Reading almost any material at all bar illegal stuff is good. I have read chapter books like treasure Island, Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland way too early, when they couldn't concentrate that long, but they still got some pleasure from it. Now they are older they love hearing these books and keep demanding "one more chapter" late into the night.