Why My Kids Beg Me To Read Over 50 Books A Week
So I was at the park the other day. I struck up a conversation with a certified teacher that was watching a 2 year old and a 4 year old as a nanny. She watches them 10 hours a day. I asked her what a typical day looked like for her. She said something interesting, “The first thing in the morning, we watch TV. Then we play and get out the house and then it’s nap time. Then we watch more TV.”
I was so sad to hear this. I asked her, “Do you all go to the library every week? I know we check out over 50 books a week!”
She was amazed that we could read that many books in one week. I think we actually read more, if you include the books that are in the kid’s rooms. My daughter puts herself to bed reading books every night.
I told her that “It’s easy to read so many books in a week. We just read a little bit throughout the day. We read at lunch time, we read 5 books while they are in the bath and we read before bed. After 7 days of reading, we have read over 50 books.”
She really liked the idea of going to the library every week for books. I told her, “It’s free. They have computers and my kids like to get new books. So it’s a win-win.”
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We buy books from thrift stores and from yard sales. I know where all the “Free book” donation boxes are around town. People from church even drop off boxes of books to us just because they know how important it is to me.
We use books as a reward. My daughter loves the responsibility of having her own library card and having her own book bag filled with books just for her.
They know that books are special and that they need to be treated with kindness. I am telling them all the time not to rip books or step on them. They know that I have to pay good money to replace books if they are damaged
The kids love cuddling with us as we read to them. It’s a time of closeness and interaction. I’m not on my phone, I’m not working or doing anything else when I am reading to the kids. This is their greatest time of learning side-by-side with me.
We use books for interaction time. There are so many activities that you can do with books. You can point to pictures, you can make a craft with books. You can do math projects with books. I get science experiment books all the time from the library.
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I remember that someone came over to babysit the kids one night. He had never put little children to bed before, but we assured him that the kids pretty much know the deal. I told him to read some books to the kids before bed. He was amazed that my kids could sit through- not only one book but 10 books before they got bored. He said that he only sees kids reading like that in movies. I told him that our kids are used to it. We have been reading to them since they were infants
So that's how we get our kids to read over 50 books a week- we make it a priority.
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How do your kids get into the love of reading?
I would love to hear from you!
Christal
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