Reading with your grandchildren ...do you value it?

GD aged 9 has just phoned to tell me she has her own blog about books. No problem with being a keen reader there then!

I read to my sons at bedtime even after they were both fluent readers. I remember reading all of The Wind in the Willows - my own old copy - and they enjoyed hearing me read from the Puffin Book of Children's Verse. They also liked Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. I think verse is fun because the rhyme and rhythm are infectious - and excellent mnemonic devices.
I've read to all my GC - the eldest lived close to me so I read to her often. I don't see the others so frequently but have provided plenty of books which they have loved. I still read to the two youngest when I see them. All the GC have their own book cases as I had when I was young. Now GD, aged 9, and a voracious reader, is agitating for a Kindle - not sure that's such a good idea. 10th birthday coming up though - maybe mum and dad will cave in.

My grandaughter (aged six) said unprompted today; "“My brain travels down into my tummy for a while and it leaves a big space inside my head for the story".
Moment of grandmaternal pride - sorry!

Luckily my grandchildren come from families who love to read. My son and his wife have been reading to my oldest GD since she was tiny, I read to her when I'm staying with them. Both sets of grandparents have given the children books - I have a lot left over from my own children and I'm gradually passing them on. The little one is only 7 months old but already enjoys looking at the pictures etc. I can't imagine a home without books and I love it that my son and wife feel the same way.

My mother read to us and I could read before I went to school. I used to love curling up on the sofa with my sisters and brother, listening to my mum reading the Magic Faraway Tree (I can see my copy of it from where I'm sitting).

I read to all my children and encouraged reading for the sheer pleasure of it. The house is full of books and we all swap favourite books regularly.

I love reading to my grandchildren - I always seem to end up reading 'just three more stories, nana' when I put my little grandsons to bed. One of them now sits on the end of his bed with an open book facing away from him, showing the pages to me and his brother, whilst he tells the (made up) story to us.

Can't wait to share all the books my tiny grandaughters already have waiting, including Little Miss Twins!

I read to my granddaughter as I did to my own children. My mother never read to me though.

I have always read for pleasure as well as for work, but my husband does not and never has done. He has a successful career as have many other non-reading men of my acquaintance.

Personally I don't think reading to your children will guarantee their success in later life. As with the factors contributing to heart attacks or dementia, there are probably many ingredients which need to be combined in the right way.