Please read to your kids

fancythat

I would add, make sure it is suitable material, and age appropriate.

Horror stuff should not be allowed near children.
Even what masquerades as School horror books.

As long as they are reading, it's fine by me. Mine used to love stuff like the Goosebumps books. I was reading proper horror books when I was still at primary school.

Too scary for some.
Stuff of nightmares.

I videed some Scooby Doo[has it had a remake] recently.
To see what it was like now.
I couldnt watch more than about 5 mins of it.

Cressida

keepingquiet would your GD's mother agree to your son video calling to read a bedtime story to her?

No she wouldn't. She even said she would try to ban from my son from attending his DDs concerts. She's that kind of mother.
It's a minor miracle the child even attends school.

I'm with my other GC just now its half-term and we've already had discussions about what they are reading- they're too old for bedtime stories but their rooms are full of books.

What a contrast.

That's awful. Poor girl.

Children read best when it is clear that their parents also value books, that they buy them - charity shops are oozing with books, have books lying around the house and then are seen reading them.

Our family are genetic bookaholics. All our houses are full of books. I read more than I watch tv. So do our grandchildren. Screen use has always been controlled and there are still no computers in their bedrooms, all are downstairs - and they are in their mid teens.

Surrounded by books with parents and grandparents houses full of books and always reading books. It is hardly surprising that DGC have always been very good readers.

I loved to read when I was young. I would sit on the landing reading while my Mum and Dad were watching TV downstairs. As soon as I heard them preparing to come up to bed I would rush into my room and pretend to be asleep.
I find it so sad that many children have no real interest in books and reading.
I was once in an airport shop and heard a Mum say to her little girl "don't waste your holiday money on a book." So sad.

My daughter never used to read as a child. She managed to pass her English Literature GCSE reading the bare minimum of the set texts. Now she's 50 she reads all the time and we swop books. I used to read to her two sons all the time and now they are teenagers they are still reading. My other grandson is autistic and not interested in books at all. He is an expert on computers though and frequently has to help his father with things.

I suddenly feel rather like a child, who is being told what to do, in no uncertain terms, with the threat of a punishment hovering in the background.

Yes,nurturing a love of books is wonderful, but not if reading to children becomes a stern duty rather than a sharing of enjoyment.
And yes, I did read to my daughters , practically from birth.

Lol, my best birthday gift as a child was an adult library card at age 8 so I could borrow from the adults sci fi and horror section!
Stephen King, James Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, John Wyndham, and suchlike! Oops

Basgetti

Of course there is. They can share books for those few hours. Don’t give up, it all counts 😊

I entirely agree.

I was born in 1951 and in my early childhood reading bedtime stories was unheard of in the part of Scotland where I grew up.

Bedtime was bedtime, undress, fold your clothes, brush your teeth, wee, say your prayers, kiss Mummy good-night, then the light was turned out and we were told to lie down and go to sleep, like good girls.

The good girl was my little sister who fell asleep, at once I didn't.

No bedtime stories you say in horror.

No, but Daddy read books to us before dinner, and even when we were able to read ourselves, Mummy read a chapter of a book to us every afternoon, while we drank milk and ate a couple of biscuits after coming home from school - the chapters lasted longer than the milk and biscuits.

So, we grew up as avid readers.

When did bedtime stories start? I encountered them first in the early 1970s in Denmark, and thought they were a purely Danish idea among the young parents of that time, as I had never heard of them in Britain.

I agree! We read to our children from birth, however, although all them learned to read easily, only 3 out of our 5 (combined) children developed a real love of reading.

Goodness, I was born in 1958, I had bedtime stories from both parents and grannies. I’m British.

I always read to mine but they don't read now they are adults which I find really sad.

When I did family support work, the children used to love to be read to - silly voices and singing in abundance

I've always read to my children since they were babies. They are now 40 and 47. They were early readers. I used to take them to the library after school sometimes a couple of times a week, but at least once a week. They used to get through books so quickly I usually had to go back a second time each week with them. They always loved reading I'm happy to say.

I was horrified recently to read statistics about how many pre school children were read to regularly (or not it seems) - I can't remember where I saw it but I think only something like 40% of 2 year old girls were read to and about 28% of boys at that age. Dreadful! All my children were read to daily, my son has always read non stop and has such a broad knowledge as a result. My daughters less so - they have had their moments and are busy with family at the moment but one of them now commutes once a week and devours books on her journey, often ones I recommend. The grandchildren all love reading and being read to thank goodness!

I used to read Winnie the Pooh to my 2 every night and had to do all the characters in different voices. My eyes started drooping before theirs. They both enjoy reading still in their
late 50s. I was deprived of books as a child. The few which I had were read over and over. When I asked my mother why we didn't have many books she was astonished that I wanted more. Never went to the library until I started work and joined Boot's library. Remember them?

I read to my children till they were over 10 - they were reading to themselves, but still liked to be read to. I found it so good to have this time with them, and have gone on to read to grandchildren with great pleasure too. Reading is apparently good for our brains in a way no video ever will be.

I think grans are usually in favour of reading to their grandchildren, so perhaps this thread should be sent to Mumsnet . I think anyone who doesn't read to their children misses out on a wonderful experience . I can still remember the
lovely warm feeling , the closeness and the excitement of a new story.My grandchildren are now grown up , but reading to them was a two way process in terms of what we got out of it.

Being an avid reader herself my DM read us stories as children. I caught the bug and turned into an avid reader myself. I have a wall of books in my living room and in other places around the house. I read to my brothers and sister while growing up then read to their DCs,my nieces and nephews. I read to my DD when she was small and bought her several collections of books that remain on the shelves mostly untouched.
I really wish that it was true about reading to them would make them into readers but I’m afraid I’m the only reader out of all effort put in.
My family would rather their phones and devices, and then not to download books but for social media. I would love to think that all the time I spent reading to them all would have produced at least one reader but no🤷🏼‍♀️

I read to my children until they went to secondary school. One of their teachers recommended it. I taught them to read before they went to school. They always had a book on the go and in the holidays we would have reading time after lunch when we all sat and read for half an hour. Their friends knew to bring a book to play dates. I spent long afternoons reading to my grand children and really miss not having any young ones anymore.

I’ve never “hated” reading to my now adult children, nor to my grandchildren. At my house they particularly enjoy rhymes, at home they have lots of story books that aren’t so familiar to me, and it’s fun to read something different here, even traditional old nursery rhymes!

It's weird but my GS as a child hated reading 📚 still does at 24 but he still managed a electrical apprenticeship and has been in good job since passing.. most the others loved reading ....

Books and reading have been a passion all my life. My wonderful granny used to give us a separate present for christmas but there would also be a book too. How fantastic they all were, and the joy of a brand new book that no one else had opened, the smell of the book and the feel of the pages. A huge variety of books came our way, ranging from the Louisa M Alcott Little Women , to Children of the New Forest, Jane Eyre, to Pride and Prejudice and a particular cover that I remember of a book called John Halifax Gentleman and of course Swallows and Amazons and the Hobbit. The one that stuck in my memory the most from when I was about 9/10 was called Girl of the Limberlost, where the girl wants to go to college and is living with a mother with mental problems in america. She lives in the everglades sort of area and collects sets of butterflies or moths to earn the money to get her to college. Totally not acceptable these days of course but it was a book I read many times and thoroughly enjoyed.

Then as a parent and a teacher it has been a joy to me to introduce children to reading and how it can change their lives. My sisters and I all loved reading but my brother was not interested. He was 10 years younger than me and I think these days he would have been diagnosed as dyslexit as I do remember him doing things like writing S the wrong way round. He became mad keen on fishing, which was of no interest to anyone else in our family but that became the way into books as he was happy to get anything about fishing in books and pictures.

My granny starting me off with older and different writers taught me that with such books as started with the inevitable "In the year of our Lord ---- " etc, the thing to do was skip the first couple of pages and get into the story. After a few pages you then needed to fill in gaps in your knowledge and would go back to the first page which then made sense to you, Going to the library was always a treat for us, and the best of all was the joy of a book token. Then you could spend hours wandering round the book shop , holding your book token to show that you were entitled to be there and for me it was better than standing in a sweet shop. Still love a book token. Also when money was tight and bills to pay, any cash you would feel needed to go into the purse for necessities but oh joy a book token was not cash and you did not need to feel guilty for having it.

Have always read to children whether within class or reading bedtime stories , and whilst I could cheerfully have thrown the wretched Rev Audleys Thomas the Tank Engine across the room for it being so boring to read, much more fun with many other books for young children. Particularly love Each Peach, Pear Plum, which can be used in many ways and of course things like the Tiger who came to tea and the secret garden . Ah I could go on for ages, but besides the libraries, I really used to like when we were sailing our own boat, all over and up round the Hebrides and west coast of Scotland. Then there was a good scheme of put a book in, take one out, in various harbours or moorings., where there might be no library available or useful for the traveller. The great fun was you never knew what might be available, and whilst you pounced on something you had really wanted often there would just be books that you might never have looked at , but given all there was available, you would read something that elsewhere wouldnt have got a look in and sometimes found a new author to devour. Have struggled to improve my knowledge of other languages when a book that was available was in french orswedish etc. That certainly got my son reading more as tucked up in a bunk in harbour in horrible weather reading was the most available and enjoyable thing to do.

I used to keep a small secret stash of books in case we ended up somewhere with absolutely nothing available but much preferred him to find his own choice. Now have the pleasure of talking books occasionally with my grandson, who of course uses computers and screens but still enjoys reading the occasional book and talking to me about it. So long as he is finding that joy in reading I dont mind what he reads. Living abroad also broadens your outlook as if there is only a very small section in a language that you can read you can find yourself reading all sorts of things.

I know that Kindle etc suits some people, but I have always loved holding the actual book as part of the pleasure,and having a book by my bed, available to read at 2am if I wake up , or have a nightmare and have encouraged my grandson to keep a book at the ready. You rarely hear people talking about the other things that surround reading as in the touch and feel of the actual book. I am grateful for getting the reading bug early in my life and look across so many years , still carrying on, of the joy of reading, whether it is learning how to make something,or the brilliance of being able to be transported to Treasure Island or whereever far away from the reality of having chemo stuck in a hospital ward. I do love things like TV to see wonderful gardens in colour or to actually see the lovely colours of paintings etc but give me a book anytime if it has to be a choice and it will bring so much pleasure into life. So you are giving children a jewel for life,if you can encourage them to read for themselves, whilst still loving that sharing cheering time together. The best present you can give and you will be remembered for it, maybe not now but in years to come.

I’ve lovely memories of reading to two of my sons third definitely wasn’t interested. I’ve just retired and miss so much story time at the nursery all of my messages from previous parents was about the children loving my story times. Read to your children and grandchildren they will remember it. So much is gained by literacy.

Not all kids are like that. My grandsons love reading, they also love playing computer games. Some kids can do it all.