Snuggled close, tucked in, one on each side, heads on my shoulders…when everyone is settled and comfortable, I open the book and we begin to read. This is what I do with my children Hannah (6) and Jonah (4) every night before they go to bed. It’s been this way since the first days of their lives. At first, they were soft books, then, cardboard books and now, chaptered books. My kids are thrilled to be able to travel the world, be an animal, experience outer space and simply unleash their imagination with books. In fact, we could give away the television and they would scarcely notice.
Reading has become such an integral part of our lives and by now, we must own about 500 children’s books. Going to the bookstore is one of our favorite pastimes. For the academically driven, reading with children at an early age helps to develop their attention span, focus, language and speech development, just to name a few benefits. But for us, it’s about being close, laughing, sharing and communicating.
Recently, my daughter has been the reader while Jonah and I are her audience. At times, my son will read some of the words he knows. Not only are they becoming confident readers, they are also active listeners. Some of our favorite books include The Giving Tree, Guess How Much I Love You, The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Skippy Jon Jones and Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, just to name a few.
As I am writing this, my children are in their pajamas, sitting nearby. They have each chosen a book to read. They’re flipping through the pages, looking at the pictures and asking me to hurry. I can’t wait to see what adventures we’ll be exploring tonight!
