Reading aloud (teaching, have to tell her, baby, toddler)
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Do you read aloud to your young children? If not, why not?
I have found that the kids really eat it up - especially the classics, Mother Goose, Little Red Riding Hood, The Billy Goats Gruff, etc. And they love the antics, the voice inflections, the scary parts.
I read all the "Little Golden Books" to my oldest daughter when she was very small, and she couldn't get enough. She'd bring me stacks of them. Her Pop Pop used to read her Goldilocks and the Three Bears - when they'd get to the part when Goldilocks sat in the baby bear's chair, my daughter would get all upset. "She broke it! Look, she broke it! Did they fix it, Pop Pop?" He'd have to tell her, "Yes, the Papa Bear got a bottle of glue and glued it back together," or, "They went out and bought baby bear a new one, because he was outgrowing the old one," or something like that. If he didn't, she'd go on and on about how Goldilocks shouldn't have broken Baby Bear's chair...
My younger daughter wouldn't sit still long enough to be read to, even by her older sister (who is six years older). The older has a room in her house called her "Reading Room" for her shelves full of books - the younger wouldn't read one if you paid her.
Last edited by Mrs. Skeffington; 04-25-2012 at 02:25 AM..
Yes, we do that a lot. There is always a bedtime story, and they often come up to me with a book during the day too. Goldilocks and Red Ridinghood are favourites, and they know them so well they usually "take over reading" it. We also have some books of Irish mythology for kids (my home country) which they love. When they were even smaller, the only way I'd get to read my own books was to read them aloud while we were in the playroom, so the kids got to listen to a lot of historical mysteries and political non-fiction :P
There is so much more involved in reading to a child than most people are aware of. Read The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. The bonding which happens during reading is psychological and physical. Hearing language, intonations, expression all build language skills, help with teaching phrasing as well as diction, pronunciation. Reading aloud to children is one of the most important gift you can give your kids. Our girls are 9 and 10 and the 10 y.o. reads about 1.5 full books a day but she still asks for and receives a bedtime story from Daddy every night. And don't get me started on what it does for him!
My oldest never liked being read to when she was a baby/toddler, but I did it every day anyway. Even now at age 6 she won't pay attention to any story line (not even ones that are of interest to her, such as Barbie). She always sat still and 'behaved' at circle time in preschool (probably due to positive peer pressure) and is on grade level in kindergarten. She just doesn't want to read any more than she has to. I'm a bit confused by this because I am a very avid reader, and "they" say that reading to small children and having them see the parent read will help develop them into good readers. I guess my oldest is the exception to that. (No, she doesn't have any signs of a learning disability; she's just a very visual and kinesthetic type of person.)
My youngest, on the other hand, is 15 months and LOVES to be read to. She is constantly bringing me her favorite book and climbing on my lap for a story. Her current favorite book is One Fish, Two Fish.
We read aloud quite a bit (my kids are 3.5 and 6mos). Our oldest's bedtime routine entails reading for at least 30 minutes, sometimes we read aloud exclusively, sometimes he fills in words, and he recently started reading some smaller board books to us). It is not uncommon for him to "read" to himself during the day or to ask for books to be read aloud, in which case I do family story time and read to both kids. The youngest is still at the "books are for reading, not for eating" reminder stage, but she has some cloth books to practice on. One of my favorite memories from my own childhood is my dad reading me a chapter a night from "The Hobbit" when I was in second grade. I am looking forward to passing on the tradition in a few years.
Started very early and continued way after dd was able to read on her own. Too many parents stop doing it. The idea is to do it until they refuse. It's a great way to expose your kids to more sophisticated and beautiful language. It also is wonderful bonding time.
Do you read aloud to your young children? If not, why not?
I have found that the kids really eat it up - especially the classics, Mother Goose, Little Red Riding Hood, The Billy Goats Gruff, etc. And they love the antics, the voice inflections, the scary parts.
I try to read to my daughter (7months) everynight but sometimes she falls asleep too quick.
She loves it though all thr bright pictures and soft stuff to touch. Great mommy baby time
My oldest never liked being read to when she was a baby/toddler, but I did it every day anyway. Even now at age 6 she won't pay attention to any story line (not even ones that are of interest to her, such as Barbie). She always sat still and 'behaved' at circle time in preschool (probably due to positive peer pressure) and is on grade level in kindergarten. She just doesn't want to read any more than she has to. I'm a bit confused by this because I am a very avid reader, and "they" say that reading to small children and having them see the parent read will help develop them into good readers. I guess my oldest is the exception to that. (No, she doesn't have any signs of a learning disability; she's just a very visual and kinesthetic type of person.)
My youngest, on the other hand, is 15 months and LOVES to be read to. She is constantly bringing me her favorite book and climbing on my lap for a story. Her current favorite book is One Fish, Two Fish.
What I learned is that even when you think they aren't getting it or paying attention they are. Sometimes my daughter would be next to me playing with dolls while I read. She was paying attention. I know because I would ask her about what I had read. All kids are different. You just read, read, read.
We much prefer to tell stories than to read out loud stories. We vary how it's done.
-Sometimes it's a variation of a well known story like the 3 bears leave their house after ordering pizza and head to home depot and goldilocks delivers the pizza and just can't stand to not try it. lol
-Other times we will do a round robin with each contributing Once upon a time.....there was a dragon....who fell off the toilet.
-Then there are times I'll make up a wild and crazy story using a take off of my kids names. Namezilla woke up to find she was sleeping on the ceiling and it was raining skittles in the room.
To me this helps them to develop thinking skills, creativity and imagination, among other things, which in turn helps them when it comes to the future writing assignments. We always have a beginning, a middle and an end. We always have a clear plot with descriptive words flowing, often trying out various ones until we find the one we all like the best so constantly building vocabulary. And we drop in moral lessons on occasion just for fun. haha
Anyway, my kids got plenty of read aloud books when they wanted them, but they are 9 and 14 now and have preferred telling stories for quite some time.
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One of my favorite memories from my own childhood is my dad reading me a chapter a night from "The Hobbit" when I was in second grade. I am looking forward to passing on the tradition in a few years. 
