Reading to little ones

 Reading is very important to me - novels, nonfiction, newspapers. So when we had children, I wanted to start reading to them as soon as possible. I don't remember exactly how old our son was when I started reading to him before bed. It was before he cared about stories, for sure. I would hold the book and read aloud and he would usually climb all over me.

Eventually, of course, he was able to follow the pictures and stories and started to have favorites. One of his absolute favorites was a Richard Scarry picture book. I'm pretty sure it was Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. We read it about a million times.

When he got a bit older and could read for himself, we still had read-aloud time before bed. He was reluctant to read on his own. I loved reading with him (and we continued until he 11) but also wanted him to read on his own. We were reading the first Time Warp Trio book by John Scieszka, Knights of the Kitchen Table. We came to the end of a chapter where the three main characters are about to be devoured by an ogre. I said, "Okay, that's it for tonight." 

"Give me that book!" he said, grabbing for it.

And that was the start of his independent reading journey. He has read hundreds of books since then. 

Lately other activities have pushed reading actual books aside, including an infant son, but hopefully he will rediscover the joys of book reading again. And the baby already has quite a library for when he stops putting everything in his mouth.