Re-starting the reading habit with my son

Even before my son was born, I knew I wanted to read to my child. One of the most appealing images of parenthood for me was of a parent and a child snuggled up under a quilt with a dreamy expression on their faces and a brightly illustrated storybook propped up against their knees.

So, of course, I had stock piled a collection of picture books and was determined to read to my son from the day he tumbled out of the womb, all ripe and wrinkly. I finally did start reading to him when he was three weeks old, and he seemed to enjoy listening and looking at stories in the way a newborn could. Solemnly with eyes as round as marbles.

As I made my way across this foreign terrain of motherhood, with its cracked ice ground and egg-shell thin emotions, I clutched to stories. As I fumbled and stumbled in those initial long months, it was stories and books, pictures and a legacy of reading that I held on to. Always hoping that my son would one day love books and that one day, I’d be more of the mother I wanted to be.

Fast forward a year, and my son was loading books onto his pillow, asking for more stories to be read before he was finally ready to go to bed. We’d read anywhere from eight to 10 books in a day. And while, I would get bored of reading his favorites again and again and again, I was secretly happy that he had dived into the land of books with such enthusiasm.

Fast forward another year-and-a-half, right to the present. The box of children’s books beckons us brightly from the corner of the room. The regular pile of children’s books, tucked under the pillow, begs to be shuffled and exchanged for new ones. My son still loves stories just as much, but I lie beside him, tired of reading one book after another. Laziness. That’s what it is on my part. And a need for shaking up the old routine.

So here I am today, renewing my vows to read more to my son, to offer him stories before his afternoon nap and before he nods off at night. I’m crafting this reading goal with a healthy dollop of realism, which means that he not only enjoys listening to the stories, but that I equally enjoy reading/telling them as well. And for this, I’ll choose books and the number of books, depending on how much time and energy we have to offer to this ritual on that particular day. So, rather than choosing between 10 books a day and no books at all, we do books to suit the day. The middle path that makes story reading doable.

And this time, since he is older and very interested in the nuances of language, I want to also introduce him to the world of audio stories. I love the free story apps and I am also considering trying out a subscription to Sparkle Stories with their treasure chest of beautifully told stories about children and animals and gnomes.

So, here’s to reading to children. And here’s to a new promise to sustain and thrive on this journey into the land of stories!

What kind of books do you enjoy reading to your children?

#storybooks #reading