Okay, ONE of us just learned from the OTHER one that, to be a good parent, one should read aloud to their children every single night, for like 30 minutes or something. Really? For real? I mean, that sounds reasonable in theory, but after shuttling everybody everywhere, getting house stuff done, trying to maybe take a shower on occasion, doing the whole sports/homework/dinner thing and just GETTING them into bed at a reasonable time….NOW I have to squeeze in quality reading time BEFORE they actually read quietly to themselves? I’m seriously barely hanging on here, people. Help!!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree. We’re LUCKY if it happens once a week. I try to read to my preschoolers when I can, but we don’t get anywhere near 30 minutes a day – and I’m a former teacher! When my older kids were in 1st & 2nd grade we started F.A.R.T. night with the goal being to “FART” once a week. It stands for Family All Reading Together…my attempt to get a 7 year old boy excited about reading. lol
Right now, we read to my 3 year old just about every night before he goes to bed but it is NO where near 30 min. Since he is very interested in reading the books himself (with help) my husband and i alternate picking short board books he can read out loud and don’t take up a whole bunch of time. It works for all the above. He gets reading time in and the benefit of parents not going crazy!! LOL
I have older kids who can read themselves, but it’s hard to find any extra time to read 20-30 minutes a night. I accidently hit paydirt when I picked up a book on c.d. from the public library. We listened to the book every day to and from school, which is about 30 minutes-the kids loved it and I loved that they didn’t argue while they were listening!! They were even able to take Accelerrated Reading tests on the books. We’ve heard 3 of the Percy Jackson books and my 14yo even likes them (though he probably wouldn’t admit it to his friends.) We’ve found ourselves sitting in the garage listening to the end of a chapter. This has worked so well for us and I no longer feel guilty for not reading to my kids
If, if… we read a book aloud, I’ve been known to skip words and pages of that same “Barbie” book we’ve read multiple times. Or if we are really pressed for time I say “pick your 4 favorite pages” and call it quits.
I don’t disagree that reading aloud is good, but boy is it difficult to get in!