Read to me

You will notice the new "Read To Me" button is the sidebar. It's there to remind me, and you, that reading with you child is one of those little life pleasures that we need to do more often. Like all of life's little pleasures, reading to your kiddo is one of the things that gets bumped off of the things to do list on a regular basis. It's frustrating when you have to make a concerted effort to bump something else and make the time for the reading. When that happens it starts to look like a chore and then it becomes something that gets easier and easier to forget about.


That's what happens to me, and it's too darn bad! So, that button is there to remind me that I need to rethink what important time I am letting slide by.




I remember when my oldest was a newborn. I went out and purchased a few of the Peter Rabbit series that were just about the size of the palm of your hand. I could nurse Mitchell and still hold and read the book to him. Reading was always the best time of the day then, not to be replaced by homework and sports and other after-school activities. It was then that my obsession with kids books began. When Mitchell and I started to wander out into the world it was a bookstore that I headed to more than not. Children's books were like a treasure of colour and words and ideas and so I started to accumulate. Mitchell had, in his nursery, a tall wooden bookshelf that had been made by my great-grandfather, and soon it was just about filled with lots of little books.

Along the way I have accumulated many books. The kids love the fact that mommy's obsession isn't shoes or clothes or soap operas. The love lolly-gagging at the bookshelves, pulling different titles out to get a look at the cover, or read the synopsis on the back. All the kids love to read now and the fact that they are independent readers makes it even easier to exclude myself from their reading time.

I think I am going to get a few books off the shelf and have some reading time as a family. That will be the challenge for me, finding books that will appeal to everyone. Will, being 2, will want pictures and snuggling. Mitchell will want some action and Jack and Olivia will need little cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter to keep them wondering and excited about the next one. I have a few ideas in mind, I will post them here when I have time to make the links.