Kids love reading.
At least my kids do.
Here’s a handy little parenting tip you can try to make them simply adore it: 2 bedtimes.
The first one, the kids get ready for bed – brush teeth, pajamas, drink, yada, yada. We do it at 7:30, pick the time that works for your family. Once they are in bed, it’s Reading Time.
Half an hour later, Lights Out. Turn your brain off, go to sleep.
This gives kids 30 minutes of reading time, every day, seven days a week, school and summer.
Reading before bed is a great habit I’ve carried through my entire life. It has served me well. I’ve read thousands of books, learned a great deal and quieted my mind and body so that it is in rest mode before I peacefully nod off. It works for kids too.
Show me the kid who’d rather go to bed than stay up and read for 30 minutes.
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6 comments ↓
Yes! Great Post!
We’ve done this with our kids for years. My son (six and a half) practically races upstairs to get ready for bed and hops right in, selected book tucked under his arm.
They go upstairs at 7, get ready for bed and are in bed by 7:30. They can read (though my daughter, much to my delight, has been writing lately, instead). Lights out at 8:15.
Added bonus: they both wake up on their own. No alarms (or naggy moms!) and they’re ready for a new day.
It’s working even better for you than for me! Mine still need a wake-up call. Ainsley has been journaling too. Seems the writing my be in the DNA.
I think our girls are the same age (2nd grade, right?)…don’t you love seeing her writing?
What could be more gratifying to us as writers than to see our girls fired up about using the written word to get their stories told?
It is very exciting. Its just like me. I used to play in the same ways, play with my words. Still not bored with it. Amazing, 36 years later and it’s still the most fun I can have.
We do this too – I can’t imagine the struggle of just putting them straight to bed. Now that Hayden’s learning to read he’s doing every other page in books on his level..so it’s like Tracee said – they get that reading time every day consistently. And it’s one of the few times of the day there’s nothing else competing for their attention..we’re all quietly focused on the same thing. There’s value in that.
I can imagine the struggle. I didn’t do this for a long time and it totally sucked! I read before bed. It calms me. They should read before bed. I don’t know why it took me so long to get it.
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