Sorry, it’s a bit of a clickbait title. What I actually mean is, don’t always read to your kids, but sometimes let them read to you.
Clearly, it is very important to read to your children. As a new parent, a friend advised me to make reading part of a routine – any routine. So every night before bed, we read at least 1 book. We read books at other times during the week as well (some parent guides out there suggest reading 3-4 books a day to your children). By making it part of the routine, however, it ensures that no matter how rushed or tired we are, we’ll have some quality time before bed for this very important activity.
Some weeks, we end up reading the same book each night. When it’s Dragons Love Tacos, I don’t mind reading that several nights in a row. On the other hand, another night of Daphne the Diamond Fairy is tough. Sometimes the story engages our daughters, and other times the kids are all over the place. Attention is like a muscle and gets exhausted from a busy day. When either the book choice dumbfounds us or the kids are unfocused, we change gears and let them read the book to us. I’ll explain.
Let the Kids Read to You
Our three year old is just learning to write her name; clearly, she can’t read us a bedtime story (though she’s nearly memorized Dr. Seuss’s ABC book). Instead, she’s using what she remembers about the story with the pictures to figure out a plot and make up a story.
Consider this picture from the Trolls book, Poppy’s Party:
What do you see in this picture? A pink troll running with outstretched arms and eyes closed. She’s smiling, and is clearly happy. Why’s she happy? There are some musical notes evaporating into the air, what’s that about? Does she hear music? Is she singing? She’s running on the grass in some wooded area, with a decorated egg-like thing in the background. You don’t need a Masters in Art History.
In just this one page, you can have a discussion about emotions, about music, about what you find in the woods (not decorated eggs), and who knows what else. Your child will lead the discussion, and it can go off in any number of ways. What does happy look like? Can you make a happy face? What do we do when we’re happy? Do happy and excited mean the same thing? If your child knows the story, then she might make more poignant statements.
Personally, when we read the story we tend to gloss over these types of questions and discussions. Our focus isn’t so much on why Poppy looks happy and excited, but more on getting through the book we’ve read 20 times already. The change in approach keeps the story fresh (as it’ll be a different story each time), and engages with the kids in a very different context. It’s a small “trick” but one that’s transformed our routine.
