Chasing Cheerios

Friday, April 8, 2011

Raising Readers

Elliott and I are raising readers! We started reading aloud to both girls while they were still in utero, and we've read to them every day since their births. It has paid off, and they both LOVE books!

Reading aloud to my girls is one of my favorite things to do, but even if you don't enjoy it, you should still do it. Reading aloud to your children is one of the simplest things you can do that will have a tremendous impact on their educational development.

Lately, when E(1) gets quiet we can find her "reading" to her friends. She gathers her animals and/or babies and surrounds herself with books! I love it! I love how she arranged her bear to look at the book.


While I was making lunch on Saturday, I suddenly realized that E was very quiet. I felt a moment of dread and fully expected to find her covered with lotion or vaseline or something else that would be difficult to clean. I was SO relieved when I saw this!

I LOVE that our girls love books, and I hope that their love of books and reading will continue throughout their lives.

12 comments:

  1. My 2 year old has just started becoming very interested in books. I love it!

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  2. My son is the same. I read to him in utero and I think I have read to him pretty much everyday since he was born (when he was a tiny tiny bub I would read whatever I was reading aloud to him- sometimes it was blogs while I was breastfeeding him!)

    My son will also pull books off his shelves and sit down and flick through them- if I ask him to choose a story to read he goes to his shelves and chooses one or two- I can not choose for him. He knows which ones he wants me to read. He also knows that certain books are better read by daddy (his Japanese books) but will still take English books (which he has more of) to his daddy or grandma to read (in grandma`s case she just talks to him about the pictures in Japanese)

    I love that he loves books. I am a book worm myself and I can tell he will be as well.

    I definitely haven`t been as diligent with my second son but he hers me reading to my older son constantly and I read aloud to him while feeding as well-often because that is also when I am reading to his brother.

    I love books!

    Love the pictures!

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  3. I somehow stumbled on your blog a couple months ago and have so enjoyed the ideas you post for your girls and you have definitely inspired me with my 17 month old, who is so similar to your sweet E! One of my most recent blog posts has very similar pictures of my Adelaide, who definitely comes from a long line of readers. We have enjoyed instilling a love of books in her from very early on too! I often have the same experience of realizing she's being a little "too" quiet only to find her surrounded by 10 different books from her shelf. It always makes my heart sing to see her so contentedly "reading" her books.
    Thanks for all your great ideas, I have also enjoyed going back through your archive from when O was about the same age as my daughter. I found your post about transferring water with sponges that I am going to do with her today...she is going to LOVE it!

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  4. I have those "what is she into now" moments with my 2 year old too! Often I find her sitting in a pile of books! I love it when she is "reading". My 5 year old loves to llok at books too, and right not I read the Little House books to them each night! They lOVE it!

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  5. That's such a great thing for them. Our oldest LOVED books, he was the same way your girls are. Then as the years passed and he entered school it became a required thing, he excelled at it the first few years but it became a homework assignment and he quit reading for fun. This year (5th grade) he only has to read a book twice a month and turn in a report or take a test on it. He reads silly books for fun every now and then. One of the big reasons we're homeschooling starting in the fall is to help bring back that love of books and instill in the kids that they can do ANYTHING if they can read good books and know how to find what they want in them.

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  6. Thanks for the comments! I love to hear about the other toddler readers out there!

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  7. I really love catching my 2 year old in these moments! It's so fun to go looking for her and find her not putting cat food in the water bowl but rocking in the chair we always sit in to read before bed surrounded by books!

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  8. My little ones are exactly the same! Sam(3) loves reading to her younger sister and I am starting to see glimpses of Avery(1) growing the same love and addiction to a good stack of books.

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  9. ok, totally off topic, but where did you get that great rug?

    I am enjoying reading your blog. Cute ideas...

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  10. Karyn- I ordered it from Hearthsong.com.

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