I know how important it is to read to a child every day.
I went to college to be a teacher. The importance of reading out loud to children on a regular basis was drilled into my head. I know that it improves a child’s vocabulary, helps them speak and write correctly, and teaches them the mechanics of reading and writing (reading/writing left to right, top to bottom, etc.), to name a few. The benefits are countless.
And yet, I don’t read to my 8-month-old very often. I always thought I would, but it hasn’t turned out that way.
Some days she loves being read to. She’ll sit through 5-6 books, look at the pages, listen to what I’m saying, and touch the book.
Other days, it’s a battle. I open the book, and she immediately grabs for the pages and tries to pull them to her mouth. When she does that, I can’t keep reading, and that bothers her. She squirms, arches her back, and gets bored quickly. I usually stop pretty quickly on days like this, because I don’t see the point in forcing her to sit through a book. If she’s crying or unhappy, I doubt she’s getting any benefit from it.
However, sometimes I wonder if I should continue reading. Should I hold the book out of her reach, and forge ahead through the text? I try it sometimes, but that irritates her. She wants to hold it. Should I bounce her on my knee while I read to help with her restlessness? That doesn’t usually help either. Maybe I should read out loud to her while she’s on the floor, playing with her toys. That keeps her happy, but I doubt whether she actually is listening to what I’m reading.
Sometimes I think it doesn’t matter if we don’t read books very often. It makes sense that when she’s older, she’ll be better prepared to sit through a short story, and she’ll have a greater desire to be read to. Other times, I think that if I don’t instill a love for reading in her as a baby, she’ll never want to be read to.
I wonder what other mothers’ experiences have been. Are there some babies that love being read to? Do most parents wait until their children are a bit older to start reading to them?