I’ll admit it. Sometimes I’m just so tired. By the end of the day, I just want to throw my kids in bed and not go through the 2-hour bedtime routine? I mean, am I right? After 16 hours of being touched constantly, talked to incessantly, and followed around my house all day long, I’m just ready to plop on my couch for a minute in quiet solitude. If I have to add one more thing to my nightly routine or even my daily routine, I might lose my mind.
But I read this book called “The Read-Aloud Family” by Sarah Mackenzie, and it rocked my world.
Did you know kids that are read aloud to from an early age have better vocabularies? They also test better in school, have greater imaginations, have longer attention spans, and overall have better relationships with their parents among MANY more benefits that I don’t even have time to mention here.
Experiencing a story together with your kids, giggling together with curiosity and wondering how Ralph was going to get that motorcycle back to Keith in the classic book “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” actually brings you closer together with your kids. It gave me something else to talk to my 6-year-old about and laugh with him over.
Talking about stories you’ve read or even listened to together gives you something to bond over. You’re creating these life long memories with your kids that they’ll remember and appreciate into adulthood.
The coolest part? You now have all these little inside stories with each other. Now when we see a toy motorcycle, my kids say, “Hey! I wonder if this is the one Ralph drove!?”. Or when we see a train with boxcars, we imagine if this is what the boxcar looked like that the Boxcar Children lived in.
And when we went on a picnic and recreated a scene from a book we read, my kids explored in the woods, just like in the book. We all giggle and laugh, and we are literally making important connections.
I’ve read that 15 minutes a day is the ideal amount of time to read out loud to your kid, but who has 15 minutes every day? Try starting with 5-10 minutes a day three times a week and work your way up.
Whip up some boxed brownies real fast or pop some popcorn, and your kids will come running to the kitchen to see what they can eat (do your kids eat everything in the house as mine do)? Set them down at your table for 5 minutes while they eat their treat and read to them. Repeat until you are all begging for more because your loving experiencing these stories together.
Need some book ideas for your kid’s ages? Visit readaloudrevival.com
Sarah Mackenize said it best,
“…they won’t likely mind that their childhood included dishes piled in the sink or that we never ever reached the bottom of the laundry basket.
But they’ll remember the stories, and they’ll treasure the time we spent reading to them.” (readaloudrevial.com)
